Overseas competitors deployed for league's attraction
Musthofid The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Ten volleyball players from several countries were introduced at a press conference on Tuesday at the Front Row cafe, a popular sports restaurant/bar adjacent to the Bung Karno Sports Complex.
The 10 introduced on Tuesday are part of at least 15 athletes from outside Indonesia, most of whom are Australians, who will join the new Proliga, a local professional volleyball league.
The league was launched by the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) through its business arm Profesitama Pro Liga (PPL) with PT Media Lingkar Komunikasi, known as m-lynx, as the promoter.
Many of the players have national team experience in their respective countries. Their participation in the league was made possible because there are no competitions in their countries at present so they have a break until April, when the Proliga, which starts next month, will have finished competition.
"I'm enthusiastic to play here. It should be a lot of fun and I expect close games," said Michael Oostryck, who plays for the Rossmoyne Club in Perth, Australia. He will join Bandung Tectona here.
Joanne Myszka, also from Australia, who said she had played for the national team, said that she was looking forward to teaming up with her Jakarta Princess squad.
The organizers said that their arrival was expected to motivate young Indonesians to become interested in volleyball.
"(Poor) regeneration is the impeding factor to the development of volleyball here. This is because young guns, despite their potential, are not enthusiastic about taking up volleyball," Hanny Rukatty said.
"I hope their (overseas players) appearance here will be an attraction to national volleyball.
"Besides, local players can learn from their foreign counterparts about skills. They are accustomed to playing in tight tournaments, so they are in better psychological shape," he said.
There is no specified contracts between the players and the clubs. The players will only get an "appearance fee", but the amount was not disclosed.
Television coverage is largely apportioned for the league. It will be an entire 36.5 hours of TV broadcast time on state-owned TVRI and private Trans stations, either live or delayed.
Nine clubs will join the league. But, unlike Perhutani, Petogres, BNI '45 and DPPK, which are already familiar to the Indonesian volleyball community, the nine participating names are totally new.
The clubs are Jakarta Prince, Jakarta Patriot, Jakarta Phinisi, Jakarta Monas, Bogor Tunas, Yogya Yuwana, Bandung Tectona, Surabaya Flame and Gresik Phonska.
Except for the last two, each club will field both a men's and women's squad for in the inaugural pro league. The Flame will only field a men's team while the Phonska only a women's.
Each team must feature at least one international on its squad. Two is the maximum number. Though, Jakarta Patriot, managed by the Army headquarters, is exclusively exempted from the requirement, with the organizers saying it was Army policy that they could not allow non-Indonesians.
Their distribution to each club is being decided by PBVSI.
"We have made the decision about the players' distribution at the moment, but next season we hope the clubs would be more independent," Rita Subowo, PBVSI's chairwoman, said.
The matches will be held every Friday and Sunday, in two separate towns, each featuring four men's and four women's teams. Jakarta and Gresik will be the venue of the opening matches, with the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium hosting the opening ceremony.