Quackje Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 How on earth did you get him for free!!!!!!!!!!! When I tried in the first season he wouldn't join me and they were asking for £75K, I tried again the next season and they wanted £100K and then all of a sudden they accepted £16K (his value at the time) and I got him. He sure is a top notch player though on mine. Doctor Sangweni always made me laugh with the name, like he fills in forms Mr. Dr. Sangweni but he was never good enough or cheap enough You're a bit mistaken by top 2 promoted, I explained the playoff structure in one of my updates, in theory 2 can be promoted also none can be promoted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeC Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Well, they wanted £12k for Rudi Isaacs, so I punted for £0 and 50% of next sale, and they went for it! I was chuffed! The Doctor is awesome! I'll have a look at this play-off structure in your update, ta very much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Some pretty interesting last couple of minutes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 26, 2008 Author Share Posted November 26, 2008 China struggling to compete in the global game Looks like the real-life Chinese national team won't be winning World Cup games anytime soon..Kinda sad as I have Chinese roots. On a positive note, Rizhiquan near the top (2nd) after 10 games and China is currently 35th in the world rankings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 They sure are slow to develop given the interest in the game, despite that they're still way ahead of south east asia. To be honest I can't understand what sports south east asian countries do play, since they seem a bit rubbish at most for their populations, (exceptions, pretty good at badminton, some boxing in philippines, takraw). I think all those countries need to sort out the grass roots of football so its more organised and better coached and have a proper structure to bring them through the clubs. Then the domination of Europe and South America would be totally over with the population of asian countries. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeC Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 My first end of season report... (Sorry, no screen shots, forgotten my imageshack password) Eventually finished 6th. Finished the first half of the season 3rd but it was tight from 1st down to 6th. Followed by an 11 game slump where i picked up just 7 points from a possible 33. I tried absolutely everything to put it right but nothing would go for me! Left me down in 6th but won the last 3 to games to salvage some pride and secure 6th spot. In the middle of my league slump i strung together a good SAFA Cup run, beating a couple of Preimer Division sides and eventually going out to Kaizer Cheifs, who won the Premier Division, 1-0 away in the 1/4 finals. My new captain Doctor Sangweni was the stand out player for me and my 2 front men equal in the scoring charts with 10 each. All in all, a steady first season, with a safe mid table finish. Target for next year: Promotion! Taking a break from the challenge now, going to do a English season or two. See you all soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Persmin Minahasa - Indonesian Premier Division - Season 10/11 The league Media Prediction: 15th The media thought we were going to end up last in our group and the board thought we would try to avoid regulation. Me and my players had other ideas in our minds and we eventually ended up on third place. Our strikers were a lot better this season and although we conceded more than last season we scored a lot of goals. For some reason the graph of league positions doesn't work, but we were usually at second or third place for most of the rounds although we held the first place at one point in the middle of the season. Before the last round we were in second place and had the chance to end up first, but lost against third placed Persijab and that meant they took the second place from us on goal difference. The third place meant qualification for the second stage though and a possibility to get promoted. League Table - First Phase In the The Second Phase we started with a home game against PSIB and managed to win with 2-1 while the other two teams drew 0-0. This gave us a good start but in the second game we lost 2-1 away against Persema. So in the last game, we were home against Persibom and we had to win to gain promotion. Although we dominated we never managed to score against them and they eventually scored the only goal in the game. This meant we ended up on a bitter third place and did not get promotion. League Table - Second Phase The Indonesian Cup First Round: Persmin (3) - PSBI (0) Second Round: Persiku (2) - (6) Persmin Third Round: Persmin (4) - (3) PSIS Fourth Round: Persmin (1) - (3) Pelita Jaya Again we lost in the fourth round of the cup. Finances This season we really got the prize money from our league position, € 113K and because of the increased number of games in the Premier Division we managed to make a profit of more than 200K and now we're not in the red anymore. The players Our top goalscorer was striker Aji Permana who scored 12 goals. Rafael Carioca was awarded player of the year by our fans though. A player that has improved a lot is our young MC Ari Akbar. He was voted second best Young Player of the Year in the Premier Division and third Most Valuable Player in the Indonesian Cup despite us only getting to the fourth round. Our goalkeeper Anggu Faisal was in the Indonesian U-20s squad for the Asian U-20s Championship but only played the final as a striker :confused:. For 6K we also managed to buy this promising DC, Ferry Samad. Transfers Goals for next season: *Promotion! *Improve finances even more *Improve facilities (I get way too many injuries during training sessions) Season Team League 1st Stage 2nd Stage 2009/10 Persmin Minahasa Indonesian First Division 1st 2nd 2010/11 Persmin Minahasa Indonesian Premier Division 3rd 3rd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 27, 2008 Author Share Posted November 27, 2008 Nice seasons LukeC and Earendil. 2008 Asian Player of the Year - Server Djeparov This also earned him a trial with Chelsea. Rizhiquan still 2nd after 14 games... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 I'm not what other people think but aren't the regens in this a bit too good sometimes, I have 2 very very good ones that were instantly first team players. Looking at some of the guys earendil has they look better than almost every Indonesian player I've ever seen on the game particularly the defender. Maybe they're whats needed for a big leagues but they seem a bit over powered compared to the quality of lesser leagues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 Yes I agree. I think regens are now way too good, especially the physical stats. Wouldn't mind a few of them at Rizhiquan though. Hope SI can fix the regens when I get FM09 at Christmas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Yeah, I totally agree with you. All my first team players at the moment except one (my Brazilian striker) are regens and most of them are far better than the average non-regen. I don't know if it has something to do with most teams (all?) not getting any youth players promoted and instead they start out without a club and play in the trialists game. I have signed quite a few players from the trialists game and 6 of my players were playing for Indonesia in the U-20s World Championship. Pretty much all of the regens playing in the trialists game are good enough to take a first team spot in any of the Premier Division sides. After the trialists game there are usually about 5 teams interested in each of the better players. I'm not complaining though, my superior regens make up for my lack of tactical knowledge in this game . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Maritzburg City 2012/13 So away we go with managing to finally secure a work permit for Willi Flick joining more fresh faced youngsters for free, Thabo Ledwaba and the star of the season Clayton Wareley who would go on to win player of the season and goal of the season. My scouts also spotted this Angolan around Christmas and I had a bid of £180K (that I didn't actually have but I have £800K balance so I guess they would give me the cash) accepted but I couldn't offer him the wages he wanted, hes now wanted by a host of European sides including Real Madrid. So into the season we gave the Super Eight Cup a good shot, the top 8 teams from the league play it with £80K for each and £800K to the winner but we lost in the semi final, meanwhile we lost the final of the Knockout Cup on penalties collecting £100K. The FA Cup after Christmas didn't go so well as we lost in the first round I had to play in which let us concentrate firmly on the league. It went very similarly to last season and with two games to play 4th, 5th and 6th (us) were level on points. My final two games were against 4th and 5th so it was in my hands. We won both games to finish 4th netting £200K and leaving us to hope that Kaizer Chiefs won the FA Cup final over Dynamos so that I get the final spot for the African Cup Winners Cup. So for the first time ever I was delighted by their 3-1 victory so I'm into Africa!!! Domestic 2009/10 - 7th South African 1st Division Inland - 1st Div Cup, 1st Round - SA Cup, 2nd Round 2010/11 - 1st South African 1st Division Inland - 1st Div Cup, 1st Round - SA Cup, 3rd Round 2011/12 - 6th South African Premier - Knockout Cup, Qtr Final - SA Cup, 2nd Round 2012/13 - 4th South African Premier - Super 8 Cup, Semi Final - KO Cup, Final - SA Cup, 2nd Round Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 Great season Quackje, and good luck in the African Cup Winners Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 FM08 Season 14: Rizhiquan - Chinese Super League (2021) Media Prediction: 2nd Finishing Position: 1st Chinese FA Cup: Finalists Asian Champions League: 3rd in Group Stage East Asian Championship: 4th Transfers/Squad Transfers Squad Finances Finances Club Information Club Information Awards Chinese FA Cup Top Goalscorer - 1st - Zhu Jinhui, 2nd - Liu Lijia Chinese Foreign Player of the Year - Thomas Sablan - 2nd place Chinese Golden Boot - Zhu Jinhui - 2nd place Chinese Manager of the Year - Me - 1st place Chinese Super League Team of the Year - Thomas Sablan Goals for the Future Keep winning the league Compete for a quarter-final spot in the Champions League Season Team League Finished 2008 Rizhiquan Jia League 11th 2009 Rizhiquan Jia League 8th 2010 Rizhiquan Jia League 9th 2011 Rizhiquan Jia League 6th 2012 Rizhiquan Jia League 5th 2013 Rizhiquan Jia League 5th 2014 Rizhiquan Jia League 4th 2015 Rizhiquan Jia League 2nd 2016 Rizhiquan Super League 6th 2017 Rizhiquan Super League 4th 2018 Rizhiquan Super League 4th 2019 Rizhiquan Super League 4th 2020 Rizhiquan Super League 1st 2021 Rizhiquan Super League 1st Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Well done rancer, time to dominate Asia now. If things continue I should win the league this season, its still very early but I bought in Lazarus Kaimbi and he has totally clicked with my main striker, also a Namibian. A combined 7 goals in 3 games for them including the complete demolition of Kaizer Chiefs with the best goal of the game as the ball comes low to Kaimbi turning it into the top corner. Edit some time later: Maybe Africa isn't so hard after all, I totally destroyed Sfax of Tunisia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Maritzburg City 2013/14 Another good season in the bag following one of my best ever signings Lazarus Kaimbi teaming up superbly with fellow Namibian and top scorer Willi Flick. With far more goals than before but an annoying inconsistency we finished 3rd and so it will back to African cup winners cup next season. African competions run from January to December and South African league is a July to June arrangement so I'm only half way through this years competions at the end of the domestic season. African Cup Winners Cup, Preliminary Round CO Bamako (Mali) 0-2 Maritzburg City Maritzburg City 3-0 CO Bamako (Mali) A very easy match but probably my last against a team that isn't north African. African Cup Winners Cup, 1st Round Al-Jaish (Egypt) 1-1 Maritzburg City Maritzburg City 1-0 Al-Jaish (Egypt) A very tough draw considering there were teams from Mauritius and Equatorial Guinea still in the competition but Willi Flick stepped up to secure the away goal and our defence remained solid enough. African Cup Winners Cup, 2nd Round CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) 0-5 Maritzburg City Maritzburg City 1-3 CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) A remarkable performance away from home against last years quarter finalists sealed the deal even though they came out firing in South Africa to grab a win that would never be enough to overcome the deficit. Next up, USM Annaba of Algeria in the quarter final to be played in September. Domestic 2009/10 - 7th South African 1st Division Inland - 1st Div Cup, 1st Round - SA Cup, 2nd Round 2010/11 - 1st South African 1st Division Inland - 1st Div Cup, 1st Round - SA Cup, 3rd Round 2011/12 - 6th South African Premier - Knockout Cup, Qtr Final - SA Cup, 2nd Round 2012/13 - 4th South African Premier - Super 8 Cup, Semi Final - KO Cup, Final - SA Cup, 2nd Round 2013/14 - 3rd South African Premier - Super 8 Cup, Qtr Final - KO Cup, Semi Final - SA Cup, 2nd Round Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Good season Quackje. Looking at the pattern, you should win the league next year or the year after. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spleen! Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Well done on winning the league again rancer And good luck in the quarters of the CWC Quackje, and hopefully you can win the league in the next couple of seasons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
max1994 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 going to give this a whirl in china club and profile update to come in a minute ater ive had my dinner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 Looking forward to your participation max. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 Indonesia in the U-20s World Cup: Group Stage: Colombia 1 - 1 Indonesia Indonesia 5 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago Holland 4 - 0 Indonesia Indonesia ended up on second place after Holland and qualified for the second round. Second Round: Indonesia 2 - 1 USA Quarter Final: Germany 2 - 0 Indonesia Germany eventually won the silver in the U-20s World Cup after losing the Spain in the finals. The U-20s World Cup was very interesting to follow as I had a few players in the U-20s team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 Wow, never knew Indonesia would go so far in the U20 world cup. The future looks bright mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Maritzburg City 2014 African Cup Winners Cup Edition As already described the first three rounds went as follows: Preliminary Round - CO Bamako (Mali) 0-5 (agg.) Maritzburg City 1st Round - Al-Jaish (Egypt) 1-2 (agg.) Maritzburg City 2nd Round - CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) 3-6 (agg.) Maritzburg City Then came the break in the South African season in which I finised 3rd ensuring that I will play this competition again next season before our 1st visit to Algeria. Quarter Final Maritzburg City 1-0 USM Annaba (Algeria) USM Annaba (Algeria) 2-5 Maritzburg City A very tight home game but we got out with the win and no away goals, all hell broke lose in Algeria though with goals flying in all over the place. Thankfully we avoided Al-Ahly in the semi-final draw, the team I perceived as the biggest threat but unfortunately the Rwandan side I rather fancied playing got knocked out here. Semi Final USM Alger (Algeria) 3-2 Maritzburg City Maritzburg City 1-0 USM Alger (Algeria) So off to Algeria I went again, very similar opposition but this time they just pipped me away from home. With the 2 away goals though I was quite confident I could pull it off back in South Africa and indeed I dominated the game and came away we the win I needed, even if it was a bit too tight for comfort at some points. Final Al-Ahly (Egypt) 0-1 Maritzburg City Maritzburg City 1-1 Al-Ahly (Egypt) As I predicted Al-Ahly made the final and I didn't have to play them until this point, a quick look at their team showed they had some real quality. Nevertheless they could not match the wonder goal from attacking midfielder Thokozani Sekotlong as he struck it from some way out into the top left corner. As I hoped the defence held firm leaving us very much in the driving seat for the home leg. A great early strike from new signing, left sided striker Maphelo Galada eased my tension. They came back to level it though but the red card later in the game removed the threat and the cup is ours at the first attempt. Things are not going so well domestically, I lost in the first rounds of the Super 8 and knockout cups and I'm currently down in 9th place in the league. Still I start my defence of the African Cup Winners Cup soon against Interclube of Angola and have the African Super Cup to fight for against Club Africain of Tunisia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razer82 Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Quackje - Congratulations on winning the Cup Winners Cup at the first attempt. That's amazing! Bet your glad to know that you can already compete with some of the bigger teams in Africa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I've decided to give this one a go as my Dafuges game has crashed. I've gone with China and I'm just holidaying it now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Say hello to the new manager of Hunan Xiangtao. Link I liked the orange. Does anyone know if there are any badge graphics availible for China? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 There certainly are for some of the bigger teams at least, if you check sortitoutsi.com you should find something. Or you could try searching for the club on internets and finding the actual logo and hoping to get someone to make it for you. Something that I have given up on with my team, having discovered they currently play in the South African KwaZulu-Natal regional division and finding no other reference to the existence of the club apart from a short article written in Zulu I don't think I will ever find their true logo. Its annoying because I managed it last year when I was playing with a previously unplayable Belarussian side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 blowcrapup, welcome to my challenge, and yes, there are badges for the Chinese teams. Try some here. I think they were logos for every team except Rizhiquan. Anyways, off to school! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Cheers for that but it doesn't look like Xiangtao are there but I'll download it for the others. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Did you have a problem signing players? I was looking at players contracts who had expired and there were several people whose contracts had expired but I only had the option to make an offer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProHostage Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Every time I've contemplated Indonesia I've gotten scared by all the blue teams beginning with P and all the players with identical names (none of which can play football) yet they all seemed to have massive stadiums. Anyway good luck ] FYI, the P on most teams in Indonesia stands for "persatuan" which in English can be translated as unity, togetherness, or community. The rest of the name is for the origin or owner of the club. It is a common thing that the club owner also happens to be the mayor (or governor). Now, lets try some example: - PERSIJA, the 'JA' stands for Jakarta. - PERSEBAYA, the 'BAYA' stands for Surabaya. - PERSIK, the 'K' stands for Kediri. - PSIS, the last 'S' stands for Semarang. - PERSEGI, the 'GI' stands for Gianyar, Bali. As you can look up from Google (or map) those are city names. Other notable clubs without 'P' are Gersik United (Gresik), Sriwijaya FC (Palembang), Pelita Jaya (west java), Deltras (Sidoarjo), Arema (from Malang), Mitra Kukar (Tenggarong), and Barito Putra (Pekanbaru). Hope that helps! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 Cheers for that but it doesn't look like Xiangtao are there but I'll download it for the others. I don't remember where I downloaded this pack, but it has Xiangtao... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I was wrong that pack above did have the logo in. I just had no idea what I was looking for as the wasn't an orange blob staring out at me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Thank you very much for that post, ProHostage. So my team Persmin is called Persmin because of a region/area/city called Minahasa? Do you know why most teams have blue kits and play 3-5-2? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Just reached the mid season break with Xiangtao. So far I've played 14 (don't know where the missing game has gone) I'm sat 13th. Have won 3 drawn 6 and lost 5. I'm 8 points clear of the relegation zone as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 Good going so far blowcrapup. KUTGW. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Just to let you know Rizhiquan are on equal points with the team in the relegation zone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 Rizhiquan always seem to have a habit of doing poorly in everyone's games:(...except mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanro Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 More info on Indonesian clubs, and football in general, for that matter. Caution : long history lesson follows. ProHostage was right in his explanation of the P’s in so many clubs, though I believe it’s still incomplete. ‘PS’ or ‘Pers’ or its derivatives (Perse, Persi, whatever) actually stands for ‘Persatuan Sepakbola’ or some say ‘Perserikatan Sepakbola’. ‘Persatuan’ in itself means ‘unity’, ‘perserikatan’ roughly means ‘united, bonded’, ‘sepakbola’ is ‘football’, but ‘persatuan/perserikatan sepakbola’ literally means ‘football club’. So, PSIS, which is based in the city of Semarang in Central Java province, would be named Semarang FC in England or AC Semarang in Italy, and inversely, Liverpool FC would be named PS Liverpool or Persliv/Perseliv/Persiliv/the likes in Indonesia. Now, why would so many clubs be obsessed with P’s in their names? Wouldn’t it be easier to just call it ‘Jakarta’ instead of ‘Persija’, or ‘Minahasa’ instead of ‘Persmin’? And why do a few others seem to completely disobey the rule above, such as Arema Malang, Semen Padang, Pelita Jaya, Barito Putra, etc.? Well, the answer is historical. For decades there had always been two branches of football in Indonesia : One was the government-based competition called Perserikatan, and the other was the independent, privately-based competition called Galatama. Perserikatan (‘united, bonded, unionized’) was probably the oldest sporting competition in the country, even predated our independence in 1945. Some clubs were founded back in the 20s or even earlier, if I’m not mistaken. Perserikatan club was founded, managed, funded by local government : ‘kotamadya’ (city) or ‘kabupaten’ (regency). It was also multi-tiered, with the usual suspects in the top tier were easily those from the big cities and regencies.And ‘PS’ or ‘Pers/i/e’ was used to identify the club as a Perserikatan club. The competition had always been amateurish, semi-professional at best, where some of the players were actually employed in government offices. But what this competition lacked in quality, they more than made it up in passion. Every game was pretty much packed to the roof (maybe this could explain why there are so many big stadiums in the country, aside from the fact that we’re the world’s fourth most populous). Local pride was put above everything else, players would only play for their local clubs and player transfer was unheard of, and since Indonesia is so widely-diverse in ethnicities like no other, rivalries ensued everywhere : between Persija Jakarta and Persebaya Surabaya, the two biggest cities in the country; between Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung, neighbors; between PSMS Medan and PSM Makassar, for being the biggest clubs outside Java; among PSMS Medan, Persija Jakarta, Persib Bandung, Persebaya Surabaya, and PSM Makassar, for being the most successful clubs; and so on. And since Perserikatan club was owned the the local government, you can bet your money that everywhere you go in Indonesia, to any city or regency, you will find a (former) Perserikatan club there. Since almost every city/regency has a club, there are literally hundreds of such clubs. Galatama (Liga Sepakbola Utama – ‘Football Premier League’), on the other hand, was quite young, born in the 70s if I’m not mistaken. It was meant to be a professional competition where the clubs were owned, founded, backed by private individuals, companies, or organizations, much like those in Europe, I guess. It was only one-tier. League. And of course, it’s free from ‘P’ or ‘Pers/i/e’. That’s why we had Pelita Jaya, based in Jakarta, managed by Nirwan Bakrie of the Bakrie Group, one of the wealthiest people in the country; and Semen Padang, supported by a cement factory in Padang, West Sumatra; and Assyabab Salim Group Surabaya (now defunct) in Surabaya, East Java, supported by the conglomerate Salim Group; and Pupuk Kaltim Bontang, supported by a petrochemical factory in Bontang, East Kalimantan; and Arema Malang, supported by a local businessman in Malang, East Java, and a foundation formed by die-hard fans, and others. Late 70s and early 80s were the heyday of Galatama : better football than Perserikatan, foreign players added the attraction (not allowed in Perserikatan), and the fans actually packed the stadiums, even though they had no traditional bond with the clubs. But then corruption and match-fixing scandals erupted in the 80s, and they crippled the league forever. Fans left the stadiums, sponsors stayed away, and though the league kept on going, it never recovered. And this all changed in 1994. The Chairman of PSSI (Indonesian FA) at the time decided that the best way forward for Indonesian football was to merge the two competitions, with each strengths and weaknesses, into one single league. So merged Galatama and the top-tier of Perserikatan, a whopping 34 clubs in all. And to a certain degree, he was right. There was a new wave of passion in football competition in the country. Matches were now prime time on tv. Fans flocked to the stadiums. Foreign players, though a few were had-beens, added the spice. Over the years, through the economic crisis, political bickerings, backroom dealings, corruptions, and other shenanigans that plagued third-world country and therefore its infrastructures, the league evolved to what is today known as Indonesian Super League (and its subsequent lower tiers). I hope that explains a few things. Oh, on a side note, since 1994, former Perserikatan clubs, once renowned as amateurish, year after year thumped former Galatama clubs, once proclaimed to be professional, to the league title. Why? Well, it’s not so much about the quality of the players, it’s more because of the money. A petrochemical company that supported PKT Bontang could only pour so much money every season to the club, while the government of Jakarta poured billions of rupiah to Persija Jakarta with ease. Players now moved from one club to the next with ease, no more ethnic boundary. And regional rivalry took on to a new level : if the government of Jakarta can set aside billions of rupiah for Persija Jakarta, why can’t we, the government of cash-rich Pekanbaru, use our oil money to do the same thing for our beloved PSPS Pekanbaru? (PSPS Pekanbaru was unknown in the Perserikatan era, but they were champions several years back, after just one or two years in the top flight, and acquiring top players from other clubs). Meanwhile, many of former Galatama clubs have died because they couldn’t afford the new economy. Nowadays, average Super League clubs budget upwards of 10 billion rupiah ($1 million), while a few of the bigger clubs like Persija Jakarta budget at least 20-30 billion rupiah ($2-3 million), every season just to sign new players and pay the payroll. Some of the top players are paid $100-150 thousand a year. Next question by Earendil : Why most teams have blue kits? Well, I honestly believe this is a mistake on the researcher’s part. Most Indonesian clubs do NOT use blue kits. Many of them actually use red, which represents bravery or rage in the country, and green, which represents, well, the green of our farms or jungles. But I don’t think there’s a dominant color in the league anyways; Persija Jakarta wears orange with tigerish-accent, Persita Tangerang wears purple, PSDS Deli Serdang wers tractor yellow (hence their nickname, the Yellow Tractors), and even Persipura Jayapura wears black (or red-and-black stripe a la Milan). Also by Earendil : Why most teams play 3-5-2? Well, there’s a technical reason to this question, and there’s also a non-technical. Technical reason, or so I’ve read anyway, back in the 60s and 70s when foreign coaches came to the country, they introduced the formation to us, somehow it fit us, and it’s stuck and favored until today. Now the non-technical reason. Indonesian clubs, and subsequently their managers, coaches, players, and fans, have a great distrust towards the match officials, the referee and his assistant. And for good reasons too, because talks about officials being unfair and can be bought are rife, and despite the FA’s best effort to squash any such incident and to uphold the laws, the great distrust is still there. That’s why there are so much violence taken by players and even coaches to the officials during the game. It’s like a weekly menu here in the country. Because of that, the 3-5-2 formation is considered the best one to safeguard the most blatant foul play that the referee and his assistant might conjure up during the game, which is not calling offside when the opponent’s strikers actually are. With 3-5-2, the team has that middle centerback to stay back and protect against such a situation. But I’m happy to report that the last few years 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 are widely played here. Hopefully a sign of better things to come. Alright, that’s my two cents. Sorry if a bit long, kinda got excited because I never thought anybody outside Indonesia would ever play the league. Gonna start one myself in a few days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Very good post ivanro. Still one thing strikes me more than before, from what you say those big stadiums are packed with fans and they do have quite a bit of money at least at the bigger clubs. So why is the standard of football so low? I understand with such a big top division the quality players will be spread out quite a lot but there is a massive population to counter that effect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanro Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 @Quakje Why is the standard of football in Indonesia so low? That’s the million-dollar – trick – question, hahaha.. It’s the one source of frustration, irritation, exasperation, and ultimately hopelessness of millions of Indonesians like myself. I’m sure very few outside Indonesia ever heard that back in the 50s and 60s, Indonesia was dubbed ‘the Brazil of Asia’, partly because we had a large population, partly because we played good football and kicked buttz around the continent. But I believe it was solely because football hadn’t touched the rest of Asia just yet, and when it did, and those other countries (Japan, Korea, Arabs) got organized, we trailed behind. So why are we trailing behind? A plethora of reasons, or excuses, to be exact. The top clubs have the money, of course, but it’s all for short-term goals. To buy senior, established players, so that they can win the title this year. Not for long-term development of young talents, where it should really go. And the status of ‘big clubs’ in Indonesia is deceiving, actually, because it all depends on the local government. Persija Jakarta is somewhat lucky, they’re rich because the previous and current governor of Jakarta is so into the club that he approves any budget request that Persija proposes, despite heavy criticism from the provincial House of Reps and the people themselves. What will happen if the next governor is not into football, what then for Persija? It may well go down the way of PSPS Pekanbaru, so rich a few years ago from the backing of the mayor, to now languishing and cash-strapped in the lower division after the mayor got charged with corruption. Very few clubs are independent entity in Indonesia, even a few former Galatama clubs beg for money from their respective local governments from time to time. Those few that are independent, yes, they’re stable in the mid-table, but they won’t be challenging for the title, that’s for sure. And it’s hard to be independent in Indonesia. Yes, the attendance is huge compared to the rest of Southeast Asia (or Asia for that matter), let’s say it’s around 10,000 to 20,000 per game, but how many of them are actually paying attendants? Gates are left open all around the stadium by the guards, or be made open by local honchos, so why should you pay at the locket if you can just pay the gate guards for a fraction less, or even for free? And it’s not like the ticket price can pay for the players’ salaries : most tickets cost between 5,000 to 10,000 rupiah, roughly between 50 cents to a dollar. And of course, a club can sell official replica shirts and stuff, but the knockoffs are available in local markets for sooo much less. So you see, a club here can only be rich if the local government wants it so; take away the support, they’ll go down so fast they’ll put Leeds United to shame. Our league is arguably the strongest in Southeast Asia; it pays better than Thai and Vietnamese, and though Malaysian and Singaporean may be richer, they’re nowhere near us when it comes to competitiveness, passion, talents. When our clubs match with others in the region, more often that not we come out on top. But the same can’t be said about our national team, though, who has failed to win any trophy for like forever. Thailand is somehow more talented and tactically-mature than us, and Singapore is simply more organized and intelligent. Vietnam is about equal, and Malaysia and Myanmar are a bit less, though Myanmar beat us in their local tourney just two weeks ago. Some say we’re very poor because we don’t care about the youth development, and I wholeheartedly agree. Mind you, we don’t lack youth clubs here. Pretty much every former Perserikatan club has youth set-up and youth teams competing in local leagues. What we lack is the investment, the direction, the attention, the patience, the infrastructure, the system, the organization of a youth development. And it’s truly a shame, because like it’s been pointed out so many times, SURELY, out of 220 million people, we can nurture 11 players. Turns out we can’t. Others say we’re not good because of our physique. True, physique plays an important aspect in sports, but it’s not the be-all, end-all. East Asians and Central/South Americans are no Gerrards or Scheimekels, but they excel. And it’s not like all Indonesian players are hobbits; most of them are short, yes, but many of them are above 175cm or even 180cm. Anyway, to wrap it up, I blame our FA (PSSI) for fostering this poor culture of football. PSSI is a microcosm of Indonesia, that’s how I would term it, and that’s how I always explain it to my buddies. All of Indonesia’s problems – lack of strong leadership, corruption, bribery, greed, mismanagement, no faith in youth, economic hurdles, political bickerings, narrow-mindedness, instant culture, vision-less, violence, selfishness, and on – these are also the problems to describe PSSI. Results : development stalls, we’re staying at the same level while others are moving ever forward; fans are still rowdy, stadiums are still full, but they’re cheering for a marginalized cause, the glory of the club/city/regency; the national team suffers, nothing to show, and it’s widely reported that national team players are reluctant to put on the red-and-white jersey, unless they’re handsomely paid. And I suffer, hahaha.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quackje Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 So basically its a lack of organisation of a properly funded youth setup stopping the players coming through. Meanwhile the clubs only get money from government handouts that almost provide a football service free of a charge to anyone who wants to watch. Hard to see how they could change the whole culture of how the money moves, I may be wrong but your average Indonesian fan doesn't have very much money to pay so its hard to change things while maintaining high attendances. Maybe if they could set up some kind of Indonesian version of Clairfontaine, or probably a few since the country is so much bigger and spread out than France they could start really producing the youth players to inject back into the league. Still its an interesting insight into something that has puzzled me for a while of why despite high populations south east asian countries seem pretty bad at most sports. Is there some kind of more organised system for helping young badminton players or is that more a result of the relative popularity of badminton across the world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivanro Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Yes, set-ups like Clairefontaine might be a solution, as has been suggested by many footballing experts here in the country. And to a certain degree, we do have academies, though nowhere near the sophistication of that in France and others. It's just, we don't have any blueprint whatsoever on how to carry on with our football. Everything is done on impulse, circumstances permit it and we'll go. It's like, 'hmm, Sampdoria offers us a place to train and play in the Italian Primavera league, we have the money, so let's send them there to train for a few years, a few must come good' (this was 94-97), or 'Uruguay offers us a chance to play in their youth league, their president is close friends with ours, let's send some youngsters there, a few must come good' (this was 07). No long-term thinking : Which youngsters to send to Uruguay, since our youth set is a mess and our scouting network is ****-poor, the ones sent to this expensive project may not be the most talented? Or when they return, which clubs should they go to? Or in the next Asian youth qualifiers, do we send our locally-competing youngsters, whom of course are generally poorer than those sent to Uruguay, or do we recall them back 10,000 miles from Uruguay? And since they're competing in an official league there, wouldn't that mess the schedules and all? Anyway, I'm rambling now, but I hope you get the point. One out of so many. I guess pretty much Southeast Asia facing more or less the same problem, or even worse. Thailand may have Peter Reid now, but at the most all he can do is win a regional trophy, not challenge for a berth in the World Cup from Asia. Malaysia, well, from what I've read the Malaysians are lethargic to their national football, so even less hope there. Myanmar lacks the resources. Vietnam may come good one day, with passionate fans, big population, and growing economy, but they've looked that way for years now. And Singapore, for all their money and naturalized players, I cannot imagine them becoming more than what they are today. With regards to badminton, why Indonesia is so successfull in the world stage, comparable to China, I guess it's down to its relative popularity across the globe, like you said. Plus, Indonesia and China, including Malaysia, Korea, and probably Denmark to a lesser degree, have been so good at badminton for so long, they know how to do it properly even with limited means, it's hard to see them going down the pecking order. It's like trying to imagine Brazil or Argentina starting to suck. You just cannot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earendil Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I've really enjoyed reading your posts, ivanro. This challenge suddenly got a whole lot more interesting when you know a little more of the history of the Indonesian League. Also, I noticed that most foreigners in the league are from either South America or Africa. Is there a reason for this, wouldn't it be more common with players from the neighbouring countries? Is fair play important in the league or why is it that you see pretty much only one yellow card on average per game? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hunan Xiaangtao - End Of Season Update 2010 Final Table Transfers We went out in the first round of the cup on penalties to relegated Super League side Henan Jianye. After that in our first 8 games we won 1 and drew 7 before we lost the 9th. It was an oddly sucessful season as we never looked likely to be relegated and we in the top half until just before the mid season break. The problem I have is scoring goals as I mentioned to Rancer elsewhere I signed a striker who didn't score for 10 games then almost straight after scoring was injured for 3 months. He is leaving at the end of the season. I'm going to try to buy several strikers pre-season. I'm amazed at how many Superleague players are willing to drop down a league (for free as well). My topscorer was Ji Dan (see Nep's youth player projects thread [will have my next update soon]) with 6 History 2010 - National First Divsion - 13th Honours Club None... Manager None... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Good first season blowcrapup. And you have a logo for Rizhiquan! (and they survived for once! ) Can you give it to me please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spleen! Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Well done on staying up in your first season blowcrapup, hopefully you can build on that next season, and maybe even find a prolific striker Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blowcrapup Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I used the first pack you gave me in post#178 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Thanks mate. I will finally have a logo in my next update lads. First game with the logo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spleen! Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Great I've found the badge for my team, oddly it's blue despite us playing in red: Barito Putra badge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.