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JIFL News N°3. vol 3.
Season 2006-2007
:: Edito
History has been made
Howdy again, partners…. After the Ramadan break last week in which nobody played, this week I actually had a chance to watch a JIFL football match and these are my observations for the current week in the JIFL.
.::. Uniformity
For the first time in JIFL history all players from both sides were in uniform literally. And I have to say, that that simple fact made the match standard look even better then usual. It added at least 25% to the aesthetic of the game. It is my dream (as most of you know already) to see that kind of professionalism as standard throughout the league. We should all aspire to such order and completeness in our sport and our lives if for no other reason then just for the respect of the beautiful game of football. Well done to both clubs. Please continue to strive for such excellence and set a standard for our league. When we look good then usually we respond with better if not slightly better performance. In other words, when we look good then we usually feel good as well. That’s a fact!
.::. Democracy? What does that mean actually?
I blame the British and now the Americans for propagating the word Democracy as a panacea for all evils. Now think about it. Where in the world is there any competition or team that is ruled by a democratic vote? Can you imagine that? Before the game we all sit down and vote for which position each player will play in tonight. Or anytime a team or club decision is going to be made then we all sit and discuss each aspect and scenario that may or may not occur. Then, after we have wasted the first two hours of the meeting, we come to majority vote. And even if the case is such that 49% of the populace votes ‘Nay’ yet 51% vote ‘Yay’ then the majority wins which means that just about half the constituents are unhappy and the other half are happy. Such is the case presently in the United States with President George Bush. The country is divided down the middle and can’t get anything done or make any proper decisions regarding anything really. Now take this same scenario and apply it to a football club and then show me where there is a successful football club anywhere in the world where half the team is unhappy and the other half is delighted. If democracy is the case then there never would have been any starting point for any football game ever to have been played in the history of the world.
Why do I mention this? Because last night one of our lads on the Wanderers tried a power move using the ‘conventional wisdom’ of the day and shouted ‘democracy’ when he couldn’t have his way. And then couldn't even get his sole conspirator to speak up and back him. Then I noticed him walking around still trying to garner support here or there even after zero agreement was expressed for his side of the issue. And this was after the lad challenged the manager about where he thinks that he plays best when all of the team hasn’t agreed with him in three years. He yelled 'Democracy' to try and justify his cause. I almost hit the ground in hysterical fits of laughter mixed with paroxysms of embarrassment when I heard that word (yet again).
Propaganda! American propaganda! Democracy is so overrated that I am going to miss Fidel Castro to be honest.
It takes one with leadership ability to step forward and say, 'Right, here is the way we are going to do it tonight boys... and here is our philosophy’. Then, over time, if the manager’s decisions are not getting results that keep the club in harmony then perhaps it is time to appoint a new one. The problem with our club is that a few of the lads actually do think that the players should vote for a manager (which has never happened in the history of the club) and which clearly explains the success of the Wanderers during this decade. If the club had adhered to democratic vote then to be sure the Wanderers would still be losing 10 – 0 on any given Sunday in the JIFL.
.::. Professionalism
Everybody in this league loves the fact that Jules Denis Onana plays among us and raises the standard of our esteem (if not our play) but nobody really wants to be caught in foot races with players who are considered ‘ringers’ and are simply there for either a few bob or using the league to keep themselves fit for the chance to sign a contract somewhere else. Maybe loyalty is the issue here that we need to address. We are a social league and the ultimate idea is that we are a support community for each other in addition to be being ‘opponents’ for an 80 minute match. There are approximately 200 of us signed up in this league as participants and that can be interpreted as players, managers, and all the rest. What reason is there really to bring in temporary ‘professional’ players just to compete against some dreaded rival or other? Simply put, it just ruins the entire atmosphere of the match and leaves both sides feeling empty and unfulfilled in the end. Below are two different but similar viewpoints on the issue coming from two important fixtures of our league, Jesper Boutrup of the Vikings and current 2006 JIFL Manager of the Year, Wouter Lindner of Knudde.
From Wouter...
Vikings have chosen not to play with Indonesian players anymore, because they simply do not want to pay them. I think this is the true spirit of our league. In the past (10 years ago), we only used Indonesian players when we did not have enough of our own (and we did not pay them either). There was also a limitation of 1 or maybe 2 players at that time (I forgot). But as there were so many expats, teams hardly made use of it, also because the social element came first. When the crisis hit in 1998, many expats left and we allowed up to 3 Indonesian players in each fielded team. Altough in the beginning this was a logical solution to ensure that the league's existence was guaranteed, it eventually became a way to increase the strength of the teams.
Compared to 1998, there are many more expats in Jakarta, and I am sure that all of the current teams in the JIFL can built a squad without Indonesian players (perhaps the goal keeper would be an exception). Knudde has currently a very small squad including 3 Indonesian players. However, there are at least 5 Dutch players that used to play for the team, but currently do not feature anymore, because they cannot cope anymore with the standards of the league. And if we would field them instead of our Indonesian players, we would for sure get hammered by teams like the Wanderers and others with at least 10-0.
The vicious
circle that all teams are in means that you cannot do without the strong
Indonesian players, because otherwise you get hammered and then your other
players do not enjoy the game anymore, walk away from the team and then you
are even worse of. And if that is not enough, some teams also add a few semi
professional players to their teams who are in Indonesia to look for a
professional career. I think this is all going too far, and we should start
a serious discussion how we can stop this development. I am only speaking
for myself here, but I think if it continues like this, one day we will
loose teams like Vikings and perhaps Knudde as well. One recent development
within Knudde makes me very worried: our own beloved chairman Kees Goossens
decided last week that he does not want to play anymore for Knudde because
he comes all the way from Bogor just to play a limited number of minutes
because the good Indonesian players must play otherwise we lose the match.
After the match against Vikings last week, there was a very quiet atmosphere
with only Knudde 5 players that stayed for a beer. Rather depressing after
such a good result. This made me realise how important it is (for me at
least) that people like Kees are around. Let's do something about. And for
Kees: please reconsider your decision, there is no Knudde without Kees
Goossens!
----------------
From Jesper...
This has over the years developed to a shameless hunt for ringers and to be frank we are getting feed up loosing big time due to these Indonesian ringers. Yes that is the way we often fell it as the ringers do make the intended impact on the matches. If you want to use Indonesian players then at least play someone you know instead of looking around for best possible Indonesian. While we are at it Vikings would also like to raise concerns on the uncritical use of players who are here to look for professional football contracts, mainly of African origin, and even use of players who has signed contracts although the contract period starts a few weeks later.
JIFL is an amateur league and we did not find it particular amusing to play Lions the other weeks with the 2 Indonesians that has played for Lions for quite some time - which I can live with - and 4 players that I can only presume are here looking for contracts which I am sure we will not face when we play Lions next time. If use of players looking for contracts is to continue Vikings will only start playing matches in late November or early December when these players either has succeeded or have left Indonesia. Jesper
Well, these are just some thoughts and observations that I thought to share with the readership this week. Let me conclude with a letter from my favorite reader, who has been found in the wilds of England, Dr. Niall Nelson:
Dale, Greetings from the UK, scene of my relocation on leaving the fortress after fifteen JIS footballing years. I am indeed still receiving the JIFL Newsletter and remain an avid reader, so don't let your cutting edge remain dulled! In fact, I find the sports section of The Times here to be poor fare after the rich diet of the Newsletter. As a reward for featuring me on the front page (appropriately ahead of mention of Mark Gray!), and since I'm too far away for you to snaffle any more of my beers, I'll bring you a Nelsinho shirt from my JIS testimonial when I come back to visit (or maybe Jurrien can pass on a spare).
Best to all for an excellent season. Hope to see JIS moving up the league table before too long.
Regards, Niall
----------------
Thanks Niall. Take care and see you all live on the pitches…
Your Hero ----------------
---------------- :: League Standings
----------------
---------------- :: Game report
Scorers :
Paula (D's Place) (1), Chris (Bugils) (2) We went into this game believing that our winning streak would surely continue. We had a full squad ready and warmed up; on the other hand, Bugils were struggling to field a team. We came out and controlled the play and momentum early on but didn't get many quality scoring opportunities. We were guilty of trying to score a pretty goal. We did however score mid-way through the first half on a penalty kick but really didn't generate much offence after that. When they moved forward however, they looked dangerous and fast. Half-time score: D's 1-Bugils 0. The second half saw D's under pressure from Bugils' young and
tenacious squad(only the strikers). They equaled the score off a free kick from
just outside the box with 20 minutes remaining. It looked like it was going to
be a draw until D's had a free kick from just outside of the box with a minute
remaining. This was certainly our opportunity to salvage a win or be contented
with the draw. We were getting into position when it was taken on the short,
bounced off Raymond's(Bugils) left nut to one of their mid-fielders who passed
it up to their one remaining striker who burned our hobbling three-legged
right-back and put it past our stunned keeper and team. It was like they had
scored the winning World Cup goal. We kicked off and the whistle blew. Game
over. Bugils
started with only 11 players (no subs) against the massed ranks of D's Place
players (they could have had 2 teams I think). Bugils started brightly and were
unfortunate to concede a penalty after 20 minutes. A cross from the left wing
bounced up onto Jasper's hand as he attempted to clear the ball - penalty and
1-0 to D's Place. ----------------
Scorers :
Dave Suarez (JIS) (1), Butch Koltai (JIS) (1), Rudy (Doit) (1), Gareth (Doit)
(1)
JIS
restored some pride last night in a highly competitive match against Do
It. After a poor start to the season, we finally saw a decent JIS
performance against unbeaten league leaders Do It. Everyone looked keen to get started and the feeling was we had a great opportunity to get another win under our belt lay some ghost to rest from last seasons encounters with JIS. Right from the start JIS also seemed up for the game and where taking advantage of our slow start with some swift attacking football from both wings. 5 minutes in JIS got a break through. The striker on their right broke free of a tackle from Andy to put a deep cross over the keepers head and despite having to players on the line the ball managed to find its way into the back of the net from the unmarked JIS player. This kinda woke everyone and we finally managed to string together a few attacks and shots on goal. The JIS keeper also had a great save to his left from a goal bound header from Rudi. 20 minutes before the break, JIS doubled there lead again with a cross from the right to the back post, the striker looped the ball over the advancing keeper and creeped in just under the bar, despite the efforts from Matt to header the ball away. About 30 minutes through the first half a fair crunching tackle from Sid left a JIS player rolling all over the place and a quick Yellow Card from the ref saw Sid sent to the sidelines, not before covering the ref with a volley of constructive F worded criticism. The resulting free kick from the edge of the box just right of centre did not cause much trouble but the bounce just in front of me bent my right pinky back enough to leave it looking like a small eggplant hanging of my hand. Half Time: DoIt 0 JIS 2 At halftime we were all in agreement that we could definitely play a lot better than the 1st half performance and more importantly that we could still get something from the game if we grabbed an early goal. A Braveheart speech from Bling as we walked on to the park for the 2nd half added some extra zest to get the game started & into them. From the off we looked like a different team, long passes, short passes, one - two's all seemed to be coming off unlike the first half. Rudi & Andy had finally lit the rockets between their cheeks and they were flying all around the park, causing the JIS defense nightmares. A trough ball straight down the middle set Rudi off like one of those lizards on National Geographic running across the water, who's speed latched him on to the ball, just in time to lift it over the on coming keeper to grab his 6th Goal of the season. This was probably the 3rd goal he had scored in the same way this season. 2-1 behind with about half an hour left to play and momentum on our side, set-up a great finish. One of the few attacks JIS had ended with an elbow to Sid chest, who had come back on after his first half yellow card. He picked himself up with revenge on his mind only to see those dreams dashed 2 minutes later when the same JIS player tangled with Eric. A few handbags & scuffles later both players were on the floor & yellow carded which meant they had to leave the park. Next time mate. 10 minutes later and the ref produced his 4 yellow card of the match to send off Ronan for a kick out at Boydi. Rumors from the bench suggested that the Tuna and Pasta from Pizza Hut, Ronan scoffed down just before Kick-Off left him bloated so the yellow card was just an easy way to get a rest & grab a beer.
Our momentum kinda took a
slump after this but once we picked it up again we were awarded a free
kick in a similar position to that we had to defend in the first half just
outside the box. Bling stepped up to dazzle the keeper with his jewelry
before dinking the ball over the wall and past the sprawled out keeper to
bring us level at 2-2. From this point onwards we went looking for the
winner but even after a succession of corners, time got the better of us
and the ref blew the final whistle. ----------------
Scorers :
???
Well done to Knudde who
looked dangerous every time their Indonesian forwards got some space in
attack. Other than that it was actually a pretty evenly matched game! ----------------
Scorers :
Emma (D's
Place) (2),
Guillermo (D's
Place)
(1), Nico (D's
Place) (1)
Hi
everybody, this is Harry Hirsch, reporting live from the (nice) isci
stadium in jakarta. i had several reasons yesterday to go to join the game
of plus against d's place. for once, i had a bet with john (owner of
d'place), which didnt materialise since he did not show up, second i
wanted to see wether i know any of those guys froms d's that might buy me
a beer at d's one day and, third, i promised ralph i will be there (after
a couple of jaegermeisters though...). the evening started well with
mathias giving me rp 300.000,-- from nico, so that i could buy myself a
couple of beers, as well as the sight of the red jerseys we were wearing
to cut a long story short. plus lost 4:0 against d's place, a well
deserved win for d's with no chance at all for the plus team (i am not
sure wether d's fielded a goalkeeper, there was a guy in a yellow shirt
that picked up the balls behind the goal once or twice....).it could have
been much worse, but d's forward scrambled a lot of chances in the second
half... We were looking to get back into the win column after a disappointing final minute loss to Bugils just before the break. Last year we split our season series with German Plus, with them handing us our most lop-sided defeat last season(6-2). We started off strong and controlled the play and had lots of opportunities to score but didn't really manage to test their keeper. They on the other hand, were coming through the mid-field too easily and this caused a few defensive lapses, which we luckily managed to escape. We did however catch a lucky break when a throw-in by Geoff into the box was missed by their defender and tapped in by Nico. Half-time score was a fragile 1-0 lead. In the second half, we made some positional changes to tighten-up the mid-field. This proved successful as they weren't able to generate much offence. We made it 2-0 after a penalty kick to finally give us some breathing room. We continued to pressure them and finally started to get rewarded for our hard work. There keeper made some great saves to keep it close but he couldn't save them all. Great individual efforts by Emma and Guillermo made the score 4-0 to seal the victory.
Some ridiculous comments
were made by Kai Fischer. He commented and accused us of fielding a team
of(6) professional players, which is utterly untrue. He doesn't seem to
understand that we have three Indonesian players including our keeper.
Joel has been with us since our inception into the league, Amos for two
seasons, our keeper two seasons and the other Indonesian (Rudy) is our
ball boy. Joel and Amos are both going to University. Our two Africans
have been with us for two seasons and come week-in and week-out and are
really likeable lads, otherwise they wouldn't be on the team. He said we
have a Russian coach, this is in fact Alex, Yuri, and Andrey's friend who
comes to all the games to give team support. They on the other hand, do
have two players seeking professional contracts (Thierry and Yannick) and
had several Indonesian players on the bench waiting to play. We had
thirteen on our squad due to the fact of playing the match just after Idul
Fitri and players still being on holiday. It was a physical match and we
ended up playing the last 10 minutes of the game with ten men, due to
injuries. Perhaps you should check the facts before spreading garbage
around the league. ----------------
Scorers :
Gordon Boyd (JIS) (1), Will Julius (JIS) (1), ????
For the second time in a
row JIS gave away a 2-0 lead and had to settle for 1 point. This draw was
much harder to swallow for JIS than the one against Do It, as the Lions
scored the equalizer in the last second of ----------------
Scorers : Pola (D's
Place)
(1), Nico (D's
Place) (1), ????
We always have close
games with Vikings and this was no different, we were without key players,
unable to play due to being out of town working or 2 with injuries form 2
day ago in the German game. We started with the 11 players and no subs,
but had 2 guys on the way. ----------------
Scorers : Todd Showalter (Wanderers) (1) , Nico Nemelceff
(Wanderers) (1),
Saphou
(Wanderers) (1), Sugimoto (Japan) (1)
The match looked like it
was going to start off with Team Japan short a couple of players. We were
considering loaning Tommy Ambon to them but then a few late arrivals
evened things out. Wanderers were short about five regulars as well but
with The President and Saphou Lasi returning to the club, we were able to
have at least 3 subs to relieve pressure when necessary. The pleasant and
welcome addition of the evening was the son of Pedro, Nico Nemalceff, who
has finally come of age and has joined the club as a player finally. Now
we have a beautiful combination of father and son on the left side for the
Wanderers. It almost put a tear in my eye. ----------------
---------------- :: Top scorers Challenge
>> More top scorers, click here ---------------- :: This week schedule
------------------------------------------ See you live on Jakarta football pitches ! © 2005-2006 JIFL - Designed by Nico - Contact |
Vikings can only
subscribe to the issues raised by Wouters although we do
play one Indonesian, Marvin who is PAYING to play like anyone else. Vikings
have at every captains' meeting - except the last 'cause we have given up -
raised the issue of Indonesian players which we have propose should be
limited to one outfield and one goalie. In the context we would once again
like to remind all teams that the 2nd Indonesian outfield player was
introduced as a temporary measure in 1998 to prevent teams from pulling out
as a result of the post-krismon expat exodus. 
