Local basketball league restricts foreign signings
Local basketball league restricts foreign signings
JAKARTA (JP): Only one foreign signing will be allowed to play for each team in all games in this year's Indonesian Basketball League, an official said yesterday.
"This decision is final. It will be made law-binding in a meeting with the league's ten clubs scheduled in early March," the league's vice chairman Setya Darma Madjid told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The exact date for the meeting is yet to be fixed, Darma added.
Indonesia Muda coach Rastafari was behind the decision when he observed that two foreign players, usually in the team as the center and playmaker, tend to be too dominant and reduce their local teammates to mere assistants.
Rastafari was quoted by Merdeka on Monday as arguing that if a one-foreigner policy was applied, the player would have no option but to fully involve all his local teammates.
The government decided late in 1994 to open the gate for foreign stars to join soccer and basketball leagues in an effort to boost the performance of local players.
To confirm the decision, the league's chairman Budi Rustanto last week distributed a note to all the clubs notifying them that they will be allowed to hire a maximum of two foreigners but to field only one of them in each match.
However, Darma said that not all the league's club members approved of the move. Some wanted to preserve the existing rules, which allow two foreign players in their teams. But since most of the clubs back the new decision, it will be passed in the league's upcoming meeting, Darma said.
Agus Mauro, Jakarta's Aspac club spokesman, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the decision might be detrimental to clubs whose local players are of low quality because they will no longer have the pad to hide their weaknesses.
"An example is the Glory from Semarang. It played without imported players last year and was relegated," Agus said. He predicted a wider gap between giant and minnow clubs if the decision is made into a rule.
Uninteresting
Agus said that playing with fewer imported players will result less interesting games, reduce the number of spectators and in turn discourage sponsors. "What turns on the spectators here are the imported stars," Agus said.
Agus suggested that the league should restrict the height, rather than the number of foreign players, to minimize the impact of the two-men-show policy.
"They should be lower than the average local players (6'6"). We still need two imports to make up for our locals' lack of speed and power. After all, we play to win, not to train our local players."
Darma said that the league will also require each competing club to include one foreign player on their roster.
This is to ensure fairness, he said. But not all clubs are financially able to hire even one import.
The ten clubs competing in this year's league are Aspac, Pelita Jaya, Indonesia Muda Texmaco and newly promoted Satria Muda from Jakarta, Hadtex and Siliwangi from Bandung, West Java, and four East Javanese clubs, Halim from Kediri, Bima Sakti from Malang, Cahaya Lestari Surabaya and Pacific from Surabaya.
The first leg of the new season is scheduled to start in the middle of March. The league is divided into four legs.
Darma said no foreign players will be allowed to play in the opening or closing legs. The latter is scheduled to take place after the National Games in September.
The absence of foreign players in the first leg is intended to measure the real abilities of local players. In the final leg, each club will learn how much local players have progressed and benefited from the foreigners. (arf)