The Quality of Football in Indonesia

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The Quality of Football in Indonesia

Indonesian Football was mired in controversy since some years before. This case finally created many bad things to the quality of football in Indonesia. The top of the controversy was when there were many demonstrations against the nomination of Nurdin Halid as chair of PSSI (Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia) or Indonesian Football Association. Then a brawl resulted in the cancellation of the PSSI congress in Pekanbaru. But the most serious problem was the emergence of a Breakaway Football League Last January: Liga Primer Indonesia or LPI (Indonesia Premier League). Many effects that have been done to Indonesian Football, governments in PSSI do not see the way to improve the quality of football but they develop The association for getting money, doing corruption in PSSI, even they make it as a political work.

Blog Catatan Bujangan says that Indonesia has not yet won a medal from international games: Since 1991 up to now Indonesia had not won titles. No gold medals were achieved, even in the Tiger Cup which has been renamed AFF, we have never been a champion. In a column written in ESPNSPORT.com, Jesse Fink thinks that FIFA should better lend a hand in improving Indonesia's football. According to him this is the step needed to save Indonesia's football.

If we talk about the quality of football, we have to look at the quality of player, club, and the competition. The quality of club and competition will influence the quality of player. According to fariddjunks.blogspot.com, Indonesian Football Players have some weaknesses :

1. Indonesian player has a very bad football basic skills. To prove it, watch a passing, shooting, and positioning Indonesian Player. Compare it with European, Latino, or maybe Japan and South Korean. I believe you will agree with me.
2. There is no an opportunist striker with a high sense of creating goal’s. Actually, Indonesia has Bambang Pamungkas as a good striker. But, he’s not an opportunist striker like Ruud Van Nistelrooy, or Samuel Eto’o. He is more capable to play in 2 striker modes than 3 strikers with 2 wings.
3. League Quality runs too far than national team quality. Look at England National teams. Their league was improved to become the best league in the world. What is an effect? foreign player was booming, so the local player must compete them. Finally, the same quality of local  player will be the other choice because business and popularity reason. It makes  local player chose to play in lower team and they can’t improve their skills nor lacks of international match event. It’s happened in Indonesian Leagues too. Now, Indonesian leagues become one of the best league in south east asia. It makes the same condition with england premier league. Club will get the foreign player with same quality (maybe better) with a lower price. Good player won’t be improved and choose to play in lower club level. The solution is naturalization and send Indonesian player to foreign leagues (in more competitive leagues like european league or Japan/South korean league). Naturalization can improve national team quality, and foreign leagues can make local player feel a good atmosphere in competition and become a good player.
4. The worst management of PSSI (Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia).
5. The worst regeneration of Indonesian football team. To analyze this reason, there are some facts. First, the frequency of football field in village is bigger than city. Second, the air quality in village is more fresh than in city. From this fact, we can conclude that villagers have many probability to be a good football player than people in city. But why PSSI always try to search a great player from city, not like the other sport?
6. Indonesian players  play with their body (physical contact), that’s not a genius player!! What are the carachteristics of genius player? They do a good decision, they can read the playing plot, and they combine logic and intuitive.  Paolo Maldini, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Juan Roman Riquelme, Kaka, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Franc Ribery, Miroslav Klose, Shunsuke Nakamura, Younes Mahmoud, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Johan Cruijff is a genius player. In indonesia, there is Widodo C.Putro, Fachri Husaini, or Bima Sakti who use their brain to play football. Now, this type of player is very rare..
7. The worst of mentality.

Now if we look at the result of many games or competitions that have been done by some football clubs in Indonesia, it shows that there are many develpments in the quality of football in Indonesia. As the fact, we can the result of AFF Competition some months ago, Indonesian Football Team got the second place of the winner. It also shows the improvement which is done by Alfred Riedl, the coach of Indonesian fooball team. By this success we can take a point that Indonesia really needs touch of foreigner to improve the quality of football. We need foreign coaches, naturalization of player, traning with foreign player, player exchange, etc.

There are some ways to improve the quality of Football in Indonesia, such as :

1.      Improve the management of the Football association in Indonesia like PSSI, take a good chief to lead the association.

2.      Need naturalization for the players.

3.      Provide chance for Indonesian player to play in foreign country.

4.      Maintance a good nutrition for players.

5.      Take foreign coach to lead Indonesian Football Clubs

6.      Look for good player all over Indonesia, from village to city, provinces by provinces. For example, players from Irian Jaya. They have good physic and good playing. They can be offered to lead Indonesia Football Team.

7.      Do many football tranings to improve skills.

8.      Streghten the quality of Clubs and Competitions.

9.      Players must have good mentality and great wish to develop.

South Sulawesi

Sulawesi, which was formerly known as Celebes, is an island with a very beautiful sea-shore and mountainous scenery. The area is 227.00 km2, just a little smaller than the whole land of England and Scotland. With long and narrow peninsulas, it takes the shape of an orchid flower. There is no land spot more than 90 km from the seashore. This gives the island a long beach-line. Geographically, the strait of Sulawesi (Makassar), is known as the Wallace Line, which separates two different kinds of faunas, between the eastern and western part of Indonesia. It has specific flora and fauna such as Ebony wood, deer, and Maleo birds which have large eggs. This island has been inhabited by people for about 30.000 years. Evidences can be found in caves near the limestone hills not far from Maros, -a town about 30 km north east of Makassarthe capital of South Sulawesi province. There is a possibility that the oldest civilization on this island was in Wallanae Valley, a place between Soppeng and Sengkang where tools made of pebble have been found. Fossils from the extinct species of pig, deer, and elephants were also found around this area. During the golden ages of spice trade from the 15 th until the 19th century, South Sulawesi played a role as the gate to the Mollucan Islands, the lands of spices. The mighty kingdoms of Makassar and Bone, as mentioned in the history of Eastern Indonesia, played an important role in trading and political field. South Sulawesi is inhabited by three main ethnic groups : Bugis, Makassar, and Toraja. The people of the first three ethnics have been known as patriotic and brave sailors during and after the wars. With the traditional sailing boats, they sailed across the seas of Indonesia, to the northern part of Australia, to a number of islands in the Pasific Ocean and to the African Coast. Toraja people are also famous for their specific culture; the traditional death ceremony, traditional houses with arch-shaped roofs and beautiful carvings with natural colors are known throughout Indonesia. The geography of South Sulawesi has created very interesting cultural instruments. One can see and enjoy the uniqueness of the cultures such as ceremonials, traditional dances, carvings, beautiful weaving from cotton and silk, and the fascinating tropical scenery. Source: http://celebes-tourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=95

A day, A Story

“Hei, kamu yang di belakang… Rambutmu tolong dicukur ya, udah panjang bangat rambutmu tuh. Kamu mahasiswa atau bukan? Dicukur nanti ya. Kamu juga, yang di sebelah sana. Kamu yang itu… Yang ini juga, yang baju merah. Rambutmu pasti panjang, tapi kamu sengaja menyisirnya kesamping…”

Itulah sedikit omelan dari Ibu Ida, dosen kami, yang telah membiarkan kami membuang-buang waktu dengan menunggunya setiap hari Kamis pagi. Hari ini kurang lebih 45 menit waktu terbuang, hingga ia menampakkan wajah innocent-nya di depan pintu kelas kami, dan memulai kuliah hari ini. Namun sebelum masuk pada materi inti, kami telah mendapat sarapan pagi yang tidak enak hari ini, omelan darinya.

Aku yang duduk di samping bagian belakang kelas, tersenyum kecil sambil menundukkan kepala, menyadari bahwa akulah yang disebut oleh Ibu Ida, ‘yang berbaju merah’. Aku sebenarnya sudah berharap sejak tadi semoga Ibu Ida tidak menyebut diriku juga sebagai salah satu penyandang rambut panjang di kelas kami. Tapi apa boleh buat, dewi fortuna kelihatannya tidak ingin berbagi kebaikan denganku hari ini. Ya, memang betul, bahkan lebih dari itu. Hari ini, sejak pagi, aku tidak bersemangat sama sekali. Beberapa hari ini memang aku terserang panas dalam yang dapat kukatakan cukup parah, dibarengi dengan kawan-kawan sebayanya: sariawan, dan sakit tenggorokan. Sudah tiga hari aku kehilangan mood-ku, begitu pula hari ini. Empat kaleng Lasegar telah kuhabiskan namun tak ada sedikit perubahan yang bisa kurasakan. Sungguh menyiksa.

Kuliah belum dimulai, masih terjadi “chatting-chatting segar” antara kami dan Ibu Ida sambil menunggu Danz, ketua kelas kami yang sedang mem-fotocopy materi kuliah yang akan didiskusikan nanti. Ibu Ida terus berceloteh, dan…

“Hei, kamu yang memakai jaket. Tolong dibuka jaketmu ya. Anak kuliah sekarang ada-ada saja.”

Aku yang sejak tadi serius mendengarkan celoteh-celoteh Ibu Ida langsung memalingkan pandangan, menatap kemana omelan Ibu Ida ditujukan. Teman kami, Dhanul, mendapat sarapan pedas yang sama yaitu teguran dari Ibu Ida.

“Iya, Bu”.

Itulah seonggok kata yang keluar dari mulut Dhanul, meyakinkan Ibu Ida bahwa ia akan melepaskan jaketnya. Dari depan pintu, Danz yang sejak tadi ditunggu-tunggu telah muncul dengan gaya ‘lemah gemulainya’, membawa lembaran-lembaran materi untuk kuliah kami. Kuliah hari ini langsung dimulai.

“Hari ini kita akan belajar tentang Men-summarize artikel… Silakan baca atribut-atributnya di bawah, bagaimana men-summarize sebuah paragraf atau artikel.” Ibu Ida menjelaskan.

“Kemudiah lihat contohnya di halaman sebelah..” Lanjut Ibu Ida.

Kuliah Ibu Ida hari ini berlangsung seperti biasa. Tak ada yang fantastis menurutku. Aku hanya menyukai aksen-aksen bahasa Ingrisnya yang sounds so cool. Ibu Ida kadang-kadang membenarkan pengucapan bahasa inggris kami yang salah atau yang over. Over maksudnya bahwa kami kadang-kadang membuat pronounciation yang lebih aneh dari bahasa Inggris yang sebenarnya. Ketika membenarkannya, disitulah ia menampakkan aksen kebarat-baratannya pada kami. And I guess that’s so cool.

Waktu berjalan tak begitu terasa. Ibu Ida akhirnya menutup pertemuannya kali ini, meninggalkan kelas, dan berlalu menghilang dari depan pintu kelas kami. Kami langsung bubar dengan aktifitas masing-masing, sambil menunggu datangnya dosen kedua hari ini, dosen yang lebih cool lagi dengan teori-teori psikologi serta cerita-ceritanya yang selalu membuat kami terpana, ternganga, dan tertawa terbahak-bahak, seperti bahasa gaul orang Barat, “LOL”.

Kuliah hari ini sungguh menyenangkan, namun di sisi lain ada pula hal-hal yang tak menyenangkan. Seperti yang terjadi pada diriku, yang kehilangan mood sejak dari jam pertama, selalu menguap ketika kuliah berlangsung, dan mengantuk. Juga yang terjadi pada teman-temanku, yang mendapat teguran, apalagi yang terjadi pada salah seorang temanku, Ayuni, yang got accident di jalanan dekat kampus tetangga. Ia akhirnya harus menunda kuliahnya hari ini dengan wajah yang tersedu-sedu disertai air mata mengalir di pipinya. Ia pula harus merelakan kulit mulusnya menjadi santapan aspal jalanan hingga menyisakan luka pada kakinya, dan di bagian siku tangannya. Hari ini memang sedikit menyedihkan. Dewi fortuna memang tidak bisa diajak kompromi untuk hari ini. Seperti yang dikatakan Daniel Powter dalam salah satu lirik lagunya, “bad day”. Yah, bad day.