PSSI announces punishments

PSSI announces punishments

JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) has
temporarily banned the national soccer team's manager, its coach
and a defender from international competition for causing the
team to fall into disrepute following a recent Tiger Cup match.

Newly appointed PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar, fresh from a trip
to Malaysia, announced the punitive measures on Thursday
following a week-long probe into the case.

Andrie Amien, the Tiger Cup's Indonesian team manager, and
Rusdy Bahalwan, who had made his debut as the national team
coach, were each banned from international competition for two
years.

Mursyid Effendy, the defender who netted an intentional own
goal that gave Indonesia a desirable 2-3 loss to Thailand in
their Tiger Cup group match, was banned for one year.

His fellow defender, Kuncoro, who fed him a defensive pass,
however, was cleared of any unsportsmanlike charges.

"If we punish Kuncoro, then other players who passed the ball
to him must be sentenced too," Agum said, defending Kuncoro's
exclusion from the sanctions.

The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) had asked PSSI to sentence
Kuncoro but Agum said the decision was made based on the national
soccer body's investigation.

Agum said, however, the three would be allowed to carry on
with their domestic jobs when the league resumes on Nov. 1.
Andrie is manager of the Jakarta-based Pelita Jaya team. Rusdy
and Mursyid will take their old posts at Persebaya Surabaya.

The investigation concluded that both Andrie and Rusdy were
most responsible for the own goal, although they never instructed
the players to make it.

The probe found that Mursyid and his teammates were confused
about the strategy picked by their coach and manager, who
admitted they did not want Indonesia to win the match.

"What they did in Vietnam was really shameful. If they had a
strategy to lose to Thailand, that was not the right way," he
said.

Federation spokesman Tondo Widodo also said the national
league would begin with a charity match on Oct. 28 at the Senayan
Main Stadium.

Twenty-six clubs have registered to compete in the new season,
the fifth since PSSI blended the professional and amateur sides
into one league.

Several changes have been made for the new season, including
the division of participating teams into three geographical
conferences. The west and central conferences will be divided
into two sub-conferences as well.

Tondo said the show would go on with or without sponsors.

"On Sept. 20, Singapore-based promoter Starpoint manager
Steven Tan will come to Jakarta for an expose whether it has
sponsors or not," he said, adding that Starpoint would not look
for apparel sponsors.

Tondo also said that apparel-producer Olan of Argentina, which
sponsored the fourth league last year, wanted to sponsor this
year's league.

"They have promised to pay their debt to the PSSI amounting to
about US$500,000," he said.

The federation stopped the league prematurely in May due to
security reasons and a lack of sponsors. (yan)