Persebaya to meet Bandung Raya in league soccer final

JAKARTA (JP): Persebaya will challenge defending champion Bandung Raya in the national soccer league final tomorrow, one day behind schedule due to a tear gas incidence during a semifinal on Friday.

Mitra Surabaya and Bandung Raya resumed their game yesterday and the 1-0 score was unchanged throughout the remaining 27 minutes.

Preferring a safe play, Bandung Raya's defenders played a bigger role throughout the game in blocking the aggressive attacks of Mitra Surabaya footballers.

The Bandung-based team only occasionally mounted counter attacks to face Mitra Surabaya's strikers, who kept the pressure on in the last 10 minutes.

In front of about 1,000 spectators, Mitra Surabaya midfielders I Putu Gede and Kuncoro displayed their superb teamwork to shatter Bandung Raya's defense.

Mitra Surabaya almost managed to draw the score when the rival goalkeeper missed a ball nearly flown into his net during the last eight minutes.

Commenting on his team's defeat, Mitra Surabaya's team manager Rudi William Kelces said the result would have been different if South Korean Kim Young Joo had fair leadership over the last game.

"Regrettably, he did not punish Bandung Raya players over their faults," he said.

The referee, on the other hand, booked two yellow cards for the players, though they did not make serious faults, said Rudi.

Yesterday's match continuation was only open for officials, security personnel and reporters.

However, even with tight security, some soccer hooligans managed to get in and cause trouble inside the 110,000-seat Senayan Stadium.

Police officers arrested some soccer hooligans who managed to enter the stadium.

On Friday, sporadic brawling broke out between supporters of the two teams.

The organizing committee's chairman, Mungkono, said the All Indonesia Football Federation would cooperate with the police in investigating the tear gas incidence.

Parties responsible for the tear-gas incident have yet to be identified.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said he had no authority to comment on the incident.

Jakarta Military Command Spokesman Lt. Col. Dj. Nahcrowi only said the incident was being investigated.

Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso said Friday he would punish any soldier found to have fired the tear gas canister.

"We will investigate the incident. But believe me, if it was done by a soldier, he didn't mean it. It must have been an accident," said Sutiyoso, who arrived at the scene a few minutes after the incident.

Witnesses said a security officer fired the canister at Bandung Raya supporters after the supporters tried to approach the soccer field to celebrate a goal 58 minutes into the second half.

Unfortunately, they said, wind blew the tear gas toward the game, causing players from Bandung and Surabaya to leave the field.

Meanwhile, at least 1,000 East Java soccer fans arrived in the city yesterday. Police sent back more than 700 on a navy ship and buses at 4 a.m.

Police spokesman Aritonang said 524 East Java soccer fans were loaded onto the navy ship KRI Teluk Ambon at 4 a.m yesterday, returning them to their hometown, Surabaya.

Another 220 bonek (soccer hooligans) were sent back to Surabaya on buses, he said. They had spent one to two nights in several social welfare agencies.

Aritonang said police netted about 1,000 bonek yesterday who just arrived at Senen railway station, Central Jakarta, and took them to the City Police Headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta.

Only 22 of these soccer fans carried more than Rp 50,000 (US$20), while the remaining hundreds of fans only had from Rp 2,500 to Rp 20,000.

On Friday night police also arrested at least 90 soccer fans in the Blok M Mall area, South Jakarta, for loitering around the shopping center area.

The soccer fans who spent the night at the South Jakarta police office were sent to the City Police Headquarters yesterday morning. (03/jun)