FIFA, AFC help salvage soccer in Aceh

FIFA, AFC help salvage soccer in Aceh

Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press/Banda Aceh, Indonesia

A maze of drainage ditches, water pipes and mounds of dirt
crisscross the pitch at Banda Aceh's Lampineung Stadium, home of
the Persiraja football club. The stands are mostly stacks of
warped boards, which dozens of construction workers are removing
in preparation for a major renovation.

Soccer's international governing body (FIFA) and the Asian
Football Confederation (AFC) are financing repairs to the
facilities in preparation for the team's return to the Indonesian
1st Division for the first time since last year's undersea quake,
tsunami and subsequent relief operations devastated the site.

"We have to thank FIFA for helping us in our time of need,"
said Burhanudin Amin, a Persiraja official supervising the works
on the monsoon-drenched stadium. "Without them, this club would
have died in the tsunami."

The 15,000-seat Lampineung Stadium was badly damaged by the
earthquake that struck a year ago on Dec. 26. The huge wave that
spread across the provincial capital also washed over the field,
leaving only the forlorn-looking goalposts standing.

Spanish and other foreign troops, who arrived a few days later
with heavy equipment to help with rescue and relief operations,
further damaged the site. They bivouacked at the stadium, setting
up makeshift warehouses for humanitarian supplies on the pitch.

As the rescue effort gradually wound down, FIFA and the AFC
launched a US$10.5 million Tsunami Solidarity Fund for soccer
infrastructure reconstruction in areas affected by the tsunami.
This included financing for numerous projects in Sri Lanka, the
Maldives and Thailand, where a Tsunami Memorial Football Center
will be built.

In the Maldives, relief financing was directed into repairs to
the damaged headquarters of the national soccer body and its
training center, while in Sri Lanka 13 separate reconstruction
projects were funded.

Much of the money in Aceh was spent on donations of soccer
equipment for the many traumatized children, as sport and play
was considered essential to help their recovery. FIFA and the AFC
also sent delegates to set in motion coaching and refereeing
courses, and soccer clinics for homeless kids as well as local
tournaments were set up.

Still, there has not been a single official match in Aceh
since the tsunami, and the three teams that used to play in
Indonesia's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions are hoping to return to
national competitions when they resume in February.

In preparation for this, he Tsunami Solidarity Fund is also
financing repairs to soccer pitches in the outlying towns of
Bireun and Langsa.

Nuzuli Ibrahim, deputy head of the Indonesian Sports
Confederation in Aceh, said that despite the help received so
far, and the insistence of the national soccer body that Acehnese
clubs should return to competition, it was still difficult to
reconstruct the teams and get the players motivated to
participate.

"The teams are not back to speed," he said. "Players have not
played in a long time, coaches have left, stadiums are still
unfinished and money is short to support the program."

But on an optimistic note, Ibrahim said help was still
arriving, sometimes in unexpected forms.

"For instance, Bosnia - another country familiar with tragedy
- had just offered to send a coach, and maybe a couple of players
to help out Persiraja with its return to league competition," he
said.