The dismal face of national soccer brought about by scandalous, theatrical games, death, misbehavior of players and the sheer failure on all fronts in international competitions has made 2014 another year to forget.

The death of a player in May seemed to be a bad harbinger for national soccer throughout the season. A striker with the Persiraja Banda Aceh club, Akli Fairuz, died from an injury he sustained after a horrific challenge by PSAP Sigli goalkeeper Agus Rahman during an Indonesian Super League (ISL) match in the Dimurthala Stadium, Lampinueng, Banda Aceh.

The tragedy should be blamed on match officials, who considered the player to be OK and did not immediately take him to hospital. No ambulance and no team of doctors was available during the match.

The player was left watching the rest of the match from the bench. However, when he was admitted to hospital later in the day, doctors discovered that he had sustained severe internal injuries and a ruptured bladder. Akli died in hospital five days after the incident.

The Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) found Agus guilty and slapped him with a year-long ban. It also warned PT Liga Indonesia to uphold medical regulations.

Only a day after the incident, national striker Ferdinand Sinaga, who was blinded with rage after some supporters kept mocking him during the Indonesia versus ASEAN All-Star match at Gelora Bung Karno, climbed up the guardrail to confront his mockers.

The mockers apparently were fans of Persija Jakarta, the arch rival club of Ferdinand'€™s Persib Bandung.

Due to his unruly behavior, Ferdinand was banned from the national team for two matches.

Earlier this month, world soccer governing body FIFA issued a statement that it had fined three Indonesian clubs for publishing secret transfer information on Twitter.

Persebaya Surabaya and Persires Bali Devata were each ordered to pay 25,000 Swiss francs (US$25,800) for publishing confidential data on club-linked Twitter accounts, while PSIS Semarang was fined 15,000 Swiss francs for republishing the other teams'€™ tweets and publishing a confidential letter sent to them by FIFA, Agence France-Presse reported.

It is the first time FIFA has sanctioned clubs for such confidentiality breaches via the use of social media.

The ugly face of domestic competitions appeared to be even more dreadful with the most shameful incident taking place in October during a match between PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang in the Indonesian Premier League, one tier below the Indonesian Super League.

Played behind closed doors, the match, which ended in a 3-2 win for PSS Sleman, saw players from both sides race to score not in their opponents'€™ net but in their own. They sought a loss in order to avoid facing an unwanted opponent in the next stage.

The scandals carried lifetime bans for several players and prompted the public to start a petition, calling for the freezing of PSSI.

It also caused the Youth and Sports Ministry to set up a special team to reform the national soccer body, even though some people considered the move a form of government intervention, which would violate FIFA statutes. FIFA members must manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties, including government.

In international competitions, Indonesian national teams were brought down to earth. The most shocking showing was at the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.

Joining Group A played in Hanoi, the Garuda team suffered a 4-0 thumping by the Philippines to lose for the first time to the soccer minnows. The dreadful result buried Indonesia'€™s hopes for a maiden title in a competition in which it had previously reached the finals four times.

The U-23 team was eliminated in the round of 16 at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, where the Indonesian sporting delegation brought home a collection of only four gold, five silver and 11 bronze medals to finish in 17th position among the 45 participating nations at the quadrennial Asian multi-event sporting showcase.

The U-19 team failed to qualify for the Asian Cup U-19 championships after being defeated by Uzbekistan, Australia and the United Arab Emirates during the group qualifying round, which also meant it did not qualify for the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

Persipura Jayapura, the only hope to remedy Indonesia'€™s soccer pain after it managed to advance to the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, was finally crushed by Al Qadsia of Kuwait 6-0.

PSSI deputy chairman La Nyalla Mahmud Mattalitti, in a recent interview with local media, refused to take the blame for the failure of the Indonesian teams.

'€œYou cannot measure an achievement from merely winning or losing a competition. This is soccer,'€ he said.

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