I

t is not merely about the delay of the Indonesia Super League (ISL) soccer competition, which was supposed to kick off on Feb. 20, 2015. It is about the prolonged bickering among soccer stakeholders in the country.

The much-awaited professional league has been put on hold until April 4, according to organizer PT Liga Indonesia (LI). However, the Indonesian Professional Sports Body (BOPI) says there will be no definite start date set for the competition unless both LI and the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) are able to meet the requirements in place.

The delay was ordered by Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi upon recommendation from BOPI, which found a number of participating clubs did not qualify for the league.

Both the ministry and BOPI require all ISL clubs to submit required financial documents such as audited financial reports, tax payment receipts and players'€™ and officials'€™ salary slips.

Assistant to the youth and sports minister for development and partnerships Gatot S. Dewa Broto said the ministry and BOPI would not bow to the ISL'€™s demands until all the problematic clubs fulfilled the requirements.

'€œThere is still a possibility that the competition could start sooner as long as those clubs meet the requirements,'€ Gatot said, as quoted by kompas.com. '€œAll consequences resulting from the delay are the responsibility of PSSI and PT Liga Indonesia.'€

Imam said the government was taking the tough measures to uphold the rule of the game, which all clubs must respect.

'€œWe do not want the same problems to recur in the future. We have to make sure that through the verification process all clubs are financially capable of paying the salaries of their players and officials. They cannot ask the government to take over their problems,'€ he told tribunnews.com.

The 18 clubs participating in the ISL have demanded that the league organizer ignore the ministry'€™s order and let the competition go ahead, saying the government'€™s action constituted an abuse of power.

'€œWe hope President [Joko] '€œJokowi'€ [Widodo] takes a stern measure against the sports minister because his abuse of power has prevented the competition from running,'€ secretary of Jayapura-based club Persipura, Rocky Bebena, said as quoted by kompas.com.

The clubs fear the longer the league is delayed, the bigger the financial problems they will accrue. CEO of former champion Arema Cronus, Iwan Budianto, said a two-month delay could cost the Malang, East Java-based club up to Rp 4 billion.

'€œSuch a condition has prompted the management to seek other sources of funding to cover our operational costs. Besides, our sponsor has given the money for a season,'€ he said.

Delaying a competition is not only about schedules. There are other aspects that must be taken into account. Fans and supporters only know that they will have to adjust their schedules with the matches. Coaches need to recalculate the peak of each of their players'€™ physical fitness and change strategies as there will be different fixtures, just to name a few. The management has to deal with sponsors and endorsers as well as looking for other sources of funding to cover their monthly expenses.

For fans and supporters, a soccer match is not mere entertainment. We see how they are emotionally involved with their favorite teams either in winning or losing. The fans are the 12th player in a team and therefore a team wants nothing but to give its best shots.

Unfortunately, there are still flaws in the Indonesian soccer competition.

According to media reports, so far only three out of 18 ISL clubs have been assessed and earned licenses as professional clubs from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). They are Arema Cronus, defending champion Persib of Bandung and two-time champion Persipura.

Five other clubs '€” Sriwijaya FC of Palembang, South Sumatra; Persija Jakarta; Semen Padang of West Sumatra; Surabaya-based Persebaya; and Pelita Bandung Raya of Ban-
dung '€” are in the pipeline.

Surprised?

We should not be. For a long time, most clubs in Indonesia have been managed sans professionalism. We have read and heard news about how clubs cannot afford to give their players decent pay. This resulted in poor health for some players '€” including foreign players '€” and in a few cases resulted in deaths.

Soccer in Indonesia '€” despite the glittery pictures and wide coverage '€” is not as good as it seems. We can see it from Indonesia'€™s performance on the international stage. The best achievement of the national team was finishing third in the 1958 Asian Games.

It is not the right time to recall the good old days. It is time to talk about what soccer stakeholders can do to build a stronger team for tomorrow. As the world'€™s fourth-most populous nation, Indonesia can take advantage of its demographic bonus to scout out the best soccer talents.

The government'€™s decision to postpone the soccer league is just the beginning of a big, long-term effort to promote professionalism in club management. Clubs should stop whining and acting like spoiled children. They should instead do their part by improving their management to ensure their players perform and therefore receive good salaries.

Without professionalism, Indonesian soccer will remain the second fiddle and would be unlikely survive in regional, let alone global competitions.