In the world of football, it’s well acknowledged – at the very least by the football fans out there that referees are the most powerful leader in the game. It means that whatever decisions that a referee takes in the circumstances of the game of football his decision is final and cannot be challenged in any manner by the players from both teams, or by spectators , as well as any other officials who are not able to make such decisions.
But, it didn’t seem to go as planned with the referee Jimmy Napitupulu while he was in charge of the Indonesia Cup football game final today between Sriwijaya FC and Arema which was played at Solo. Today, on the first August, a number of his decisions in the first half were criticized by the crowd who filled Stadium Manahan at Solo, the venue which was where the final match was played.
The final straw was reached in the second half when Jimmy Napitupulu made a decision to issue a red-card to one of the players from Arema, Noh Alam Shah in the opening half which left Arema free spbo playing with just 10 men. The official gave him a yellow for the way he lifted his leg up in the air and also for striking Precious Emuejeraye, who plays for Sriwijaya FC, on the face.
Unfortunately for the official that caused the crowd Arema’s fans to say – to become insane. In the final game, Arema’s fans were easy to spot as they packed the stadium with a lot of. In the aftermath of this incident, the Regional Chief Police Officer for Mid Java, Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo made a request after the first half , which ended 0-0 , officials change the referee. In addition, in the event that this request was not allowed, he’d be able to disqualify all players from the Indonesia Cup football final game.
He said that the motive was to avoid riots being triggered by Arema’s fans outrage. But, as a matter truth, it was clear that there was not any indications of riots at the time of the game. When approached by one of the journalists on the scene to report on what happened at the end of the game the head police officer stated that there was no issue to PSSI officials to leave and that security concerns were the business of police.
It’s true that he doesn’t know about Jimmy Napitupulu is a FIFA-certified referee who has earned a reputation for directing many football matches in Indonesia. With FIFA certificating the referees, it is a sign that the referee knows the skills required to manage the game in the way they are supposed to. The FIFA certification also indicates that the referee is aware of what rules apply to football in full detail, knowing how to handle players who commit fouls , and when to issue red and yellow cards. Naturally, FIFA is the only authority to certify referees that the world’s top football federation can count on.
However, once the first period was finished, officials of the game had to pay the attention of officials on this very rare issue. This also led to for the remainder of the game to be stopped for longer than an hour. There was also speculation that a solution to the twin champions could be the cause of this particular issue.
This was, however, very amusing. The Dutch head coach for Arema the team, Robert Rene Alberts, was not averse to the decisions of the referee. Then, why would inspector general Alex Bambang Rietmodjo thought about substituting the referee at all? Arema’s coach even agreed to keep the game going with only ten players in his team. The coach stated that it was unfortunate such a tragedy occurred because Indonesia is a beautiful nation with extremely good people. Therefore, he said that Indonesian citizens should strive to become more proficient in the field of football. The director of Sriwijaya FC, Rahmad Darmawan stated that it didn’t matter if they lost or won during the game. The most important thing was whether the players of both teams performed fairly or not. The coach also stated that if Arema was to win the game at all, he’d be happy to congratulate the coaches and players. Also, as I said fair play was far more important than winning.
This incident is a bit bizarre and unique. In reality there aren’t any substitute referees or twin champions in the world of football in the globe. It’s the way it should be. However, Indonesia appears to be an exception. There are also reports that around the 70s this kind of incident occurred in one of the football matches in Indonesia. In the past, the ultimate solution was to have two champions. In the end, twin champions appeared in the last PON which was held recently prior to the final match at the Indonesia Cup was held.