Website design By BotEap.comWhen it comes to soccer, it is widely known, at least to soccer fans, that a referee is the highest leader in the game. This means that any decision that a referee makes taking into account what happens during a football match, his decisions are absolute and cannot be protested in any way either by the players of both teams or by the spectators, as well as by any other official who does not have the rights to do so.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, things did not appear to be going that way for referee Jimmy Napitupulu as he was officiating the final of today’s Indonesian Cup soccer match between Sriwijaya FC and Arema which took place in Solo. Today, Sunday August 1, 2010, many of his decisions during the first half were protested by the spectators who packed Manahan Stadium in Solo, the stadium where the final match took place.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, the climax took place when Jimmy Napitupulu made the decision to show a red card to one of Arema’s players, Noh Alam Shah, in the first half, leaving Arema playing with only ten men. The referee showed the player a red card for lifting his leg too high in the air and kicking Sriwijaya FC’s Precious Emuejeraye in the face.

Website design By BotEap.comUnfortunately for the referee, this caused the spectators, the Arema fans of course, to go wild. In this last match, Arema fans were not hard to find here and there as they packed the stadium very well. After this incident, the Mid Java regional police chief, Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, requested at the end of the first half, which ended 0-0, that the referees replace the referee. He also said that if this could not be granted, he would rule out the final football game of the Indonesian Cup.

Website design By BotEap.comAccording to him, the reason was to avoid riots caused by the madness of the Arema fans. However, in fact, it was unlikely that there were any signs of unrest at that time. When asked about the end game by one of the reporters on the site, this police chief mentioned that there was no problem for the PSSI officers to go home and that the security issue was a matter for the police.

Website design By BotEap.comThe thing is, you may not know that Jimmy Napitupulu is a FIFA certified referee and has a good reputation for leading many soccer matches in Indonesia. With referee certification by FIFA, it means that the referee has what it takes to run a football match like he is supposed to. A FIFA certification also means that the referee knows the rules of soccer games in detail, what to do if players commit fouls, and when to show yellow and red cards. It goes without saying that FIFA only certifies a referee that the world’s leading soccer federation can trust.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, after the first half ended, the game officials had to turn their attention to this rare problem. This had also caused the second part to be suspended for over an hour. There were also rumors that a twin champions fix might be in place due to this particular issue.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, this was a lot of fun. Even Arema’s own Dutch coach Robert Rene Alberts didn’t even care about the referee’s decisions. So why should Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo even bother substituting for the referee? The Arema coach was even willing to continue the game with only ten men in his team. The coach said that it was a pity that an incident like this had to happen, as Indonesia was a beautiful country with very good people. Therefore, he added that Indonesians should try to become more professional when it comes to football. For his part, Sriwijaya FC coach Rahmad Darmawan indicated that it didn’t really matter if they won or lost the final match. Instead, what really mattered was whether or not the players on both teams were playing fair. This coach also said that in case Arema won the game after all, he would gladly congratulate the players and Arema’s coach. So once again fair play was much more important than winning.

Website design By BotEap.comOf course, this incident is very strange and unique. In fact, there is no such thing as the substitution of referees or two champions in a football match in the whole world. At least, that’s how a football game is supposed to be. But Indonesia seems to be an exception. There were also rumors that sometime around the 70s, an incident like this also took place during one of the Indonesian football matches. At that time, the final solution taken was to have champion twins. Then the twin champions also emerged during the last PON that took place recently before this particular Indonesian Cup final game took place.

Website design By BotEap.comUnfortunately, if this kind of thing continues to happen in Indonesia, it is likely that FIFA will ban this country from holding its own football match independently. Of course, this is not very likely that a country would want to have to go through. With that being said, PSSI, which stands for Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia, and the rest of the football officials in charge in Indonesia will have to work hard and make this their top priority task so that things like what happened today during the final of the Indonesian Cup. it will no longer take place in the future. One more thing, if you really don’t know what PSSI is, it is the main federation that is in charge of soccer in Indonesia.

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