Clubs said to be at fault in collusion

Clubs said to be at fault in collusion

JAKARTA (JP): Club officials should also share the blame for
any collusion between referees and clubs, chief referee Djafar
Umar says.

Djafar, head of the referee commission for the Indonesian
Soccer Federation (PSSI), said Sunday that club officials often
handed out incentives outside the referees' honorarium.

"With the incentives, the referees forget themselves and
misuse their authority. It is impossible for referees to be
involved in collusion without the involvement of the club
officials. I believe these officials are the cause of the
collusion," Djafar said Sunday as quoted by Kompas.

Djafar was referring to a statement made by Andy Darussalam on
Saturday that collusion frequently occurred.

Andy is chairman of the soccer club Persija Selatan.

"Andy is right. Referees should not be blamed entirely. We
should observe who is actually involved in this," Djafar said in
response to reports that he had received a certain amount of
money from referees who passed the tests to become FIFA referees.

Djafar believes there is nothing wrong with this as it was a
token of gratitude.

"As an official of the federation, I do not receive any
honorarium and I certainly need money to pay telephone bills or
to go to competitions. PSSI does not pay for those expenditures.
I think it's unfair that I should pay all costs while there are
PSSI officials who earn millions of rupiah," Djafar said.

In view of this situation, Djafar intends to quit the
federation. "I leave the matter to PSSI to choose somebody else
to take care of the refereeing." (lnt)