FIFA and Indonesian FA assist earthquake victims

A representative of the world football body, FIFA, has completed a survey of earthquake damage of football facilities in Indonesia's Yogyakarta special province in central Java. On 27-28 June, Jey Sing inspected Bantul and Sleman districts and visited the dormatories of football clubs Persiba Bantul (which suffered total damage) and PSIM Yogyakarta (the founding location of the PSSI 76 years ago). The 5.9 scale earthquake in May damaged the stadiums of Bantul, Tridadi and Mandala. However the US Marine medical team was able to use Pacar stadium in Bantul (home of the Persiba Bantul football club) as an emergency hospital to treat local earthquake victims.

Because of the devastation, the Indonesia League Committee (BLI) agreed to allow three clubs from the region, PSIM Yogyakarta, PSS Sleman and Persiba Bantul, to retire from 2006-07 competitions without penalty. "They asked BLI and participating clubs to understand their condition. They felt it impossible to continue playing the rest of their matches this season," said BLI Director Andi Darussalam Tabusala . Before the meeting board members inspected the region carefully. "From our inventories 90 percent of local players were hit by that disaster, including their family home. Meanwhile a lot of foreign players have left,” Tabusala said.