Jakarta Globe, May 31, 2015
Jakarta. With world football’s governing body FIFA finally slapping a ban on Indonesia, the Sports Ministry announced it is taking responsibility for the sanction.
Jakarta. With world football’s governing body FIFA finally slapping a ban on Indonesia, the Sports Ministry announced it is taking responsibility for the sanction.
In a
statement released on Sunday, the ministry claimed the government was not
ignorant and would take strategic moves as a consequence of the suspension.
“The Sports
Ministry will be working with several institutions to improve the blue print of
national football development in order to achieve the grand design, which is
more comprehensive, transparent and objective, in accordance with our target to
improve national football’s performance,” the statement said.
FIFA said
government meddling in the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) violated
articles 13 and 17 of the FIFA Statutes. The sanction means Indonesian clubs
and nationals are not allowed to take part in FIFA and AFC competitions, though
it extended an exception for the national under-23 side, allowing the side to
take part in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in June.
The
ministry continued to deny allegations that it had intervened with PSSI,
insisting it had only made attempts to improve the performance of Indonesian
football.
It also
slammed FIFA for alleged errors in the football body’s timeline of events and
grammar.
“There were
some infelicities and grammatical errors in FIFA’s letter, which brings to
question FIFA’s credibility in its crucial decision-making [process] about the
fate of one of its members,” the ministry said.
The
ministry also urged all national football stakeholders to remain calm as
competitions sanctioned by a transitional teams would soon kick off.
“We also
hope PSSI could address the sanction from FIFA in a wise and objective manner.
There’s no need to blame the government because we are cooperating and choosing
to face the unfortunate event. PSSI, the ministry and the Indonesian Olympic
Committee [KOI] should work together to retract the sanction.”
In its
letter, FIFA stated that the suspension would be lifted once the elected PSSI
executive committee was able to manage the association’s affairs independently
and without influence from third parties, including the Sports Ministry or its
agencies.
FIFA also
mandated PSSI to regain its authority on all national teams and competitions in
order to lift the suspension.
Meanwhile,
head coach of the national under-16 and under-19 side, Fakhri Husaini,
expressed his disappointment over FIFA’s decision.
“To be
honest, I’m resigned, sad and disappointed to hear about the suspension from
[assistant coach] Rasimin and [head coach of the national senior team] Pieter
Huistra,” Fakhri said on Saturday.
“I couldn’t
imagine the boys’ reaction as they won’t be able to play in the AFF
Championship. They have trained and prepared themselves for almost a year.”
The
under-16 side will play in the 2015 AFF U-16 Championship in Solo, Central
Java, from July 27 to Aug. 9, while the under-19 side will take part in the
2015 AFF U-19 Championship in Sidoarjo, East Java, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment