Clubs refuse league postponement

April 2, 2001

At least there are three clubs, Persebaya Surabaya, PSM Makassar, and Petrokimia Gresik have asked Football Association of Indonesia (FAI) not to postpone the second half of the league. It's mainly of financial reason and clubs are afraid that this postponement will mess up their schedules and other agendas.

FAI, through its official letter numbered 1177/AGB/354/III-2001 which was signed by FAI General Secretary Tri Goestoro on Friday (3/30), informed all clubs in the Premier Division that the second half of the Indonesian League VII will not start on April 7 as originally planned. The new fixtures have not been announced yet. The main reason for this postponement is because many clubs have more than three of their players get called up to the national squad for 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

H. Susanto, Vice President of Persebaya Surabaya, said that FAI should think about the financial burden the club will have to endure should the league be postponed up to two months.

"Who will pay for the players? Persebaya would rather play with their second squad rather than paying extra salaries and whatnots, even if we have four of main players called up," said H. Susanto.

From South Sulawesi, champions PSM Makassar voiced the same concern. The club is willing to continue the league even though they also have four of their pillar players in the national squad.

Petrokimia Putra's manager, Imam Soepardi, added more reasons as to why the clubs refuse the league postponement.

"We resent the postponement. Not only because of financial reason, but also because the national football atmosphere is at its highest right now. If we postpone the league to an indefinite time, then we will lose the momentum and will affect every team's concentration," said Imam.

Imam said that if the postponement had to be done, then he hoped it wouldn't be for long.

He said, "At the max, two weeks. More than that and it would disturb all teams' preparations and forms in the league."

He further explained that every coach has his own agendas with his respective team. If the matches are postponed, then everything has to be changed and the team surely will not be able to perform their best in the league.

"So it's better for all parties if FAI allows clubs to use their national players in spare time between national matches, just like what the FAI did with Persija Jakarta. I'm sure every team will welcome this policy and if needed, I'm sure they'll be willing to pay for their players' tickets from Jakarta to their respective cities. I think this is the best solution."

from www.sepak-bola.tv (3/31/01)