Talk about surprise signings. Penang recruiting Dylan Wenzel-Hall has to be the coup of the window in Malaysia where the perceived wisdom is high-profile players, if they go there at all, tend to head south, certainly not an island off the northwest coast.
But why would the 27 year-old forward want to leave Central Coast Mariners? The Gosford based side have won back to back ALeague titles and are now the reigning AFC Cup/AFC Champions League Two cup holders. Never have they been so dominant yet Hall has given all that up and been lured north to a team which has finished 10th and 12th in the last two seasons and is likely to be an also-ran in a league dominated by just one club.
On the outside, it's a move that makes absolutely no sense. Instead of looking forward to games against the likes of Shanghai Shenhua, Yokohama F Marinos and, ironically, Johor Darul Ta'zim, he now has the pleasure of Kuching City, PDRM and Sabah! And, as a statement signing, you would expect the club to follow that up with other players of a similar standing.
After eight rounds, Hall's new side sit 8th with two wins and two losses scoring nine goals along the way.
Australians are of course familiar with Malaysian football. Back in the late 1980s, the likes of Alaister Edwards, Darren Stewart and Abbas Saad blazed a trail north and Hall is arguably just continuing in that tradition. And even now there are strong links between the football families in both countries and doubtless Hall would have tapped into that shared knowledge before making the switch.
But, you know what? In an era when transfer rumours have become a form of entertainment with wall-to-wall coverage and some journos devoted purely to passing on bits of gossip, it makes a nice change to be genuinely blindsided by a move
GROUP ABEKASI CITY (Purnawarman, Purwakarta)
DEJAN FC (Persikas, Subang)
PERSIKABO (Pakansari, Cibinong)
PERSIKOTA (Benteng Reborn, Tangerang)
PERSIRAJA (Harapan Bangsa, Aceh)
PSKC (Si Jalak Harupat, Bandung)
PSMS (Baharuddin Siregar, Deli Serdang)
PSPS (Kaharudin Nasution, Pekanbaru)
SRIWIJAYA FC (Jakabaring, Palembang)
GROUP B
ADHYAKSA FC (Sriwedari, Solo)
BHAYANGKARA FC (Tri Sanja, Tegal)
NUSANTARA UNITED (Kebo Giro, Boyolali)
PERSEKAT (Tri Sanja, Tegal)
PERSIJAP (Moch. Soebroto, Magelang)
PERSIKAS (Persikas, Subang)
PERSIKU (Wergu Wetan, Kudus)
PERSIPA (Joyokusumo, Pati)
PSIM (Mandala Krida, Jogjakarta)
GROUP C
DELTRAS (Soepriadi, Blitar)
GRESIK UNITED (Tuban Sport Centre, Tuban)
PERSELA (Tuban Sport Centre, Tuban)
PERSEWAR (Mandala, Jayapura)
PERSIBO (Letjen H. Soedirman, Bojonegoro)
PERSIPAL (Gawalise, Palu)
PERSIPURA (Mandala, Jayapura)
RANS FC (Untung Suropati, Pasuruan)
In many countries around the world it's quite easy to look at the fixtures, then turn up in that town and follow the crowds. Indonesia of course doesn't work that way. Home grounds change willy nilly, often with little notice and no logic. To be fair, Indonesia does try to anticipate; pre-season the Liga announces which grounds teams have selected as their homebase(s) and a couple of days ago they released the information for Liga 2 - which starts this weekend!
A number of the more established or historic clubs are among those looking forward to a nomadic season. PSMS for example won't be playing in Medan but Deli Serdang which is an hour or so south. Given how fickle fans can be that can be too far!
At least the likes of Persikota, Persikabo, Sriwijaya, PSPS and Persiraja will be playing on familiar territory in Group A.
Moving to Group B and of the six 'proper' teams there, five have the luxury of playing in their proper home. For some reason, Persijap will be sharing Moch Soebroto in Magelang with rivals PSIS. Cop backed Bhayangkara won Liga 1 as recently as 2017 playing in Jakarta but they have always struggled for fans beyond their uniformed base and this season the newly relegated side will be hoping the good folk of Tegal will come out to support them. Newly promoted Adhyaksa Farmel were initially from South Tangerang but this coming season they will be playing in Solo at Sriwedari Stadium, the first ground I ever visited in Indonesia if not for a game.
In Group C another 'new' club, RANS Nusantara will begin life in Liga 2 playing in Pasuruan in East Java - a far cry from when they were called Cilegon United and played in, um, Cilegon in front of real live fans. But for me, the biggest WTF refers to three well established sides, Deltras (Sidoarjo), Gresik United (Gresik) and Persela (Lamongan) have their own decent fan bases but the new season will see them playing in Blitar and Tuban respectively. Gresik has two decent stadiums, why the rubber duck do they need to travel west along the Pantura to Tuban?
This pattern follows Liga 1 where a number of grounds are being renovated, no matter how new they are. The problem is the clubs of course don't own their own grounds, they usually come under the remit of the local council and no doubt there is little to no communication between the two, and the LIB, when it comes to scheduling any repairs. Bad for the fans who can't see their team and bad for the clubs who lose gate money.
And a logistical nightmare for any casual fan who just fancies a game at the weekend!
Jakarta Casual
