RI league divided into three pools<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesia Soccer Association decided at
\na meeting Thursday to split the Indonesia League into three
\ngroups -- Group West, Group Central and Group East -- with 11
\nteams competing in each group.<\/p>\n
Until recently, the league has been geographically split into
\ntwo regional divisions, West and East.<\/p>\n
Group West includes teams from both western and eastern
\nIndonesian provinces.<\/p>\n
Group Central is not purely regional, either. It includes
\nteams from the west (such as PSMS Medan), central (such as PSIS
\nSemarang) and eastern Indonesian provinces (such as Mitra
\nSurabaya and Barito Putra).<\/p>\n
Group East, however, consists entirely of teams from the
\neastern Indonesian provinces.<\/p>\n
The association's secretary-general, Nugraha Besoes, said the
\ngrouping was meant to disperse teams coming from the same cities
\nso that no group features two teams from the same city as was the
\ncase in the league's previous format.<\/p>\n
Surabaya is a case in point. The capital city of East Java has
\n\"three\" teams in different groups, Persebaya Surabaya in Group
\nWest, Mitra Surabaya in Group Central and Assyabaab Salim Grup in
\nGroup East.<\/p>\n
Assyabaab is actually a team from Sidoarjo, a town 24km south
\nof Surabaya. But it can be considered as a Surabaya team because
\nit has Surabaya's Gelora 10 November stadium as its home ground.<\/p>\n
\"Through this system the quality of the competition will
\nhopefully increase,\" Besoes was quoted by Media Indonesia as
\nsaying yesterday.<\/p>\n
Amri Lubis, deputy manager of Mastrans Bandung Raya, which is
\nin Group West with Persebaya Surabaya, questioned the rationale
\nbehind the grouping. \"On what grounds is the grouping based?
\nCertainly not on geography; nor on seeding. This is ridiculous,\"
\nhe was quoted as saying by Jawa Pos.<\/p>\n
Based on the new groupings, the top four in each group will
\nadvance to the league's second round. They will then be divided
\ninto two groups, with the top two of each going through to the
\nsemifinals.<\/p>\n
The meeting also decided to postpone the league's kick-off
\nfrom Nov. 3 to Nov. 17 after league winner Mastrans Bandung Raya
\nand runner-up PSM Ujungpandang, which have to share their top
\nplayers with the Asia Cup-bound national team, raised objections
\nto the early schedule. (arf)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-league-divided-into-three-pools-1447893297",
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