I

n 2004, Everton was the first of the many EPL (English Premier League) soccer clubs (officially as a club and through the fans generously putting their hands in their pockets) to set an example by raising money for the relief of the victims of the devastating tsunami, still fresh in most of our minds.

I have a letter from that time from Bill Kenwright, chairman of Everton, in which he says that Everton would not hesitate to help in any way it could.

Now I read that Indonesia is going to sue Everton for its withdrawal from the Java Cup.

True, it is likely that most of Everton’s tsunami fund-raising would have been channeled to Thailand, the home of its main sponsors, and true, there is no direct connection between the two events, but there is surely a moral connection, and to attempt to sue Everton is a strange way of saying thank you for its response in 2004.

All the Indonesian soccer fans I have spoken to are convinced that the shambolic planning of the Java Cup is the fault of the organizers.

I know that marketing was virtually nonexistent. I bought tickets for my family and myself and, like most Everton fans in Indonesia, was gutted when the event collapsed. (To be fair we got our money back straight away.)

We know that Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) is in a mess. And we know that the struggle to control it has become, pardon the expression, a political soccer game.

I am a guest in this country, but soccer at this level has international ramifications, and surely we can urge the tainted Sports Ministry to step in and retrieve its reputation by cleaning up PSSI. How long do the genuine Indonesian soccer fans have to wait?

Everton is a professional organization which would not have taken the decision to withdraw lightly. It has an enviable reputation for community service, including an award-winning “soccer for the disabled” program, which is the best, not only in Britain, but the world.

Under Bill Kenwright and David Moyes, both men of the highest integrity, it has re-invented itself as the people’s club.

Like it or not, the significance of international sport is on the rise in the world. Especially soccer, with its minimal equipment requirements, its aesthetic qualities, and its potential for community development and training in teamwork, discipline and fair play.

For Indonesia to sue Everton now, even if it won on a technicality, is a lose-lose idea.

And Indonesia’s shortcomings as an international sporting venue would be further exposed.

Use this opportunity and turn it around, guys. I cannot speak for Everton, but I would guess that the club could respond positively to a request for help in sporting-event organization and how to organize community soccer programs.

And who would benefit?

The millions of low- and middle-income Indonesian soccer fans who are waiting for their political superiors to get their organizational act together.

Dachlan Cartwright
Jakarta