There Was No Decision Regarding League 1 From The Meeting Of The Ministry Of Youth And Sports, PSSI And The National Police

The Ministry of Youth and Sports held a meeting with PSSI and Polri to discuss permits for soccer matches (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Youth and Sports together with PSSI and Polri held a follow-up meeting to discuss the fate of the Indonesian League 1 competition at Wisma Kemenpora, Wednesday. However, there was no decision whatsoever at the meeting.

Menpora Zainudin Amali, in the meeting agenda PSSI only explained plans for soccer activities such as tournaments and Indonesian League 1 competitions for the 2021 season, including the implementation of health protocols during matches.

"Earlier the coordination meeting was to listen to explanations about organizing tournaments and competitions as well as implementing health protocols. We have not made any decisions yet," Zainudin said after the meeting was reported by Antara.

According to him, the National Police, as the spearhead of the permit issuer, will further examine the explanation. If this is deemed insufficient, the National Police will provide more input to PSSI and competition operators to immediately fix it.

On the one hand, said the Menpora, getting permission to hold competitions in the midst of a pandemic is not easy. Various aspects should be considered so as not to become a new cluster of transmission.

"This process must run because we know that it is currently a pandemic. Our principle is to prioritize public safety and health," he said.

PSSI Chairman Mochamad Iriawan said that in the follow-up meeting, his party explained all the technicalities of the implementation by paying attention to the principles of health protocols and provided a video copy of the match simulation that was held a few days ago.

Now his party is just waiting for the results of the National Police's evaluation to serve as the basis for whether to give permission to organize the competition or have to postpone it longer.

"We present the competition schedule and pre-competition if allowed. Permission depends on the police to review, our job is only to convey health protocols," said the man who is familiarly called Iwan Bule.