The Football Federation of Indonesia (PSSI)’s Disciplinary Committee has deducted three points off Persipura Jayapura and fined them Rp250 million over their no-show in their Liga 1 Indonesia rescheduled match against Madura United in late February. The Mutiara Hitam were also given a 3-0 forfeit loss in the fiasco’s aftermath.
The verdict was posted on the PSSI’s official website, after a period of deliberation from the Disciplinary Committee. Relegation-fighting Persipura saw a dent in their fight for survival with the three-point deduction as well as the 3-0 technicality defeat, however, they could breathe a sigh of relief as the Disciplinary Committee did not slap them with the harshest possible sanction for their no-show, which could see Persipura being deducted nine points and fined Rp 1 billion.
Additionally, Persipura manager Ridwan Bento Madubun was banned from football for a year and fined Rp50 million. Ridwan was sanctioned as he was the one who told the Persipura camp to not come to their rescheduled match on February 21st.
League operators PT Liga Indonesia Baru (PT LIB) also did not escape sanctions as the PSSI fined them Rp250 million. PT LIB was judged to have failed to follow league protocols by failing to follow up to Persipura’s request to postpone their match with Madura United due to the high amount of COVID-19 cases in the Mutiara Hitam camp. While the PT LIB-sanctioned PCR tests revealed that Persipura has enough players to play their match against the Laskar Sapeh Kerrab, Persipura’s independent antigen test, which was done before the match, revealed that there are more positive cases within the Mutiara Hitam, thus necessitating the need for postponement.
Persipura’s request to postpone the match to a further date was rejected by the PT LIB, who were adamant that Persipura have enough players to play Madura United. This led to Ridwan telling his players and staff members to stay at their hotel and not come to the stadium for their match, leading to the whole walk-out fiasco.
Speaking about their sentencing on their social media channels on Wednesday, the Persipura management vowed to file an appeal for their punishment, which was met by sheer outrage from everyone in the Indonesian football fraternity, who felt that what Persipura had received was a mere slap to the wrist compared to the possible punishment in store for them, as well as the fact that the PT LIB were also being punished alongside the Mutiara Hitam.
The three extra points meant that Madura United, who drew 3-3 with fellow relegation battlers Barito Putera on Wednesday, move up to 11th place in the league table, while Persipura are still mired in the relegation zone in 16th place. The Mutiara Hitam now only have 23 points to their name, six points off 15th placed Barito in safety and 10 points above last-placed Persiraja Banda Aceh, who were officially relegated thanks to Barito’s draw with Madura United.