Fink: FIFA must save Indonesian football

ESPNSTAR.com columnist Jesse Fink identifies the need for FIFA to step in and save Indonesia's ailing football scene.

Indonesia national team in AFF Cup 2010

What does FIFA do in Indonesia now that the national football association (PSSI) has been exposed for the broken organisation it is following the farcical scenes at the PSSI General Assembly in Pekanbaru?


The congress was called off over security fears, PSSI general secretary Nugraha Besoes claiming official FIFA observer Frank Van Hattum had made the call. Van Hattum, who was prevented from attending the meeting, has denied this categorically and will be filing a report with FIFA.

Usman Fakaubun, the congress chairman, is in no doubt what happened. He has made the sensational claim that the event's "cancellation was motivated by the perception by the PSSI leadership after the registration of the delegates that they had no majority in this congress".

Yet it wasn't long ago that FIFA was urging its then ally, the very same PSSI leadership of Besoes and president Nurdin Halid, knock on the head the rebel domestic competition, the Indonesia Premier League, started up by upstart oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro.

The Indonesian government, for its part, has stripped funding for the PSSI and "no longer acknowledges the leadership of PSSI or any sports activities held under their leadership" and will be "temporarily halting any disbursement of funding from the state budget until a new PSSI leadership is formed".

So if the PSSI is not a fit body to run Indonesian football, Panigoro's league is dangerous and illegitimate and (as per FIFA statutes regarding political interference) Indonesia's government has no business in making comments whatsoever about how the game is run, then who the hell is going to step up and save Indonesian football?

FIFA normally strips national associations of their membership of the world body in such chaotic circumstances and then leaves the relevant parties to sort out their differences before coming back and asking to be readmitted.

But Indonesia should not be thrown out of FIFA. It is far too important a nation in the atlas of the game and its long-suffering fans scarcely deserve any more punishment for the failure of football's leadership in this sprawling archipelago.

FIFA should commission an emergency committee to take over the PSSI and appoint a special administrator that can restore order and integrity to Indonesian football's vexed internal political processes and then map a way out of this horrible mess.

It's going to take months, even years, but the stakes are high and football in this fascinating but turbulent country deserves a duty of care it has hitherto been denied.

It's ironic that an organisation itself as flawed as FIFA may be the PSSI's only hope but that's how desperate the situation is. If it can save Indonesian football, it might just even restore some of its own lost face.
And that's a win for Indonesia and a win for the world game.

original from: espnstar.com