Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Jakarta's away support
This season sees Persija Jakarta enjoying a few 'local' games. As well as North Jakarta, just 25 kilometres away is Tangerang where Tangerang City share the Benteng Stadium. 40 kilometres south Bogor Division are having their first season in the big time for a while. Out on the road to Bandung is Puwarkarta (sp?) where Pelita Jaya are playing this season and of course just down the road is Bandung.
The Jakmania do travel in numbers and therein lies the problem. Against North Jakarta pressure of the crowd forced the surrounding fence to give way and there were fans crowding round the touch line. At Bogor the crowd was given as 20,000 but again there were so many fans down from Jakarta that some were refused admission which led to frustrations and some disorder.
Tomorrow they travel to Tangerang City. Again we can see uncontrolled numbers of Jakarta fans travelling and the potential for crowd disorder is high. Last year of course there was serious trouble at the stadium. Allowing such large numbers to travel, remember the team have started well, is a recipe for disaster and the people who control the game need to consider make Jakarta's away games all ticket.
It would take a change in thinking but we can't go on having large numbers of kids roaming free unsupervised at stadiums. Football needs to attract more private money and companies won't want to be associated with a product that hits the headlines for the wrong reasons. Closing the stadiums is the easy way out and hurts the clubs in the pocket.
Of course there is more to it than just all ticket games. This is after all Indonesia where slipping the right person a few thousand is a way of life but action needs to be taken soon or football will continue to make the headlines for the wrong reasons.
The Jakmania do travel in numbers and therein lies the problem. Against North Jakarta pressure of the crowd forced the surrounding fence to give way and there were fans crowding round the touch line. At Bogor the crowd was given as 20,000 but again there were so many fans down from Jakarta that some were refused admission which led to frustrations and some disorder.
Tomorrow they travel to Tangerang City. Again we can see uncontrolled numbers of Jakarta fans travelling and the potential for crowd disorder is high. Last year of course there was serious trouble at the stadium. Allowing such large numbers to travel, remember the team have started well, is a recipe for disaster and the people who control the game need to consider make Jakarta's away games all ticket.
It would take a change in thinking but we can't go on having large numbers of kids roaming free unsupervised at stadiums. Football needs to attract more private money and companies won't want to be associated with a product that hits the headlines for the wrong reasons. Closing the stadiums is the easy way out and hurts the clubs in the pocket.
Of course there is more to it than just all ticket games. This is after all Indonesia where slipping the right person a few thousand is a way of life but action needs to be taken soon or football will continue to make the headlines for the wrong reasons.
# posted by Me @ 7:02 PM 
