‘I couldn’t breathe’: Lover safety under spotlight after Indonesia soccer match chaos eliminates 2

WHY BACKGROUND HAS REPEATED ITSELF

Despite the investigations carried out and sanctions imposed, analysts and stakeholders think the measures are too lenient and authorities are not taking the problem seriously.

According to Save Our own Soccer (SOS), a football community-based watchdog in Jakarta, 79 people have died in Indonesia since 1994 due to football-related accidents.

Arguements between supporters of different clubs are a major cause of death and also people being smashed.

Supporters falling from open-air vehicles when they wanted to go to a match jointly or after going to a game together can also be another factor.

Coordinator through SOS Akmal Marhali said deadly accidents continue to happen due to the fact after every accident, there was limited action taken and the punishments were too easygoing.

“There is no law-based solution, so there is no prevention effect and it is not raising awareness amongst supporters, ” Mister Marhali told CNA.

He or she also said there is minimum education upon safety regulations and the international football association regulations. Therefore , supporters lack the required knowledge to protect on their own.

Sports activities lecturer from Bandung Institute of Technologies Tommy Apriantono concurred.

“The organisers, security authorities and supporters have to evaluate together. Which should be the responsibility from the government. The youth and sports ministry should be the main drivers because this cuts across sectors, ” he said.

Ideally, psychologists and sociologists should also be involved because they understand the thinking plus motivation of the followers, he added.

“The characteristics among Persib’s supporters plus Persebaya’s are different, but there is a common characteristic which is total fanaticism.

“They will be ready to fight (for their particular team). ”

Mr Apriantono observed that in the past, a couple of clubs were reputed for their aggressive followers. But they managed to teach their fans over time.

Sports analyst Anton Sanjoyo added how the problem of fake match tickets is a long running one.

“So when we say there is an issue with the tickets, it has been happening for decades because we do not have a proper system, ” he said.

“There are many counterfeit tickets. Perhaps half those who show up (at matches) have fake tickets … Especially now that tickets are sold online, it is easy to make counterfeit tickets due to the fact we don’t have a secure ticketing program. ”

Acting secretary with the Ministry of Youth plus Sports Jonni Mardizal told CNA there have been efforts to tackle the problem.

Before every single football match, the ministry holds conferences with various stakeholders on safety and other issues, he stated.

“So we now have mitigation measures, we remind everyone to follow along with the regulations, ” said Mr Mardizal.

“If some thing happened anyway, it was beyond our ability. Maybe on the field, there were too many supporters. Hence, they outnumbered the number of security officers, ” said Mister Mardizal.

Nevertheless , he maintained that there were sufficient security officers on duty upon Jun 17 in Bandung.

Whilst Persib for now is not allowed to host video games with spectators, the President Cup proceeds and this is some thing football fan Mister Fauzi regrets.

“For PSSI as well as the others, perhaps they need to improve their management … The football matches in Bandung needs to be stopped for now since no victory (on the pitch) is worth people’s lives, ” he said.