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Sriwijaya FC to pay for damages after match ends in chaos
Hooliganism: A Sriwijaya FC supporter throws a seat at Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium following the soccer club’s 3-0 loss to Arema Malang on Saturday
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H
ooliganism: A Sriwijaya FC supporter throws a seat at Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium following the soccer club’s 3-0 loss to Arema Malang on Saturday. According to Jakabaring Sport City management, 335 seats were pulled out and thrown toward the field. Sriwijaya FC, along with the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI), said they would evaluate the incident. (Antara)
The Youth and Sports Ministry has asked Sriwijaya FC to immediately replace seats that were damaged at the end of a soccer match that saw Arema Malang best Sriwijaya 3-0 at Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium.
Sriwijaya supporters tore out seats as a sign of protest after their club lost to Arema. More than just dissatisfied with the result, the supporters acted out of frustration over alleged mismanagement that had been taking place within the club.
Ministry spokesman Gatot S. Dewobroto acknowledged that the ministry and all relevant stakeholders were concerned about the incident. He also questioned why the stadium was used just a month before the Asian Games.
“All Asian Games venues have been free of high-risk public events. The Gelora Bung Karno sporting complex and all venues located in West Java have been complying with this,” Gatot said in a press statement made available by the ministry on Sunday.
The club management, along with the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI), will be financing repairs under the supervision of the South Sumatra Public Works office. The repairs will be completed no later than early August.
Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium is located within Jakabaring Sport City and is a venue for the 18th edition of the 2018 Asian Games. The women’s soccer will take place in the stadium.
Jakabaring Sport City security supervisor Rusli Nawi, who was on site when the supporters protested, said that 335 stadium seats were damaged or thrown toward the field.
“As many as 231 seats from the north tribune and 104 seats from the south tribune were pulled out and thrown at the field as a sign of protest. This was the worst [incident] in my nearly 10 years working at this facility,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
Rusli said that as the seats were not produced in Indonesia, replacing them would be difficult and take a lot of time given the process of ordering them.
Jakabaring Sport City management, he went on, would file reports with the Palembang City Police over the incident. According to local media reports, the police named four people suspects.
Palembang City Police chief Sr. Comr. Wahyu Bintono told the local media that the police were still questioning the four.
“We are still determining whether they were emotionally motivated or if there were third parties involved,” he said.
PSSI deputy chief Joko Driyono said his side would thoroughly evaluate the incident. The club, according to PSSI regulations, could face disciplinary sanctions as a result of the conduct of its supporters.
Sanctions over similar violations have been handed down in the past, with various cases resulting in supporters being banned from attending matches, financial sanctions and the organization of invite-only matches on neutral grounds.
The PSSI scheduled a meeting to discuss alleged disciplinary violations.
“We will hear soon enough about the results of this meeting,” Joko told The Jakarta Post.
Above all, our concern right now is how to fix the stadium because it is part of the Asian Games, he added.
