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Thursday, January 02, 2014

 

Indonesia's Players Unions

Indonesian football has had more two by twos than old man Noah and his ark. We have seen two leagues, two associations and even, for one hilarious moment time, two national teams preparing for the 2012 AFF Cup...remember that bunch in Australia playing some Sunday School outfits?!

Now they have another players' union to almost complete the set.

We already have the APPI which Indonesia's football association, PSSI, does not recognise. Now there is the APSI which was set up to much fanfare a few days back. Whereas APPI has Bambang Pamungkas and Ponaryo Astaman, the new mob have Ismed Sofyan.

The international players union, FIFPro, seem less than amused by this new development with Brendan Schwab tweeting 'We don't recognise it and PSSI must deal with and '

So what's it all about and why is the PSSI so reluctant to recognize the APPI?

Till now, APPI has shown little bite. Towards the end of the 2012 season they did hold a meeting where they came out with some show of defiance, threatening to go on strike if they didn't get the money they were owed.

They didn't get the money and they didn't go on strike.

Now, in a classic 'divide and conquer' move, the PSSI has thrown its weight behind the APSI and given their past form they are likely to continue keeping FIFA and any other interfering group at arms length. Remember, these are the people who have continuously broken FIFA regulations and the world governing body has done nothing.

Don't putforward the treat of action that brought about a merger between the two associations so ending the IPL/ISL mess. Call me a hoary old cynic but the IPL was hemorrhaging cash, no one was interested in it, it wasn't being shown on TV, the political battle had moved elsewhere.

FIFA just sounded tough at the right time.

Just because PSSI is told they must recognize APPI doesn't mean they will. Clubs have also been told to honour contracts but they don't.

All the while FIFA sits on its arse in Switzerland and does nothing about the mess in Indonesian football then the PSSI will continue to cock a snook at the rest of the world.

FIFPro has called on PSSI to address three issues. If they don't, and as mentioned several times they have form in this, there appears to be no sanction. It could be just carry on regardless unless FIFA wants to break the habits of a lifetime and crank up the action and impose sanctions on the serial regulation breakers.

  1. the recognition by the PSSI of APPI as the exclusive collective representative body of Indonesia’s professional footballers. It is for FIFPro – and not the PSSI – to determine the structure of APPI, as FIFA exclusively recognises FIFPro as the representative body of players and FIFPro has its own high standards that apply to all member players’ associations including APPI;
  2. the making of legally binding and enforceable arrangements between the PSSI, the leagues and the clubs to ensure the payment of all outstanding salaries to players before, and as a condition of, the commencement of the unified leagues in 2014; and
  3. the establishment of the requisite standards in accordance with the agreements reached between FIFA and FIFPro to apply to the unified league from 2014.


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