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Monday, January 21, 2008

 

Bits and pieces

Following their three year suspension Arema supporters club the Aremania have hired a legal team to help them appeal the sentence. Various local officials have also put their weight beyond the cause recognising potential future backers/voters!

In the meantime the linesmen who got slapped get quietly forgotten about.

After the nonsens at the end of the Persija v Persik game the FA met quickly and dished out a few judgements. Among them both Evgeny Khamarac, Persija keeper, and Christian Gonzalez, the Persik striker, were each fined 25 million rupiah, just under 3000 USD, and banned for two games. This being Indonesia both played Saturday!

Apparently some letter hadn't been recieved. In truth I'm avoiding this story 'cos it's so damned fluid, it changes every bloody minute. Sod that, let the local media get their copy from it.

Persipura were bloody impressive on Saturday against Persik. I watched the game with the Persija assistant coach Isman Jasulmei and he was purring at the performance of Ernest Jeremiah and Alberto Goncalves up front. Pace and strength plus support from the midfield it's going to take something to stop these guys. Isman wan't taken with my tactical nous - cut their legs off.

Back to the Manahan Stadium. This is widely considered one of the best stadiums in the country. One covered stand, the rest of the stadium is open terracing ste behind a running tarack so it some distance from the pitch. Also the terraces end quite high up so for fans to get on the pitch they need the agility of a cat.

I sat in the main stand and around me were mostly local families just enjoying the football. Behind one goal, to my right, there were the Persik and Deltras following, both small. Opposite in their usual place was the main body of Persis support who were quiet and again just enjoying the games. To my right was the Persija support, rowdy and colouful as ever, they put on a show that had the locals clapping in appreciation.

One thing that struck me was the lack of police pitch side. They were inside the stadium but they kept a low profile. Instead there were security guards who spent the game focused purely on the spectators, unlike the local cops who just sit and watch the game. I dunno how effective the security chaps would be if something did go off but inside the stadium for the game I saw there was a distinct lack of tension. All rather pleasant actually.

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