Timo Scheunemann has guided Persema to the top of the Liga Primer Indonesia. But as well as being a top football coach, Timo has one other burning passion! Read what it is in the Jakarta Globe!
It is being reported locally that struggling Indonesia Super League side Persiba Balikpapan have sacked their Philippine international midfielder Jason de Jong despite only signing him in February. It is said that De Jong refused to fly to Papua for a couple of games there saying he was injured. He also got upset when he was substituted against Arema.
I've been sitting on this story for a couple of weeks now, waiting for more mainstream media to do something on it and of course instead of it being a headline stop the press story it kind of sneaks through the back door.
Basically what I have heard is that the Liga Primer Indonesia will merge with the Indonesia Super League, the top 10 teams from each division will combine to form a new, I guess, super duper league.
I don't know how far negotiations have gone with this, a couple of people saying the that LPI won't continue after the mid season break.
It's worth pointing out that the FA still doesn't have a head. Can a decision like this be made without a head? Is now the best time to push through such a dramatic reform?
Details are still fuzzy obviously but today I see a story that PSS and Real Mataram would consider merging to join the super duper league. And there is lies the problem. PSS, despite a marvelous stadium and support, are a mid table Divisi Utama club while Real Mataram, despite boasting the LPI's top scorer, Fernando Soler, are 15th in the 19 team league, seven points adrift of 10th place.
There will obviously be some kind of discussion going on as to how best accommodate the LPI teams in a revamped (again) Indonesian football pyramid but you can imagine lower ranking ISL teams as well as Divisi Utama will fight tooth and nail to keep their place in the league structure. Perhaps mergers do offer a way forward with local government funding to end at the end of this year and LPI clubs being encouraged to adopt a more commercial footing.
I did ask a leading LPI official last weekend but they knew nothing about it.
Group A (Manadala Stadium & Barnabas Youwe Stadium, Jayapura)
Persidafon, Persiraja, Persiram, Gresik United
Group B (Madya Kudungga Stadium, Tenggarong & Senggiri Stadium, Samarinda)
Mitra Kukar, PSAP, Persiba Bantul, PSMS
Obviously Persidafon and Mitra Kukar, as hosts, will go through. Won't they?
Semi finals and Final could well be played at Manahan Stadium in Solo but to be confirmed.
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 06:28:00
THIS has all the makings of a conspiracy. Here’s a story about a coach — KL coach Razip Ismail to be exact — and the plot to remove him from the team.
Razip’s "legitimacy" to coach KL has come under question. He posseses an Alicence and has never missed a single training session with the lads but for some people, that isn’t enough. A complaint was lodged to the FA of Malaysia (FAM) competitions committee, claiming that Razip is a fulltime staff of KL City Hall.
This, apparently, is not in accordance with the regulations as all coaches are supposed to train the team full-time. Razip was seconded to the KL Sports Council and then seconded to the KL Football Association (KLFA).
He had the approval from the various departments, including City Hall’s sports management director Datuk Muhammad Sidek Khalid, and was required to show his face in the office as a mere formality. The documents were submitted to FAM and the competitions committee considered the case closed.
Disappointed, Razip’s nemesis went a step further, making copies of Razip’s punch card and sending it to FAM recently to prove that Razip still reports to City Hall. So what if Razip still does?
City Hall funds KLFA and pays the wages of the KL Sports Council's staff. KLFA is housed at the Cheras Stadium which is maintained by City Hall.
Previous KL mayors who have helmed KLFA include Tan Sri Elyas Omar and Datuk Seri Ab Hakim Borhan. What is the big deal? Razip isn't coaching Barcelona or Bayern Munich. He is coaching KL — a team placed 12th in the Super League standings.
He doesn't earn millions or drives a Ferrari 458 Italia. The former international coaches for the love of football. FAM competitions committee chairman Datuk Hamidin Amin brushed off the allegations, claiming they were trivial.
“If you claim you are a journalist from The Malay Mail and when I ask for verification, your Human Resource department and the editor sends us the documents. I feel it is good enough to prove that you are a staff of the paper.
”We can't dwell on such matters. We have other pressing matters to attend to,” added Hamidin.
Sadly, several former players are linked to Razip’s downfall. Razip knows them well.
“I know who they are. I just don’t understand why are they so fixated over my role. I didn’t want the job... it was KLFA who offered me the job. I’m here to help the team.
“If anyone thinks they can do a better job, be my guest and run the team,” Razip added.
Radhi Mat Din was the caretaker coach for Kedah after Ahmad Yusof was sidelined. Radhi is not even an Alicenced coach yet he managed Kedah for more than a month before Wan Jamak Wan Hassan took over while everyone knows that Ahmad didn't even turn up at the training ground throughout that duration.
Why wasn't that probed? Why isn't anyone questioning the lack of leagues at the State level or why the only team in the Super League to own and run a stadium is club side Johor FC? Why is MSL Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa still speaking about privatising the league when it should have been done a long time ago?
That is the sad state of affairs currently. Many tend to waste time on trivial matters but continue to ignore more pressing ones. Sigh!
COMMENT - Malaysian football has made tremendous strides on the field over the last few years. Unfortunately the Machiavellian machinations off the field are like to impact the careers of promising young players like Gary Robbat unless this nonsense can be knocked on the head.
It is being reported that players from Indonesia Super League team Deltras, them specialists of last minute penalties at home, haven't been paid for nine months. Which is just about the whole bloody season!
Deltras, from Sidoarjo, have even lost their last two home games, a real culture shock down their way, against Pelita Jaya and Semen Padang, teams hardly known for their success on the road and they are now second bottom in the ISL nine points clear of bottom club Bontang. Mathematically they could be overtaken but it is unlikely with several games remaining.
Among the foreign players at Deltras are Danilo Fernando, Cristian Lopes and Marcio Souza. The club also have a 23 year old girl as club manager who was recently photographed travelling round Europe on an FA funded jaunt while the players were getting by on noodles and water.
The guy sobbing in the picture? Wasn't he the one Noh Alam Shah grabbed by the balls last year while he was playing for Persela?
UPDATE - no, not the same person I'm reliably informed!
KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 (Bernama) -- The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) is expected to announce the list of athletes for the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia from Nov 11 to 25, in July.
The OCM honorary secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said all National Sports Associations (NSAs) have been asked to submit their list of athletes who had qualified for the games.
"The NSAs have two months to decide and submit their recommended list before the OCM Selection Committee finalize the list," he told reporters after attending a sponsorship pledge ceremony by Global Jianyou Technology Co. Ltd to OCM at Wisma OCM here Tuesday.
Global Jianyou Technology, a company involved in medical and health products and based in Beijing, China would contribute 40 electronic pulse massagers that can be used to provide quick relief for muscle injuries.
Among the recipients of the contribution include the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union, Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia, Malaysian Amateur Basketball Association, Malaysian Gymnastics Federation and the Malaysian Wushu Federation.
The OCM honorary secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said all National Sports Associations (NSAs) have been asked to submit their list of athletes who had qualified for the games.
"The NSAs have two months to decide and submit their recommended list before the OCM Selection Committee finalize the list," he told reporters after attending a sponsorship pledge ceremony by Global Jianyou Technology Co. Ltd to OCM at Wisma OCM here Tuesday.
Global Jianyou Technology, a company involved in medical and health products and based in Beijing, China would contribute 40 electronic pulse massagers that can be used to provide quick relief for muscle injuries.
Among the recipients of the contribution include the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union, Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia, Malaysian Amateur Basketball Association, Malaysian Gymnastics Federation and the Malaysian Wushu Federation.
-- BERNAMA
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