RI soccer nears its goal of professionalism

RI soccer nears its goal of professionalism

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): According to some people, life begins at 40. For
the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI), however, it seems
life does not get started until well into the 60s.

Just after celebrating its 69th anniversary on April 19, PSSI
was forced to swallow a few bitter pills before deciding to
undertake a number of reforms in an effort to recall the glory
days of 1956. This was the year when the national soccer team
participated in the Olympic Games in Melbourne, its first and
only Olympic appearance, managing to secure a 0-0 draw with the
then Soviet Union.

In May of this year, the national team little resembled that
1956 team, suffering a humiliating 0-7 drubbing at the hands of
South Korea in the 2000 Olympics Group Eight prequalification
round in Seoul. Before this jolt of reality, Indonesia stood tied
with South Korea atop the group with two victories, although
South Korea had the edge on Indonesia in goals scored.

The embarrassment of the national team's lopsided defeat led
PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar to question the capability of the
national team and reset new goals for the national squad.

"Considering the result, I realize our soccer team's place in
the world. The last board of executives vowed to bring
(Indonesian) soccer onto the world stage, but I told the current
board we could not make such a large jump directly," he said in
June.

"First, we must gain supremacy in Southeast Asia before
dominating in Asia. Then we can move into the world arena." Agum,
who was the governor of the National Resilience Institute at this
time, said.

This, however, is much easier said than done. At the Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August, the national
soccer team failed to win the widely expected gold, losing to
Vietnam 0-1 in the semifinals. Defending champion Thailand ended
up bagging the gold, while Indonesia defeated Singapore 4-2 in
the bronze-medal match.

Agum, who replaced Azwar Anas as PSSI chairman in October last
year, apologized to soccer fans throughout the nation for this
failure. This apology failed to stem calls from the public for
structural changes in the organization and its training program.

By the end of August, Agum bowed to pressure from soccer fans
and replaced German Bernhard Schumm with Nandar Iskandar as coach
of the national team.

In September, Agum was elected chairman for another four-year
term during PSSI's 32nd national congress. Agum, who was
appointed minister of communications by President Abdurrahman
Wahid in October, named Tri Goestoro PSSI secretary-general and
appointed more people to the organization's board of executives.

In November, Indonesia booked a berth in the Asian Cup final n
Lebanon in November 2000 with a dashing 9-2 defeat of Cambodia in
their last Group 7 prequalification match here. This first
coaching success for Nandar also helped flame Indonesia's hopes
for Asian soccer supremacy.

Autonomy

PSSI's first step in reforming national soccer was to grant
greater freedom to its 26 provincial chapters to raise funds and
develop young players across the country. Under the new
guidelines set during the organization's congress, the provincial
chapters were also obligated to stage competitions to discover
young talent.

This decision was taken because PSSI was experiencing
difficulties in finding talented young players for the national
team. PSSI also change the name of regional commissariats --
which had served as PSSI branches in the provinces -- to regional
chapters.

These regional chapters are also expected to run soccer
schools in their respective areas, and will be allowed to raise
funds to finance their activities.

Sponsorship

The winds of change also blew through the Indonesian Soccer
League (Ligina). To improve the professionalism of the league,
PSSI set new regulations on sponsorships, disciplinary matters
and the transfer of players.

Just before Ligina's sixth season kicked off early in
November, PSSI allowed each club to find its own sponsors. The
regulation was the result of complaints that subsidies from PSSI
never or only a few of them that reached the clubs.

But the new regulation is likely to be truly effective only if
the government decentralizes its power and widens the scope of
local authority by giving provinces greater autonomy and greater
control over their natural resources and fiscal policies.

At that stage, each province will derive greater benefit from
the exploitation of their natural resources, thus raising the
general economic well-being of local residents and businesses,
including soccer clubs.

Many clubs currently face difficulty in finding sponsors,
particularly those clubs outside of Java, like PSBL Bandar
Lampung and Persipura Jayapura. Top clubs, meanwhile, enjoy the
financial support of numerous sponsors, including Persebaya
Surabaya which is sponsored by Philips and Adidas.

Tri Goestoro admitted PSSI owed the clubs quite a large amount
of money in promised subsidies. It still has to pay each of the
18 clubs which participated in the fifth Ligina season Rp 40
million ($US5,633), plus another Rp 15 million for each club
which finished the season in the top 10.

The ongoing Ligina season saw plenty of action off the field,
which led to a heavy workload for the league's disciplinary
committee. The committee sanctioned six clubs for failing to
control fans during matches. Four players and four referees also
were sanctioned during the season.

On the issue of the transfer of players, PSSI pledged to issue
guidelines on players' working terms and their transfer between
clubs across the provinces. These guidelines, however, are still
awaiting completion.