Brawl tarnishes East Java's soccer gold

Brawl tarnishes East Java's soccer gold

JAKARTA (JP): A brawl marked the end of the 14th National
Games soccer competition, which saw East Java beat defending
champion Irian Jaya 2-1 yesterday.

Such a violation of sportsmanship was incited by officials of
the losing team, who protested over what they claimed was bad
refereeing made by I Made Sudra of Bali for letting East Java
escape a penalty after a handball in its box.

The pack of angry officials beat Sudra and hurled anything
they could find at the lanky referee. Security officers moved
into the fray to save Sudra, but there was still room for the
unsympathetic Irian Jaya team's chief of the contingent Yap
Salossa to throw his shoes at the referee's body.

"He was unfair! The East Java player did touch the ball in the
penalty box. We should have deserved a penalty," Salossa
screamed.

"We played without Aples Tecuari just to obey the rules. But
take a look at East Java. They always just think of winning, no
matter what ways they use," he yelled.

Salossa was referring to East Java's late inclusion of Anang
Maruf and Eri Irianto, who returned from their international duty
in the Tiger Cup in Singapore, which concluded on Sunday.

The Indonesian soccer body had said earlier that each
provincial team was not allowed to request the services of its
national player who had been called to play in the Tiger Cup.

To make matters worse, the Irian team refused to climb to the
podium for a medal presentation.

Chairman of the national soccer body Azwar Anas and State
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, who both
watched the match, regretted the incident, saying it was a shame
that a soccer official did it.

Azwar officially closed the Games in his capacity as the
coordinating minister for people's welfare.

Eri put his team 1-0 ahead from the penalty spot six minutes
from the interval, after East Java forward Reinold Piters was
brought down by substitute Eduard Isir in the box.

East Java quickly steered the match after the morale boosting
goal. A number of up-front sorties built up by the East Javanese
were all that highlighted the play, with six minutes left in the
first half, but none was converted into a goal.

Playing before a fanatic crowd of over 50,000, the green force
East Java stepped up the pressure in the second half. The lack of
composure, however, cost the team at least six goal-scoring
chances.

Irian Jaya, fielding a team heavy on young players, opted a
more defensive stance and relied much on the counter attacks.

The equalizer came at last in the 71st minute, when an
advancing Ferdinandus Wabia finished a through pass from Albert
Yom with a right-footer from a close range.

An apparently buoyant Irian side, however, cut short its
celebrations. Just one minute after the thunderous equalizer,
Piters slammed in the winner following a bottom-up attack
inspired by Anang.

Fadjar Siahaan, chairman of the East Java soccer body,
defended his decision to bring his national players here, saying
that both Anang and Eri are below the age of 23, which was in
line with the rules set up by the organizing committee.

"We featured them because we wanted to perform a good soccer
match," he said.

Irian Jaya's coach Festus Yom blamed the lack of preparations
on his team's defeat. "We only had less than a year to prepare
ourselves for the Games. If only we had a year more, it would be
a different story," he said.

German technical director of the national team, Bernhard
Schumm, said that East Java was technically and tactically the
best among the participating soccer teams of the Games. (yan)

Medal tally

G S B
Jakarta 141 84 79
West Java 71 85 91
East Java 65 83 79
Central Java 32 42 71
Lampung 20 20 34
Irian Jaya 17 17 16
Jambi 16 14 11
North Sulawesi 14 17 23
East Kalimantan 14 13 22
South Kalimantan 13 10 8
South Sulawesi 12 21 24
North Sumatra 12 13 15
Yogyakarta 11 12 23
Central Kalimantan 11 12 13
South East Sulawesi 11 4 9
Bali 9 14 21
Riau 9 6 9
West Kalimantan 6 5 5
South Sumatra 5 7 10
West Sumatra 4 11 16
Maluku 4 6 18
East Nusa Tenggara 4 2 4
West Nusa Tenggara 2 3 3
Aceh 2 2 9
Central Sulawesi 2 2 6
East Timor 2 0 11
Bengkulu 1 4 7