Menpora Cup: from home, for Indonesia

Jakarta (medialnews) – As a nurse who deals with COVID-19 patients almost every day, Suryatno Situmorang understands very well that the running of the Menpora Cup pre-season tournament 2021 will be silent without the presence of spectators in the stadium.

While his conscience as a football fan is a little uncomfortable seeing the empty stadium when two teams battle tactically on the field, Suryatno realizes that this is the best policy when the COVID-19 pandemic is still not fully under control.

The medical staff at Friendship Hospital in Jakarta really understand how quickly the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of COVID-19, is transmitted between people.

Imagine if spectators or supporters were allowed to enter the stadium without careful consideration, then the greatest risk, the tournament could become one of the clusters of the spread of the respiratory invasive virus.

Of course, it would be very dangerous for that scenario to occur. The national level of COVID-19 infection can get worse and worsen people’s life situation.

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To illustrate, the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) once said that one person suffering from COVID-19 can spread the disease to more than 400 other people within 30 days.

This condition makes Suryatno appreciate the # DukungDariRumah campaign that is always repeated during the 2021 Menpora Cup.

In addition, the organizers, namely PSSI and PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB), also implemented a set of health protocols for the prevention of COVID-19 in the competition that took place from March 21 to April 25.

Through television screens and gadgets, Suryatno saw firsthand how various medical procedures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 were performed during the Menpora Cup in 2021.

For example, coaches, players and staff who do not participate in the field are obliged to wear masks. The ball is then routinely sprayed with disinfectant by the ball boy, after which the players keep their distance, including when taking pictures and celebrating goals.

From the news circulating, Suryatno also learned that all people involved in the 2021 Menpora Cup must undergo an antigen swab test a few hours before the match.

In total, the committee conducted more than 7,000 antigen swab tests with the result that none of the names tested positive for COVID-19 during the tournament.

“I think that’s good enough and in general the health protocol could be used in the competition,” said the man from North Sumatra.

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# Support from home

Concerns about the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have become a serious concern of PSSI and LIB as organizers of the Menpora Cup 2021.

Therefore, assisted by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Task Force Handling COVID-19 and the Ministry of Health, a COVID-19 prevention health protocol has been drawn up, one of which stipulates that all matches run without spectators.

Supporters are asked to watch the game from their respective places of residence and not to organize activities that end with the audience, such as watching together (Nobar).

The stadium where the game is located is only filled with players, coaches, officials, reporters and committee members with a maximum of 299 people.

To iron out this policy, the government, PSSI, LIB, together with the support community of the 2021 Menpora Cup teams, set up the # DukungDariRumah campaign that was rerun even before the Menpora Cup was held in 2021.

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This campaign can be considered very important because it is directly related to the efforts of the Indonesian government to reduce COVID-19 cases.

The committee has done several ways to make #DukungDariRumah penetrate public awareness, from supporting competitions related to it to using the ‘hashtag’ in every social media upload related to the 2021 Menpora Cup.

Subsequently, the rights holders keep repeating #DukungDariRumah in every live broadcast, both through the convincing words of the presenter and through the camera highlighting the words #DukungDariRumah in the stadium.

The whole effort was not in vain. During the Menpora Cup 2021, the supporters of the participating teams are obedient not to come to the stadium. Nor were large crowds reported in connection with the match.

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This situation has led to various parties praising football supporters. Not halfheartedly, appreciation also came from President Joko Widodo.

“He (President Joko Widodo) appreciates supporters who are very obedient to the call,” said Menpora Zainudin Amali.

The command of the supporters following the # DukungDariRumah campaign and the implementation of the health protocol at the 2021 Menpora Cup, which was ultimately considered successful, forced President Joko Widodo de Menpora, PSSI and PT LIB to stop the turnout of spectators at the stadium when the League 1 and League 2 seasons 2021-2022 roll.

The government expects that as much as 20-30 percent of the spectators of the maximum capacity will be in the stadium when the game rolls around.

Not only that, the strict application of health protocols to the Menpora Cup 2021 also opens the potential for the League 1 and League 2 crowd permits for the 2021-2022 season by the National Police to be issued.

If the license is issued, PSSI plans to hold the Indonesian League 1 for the 2021-2022 season from July 3.

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Supporters efforts

The success of the # DukungDariRumah campaign is certainly not easy. There must be close cooperation between parties such as the government, PSSI, LIB, Polri and of course supporters.

On the part of the supporters, they use the organization’s command line to call on members to always abide by the rules to prevent COVID-19.

Jimhur Saros, the president of K-Conk Mania, Madura United’s supporter group, said his party used internal social media to ask members not to come to the stadium and not the public.

According to Jimhur, requests to these members should be made heartily.

“We made an appeal via social media. We pleaded with heart, without coercion and relief,” Jimhur said.

Similar efforts were also made by Persib Bandung supporters, the Viking Persib Club (VPC).

VPC Chairman Herru Joko stated that in order to control its members, they promote coordination by mobilizing heads down to the industry level.

“We coordinate internally up to industry level. In addition, we also coordinate with other stakeholders such as local authorities,” says Herru.

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Supporters’ efforts to help the government control COVID-19 is one of the essential elements that keep the Menpora Cup running smoothly.

The 2021 Menpora Cup itself ended on April 25 with the victory of Persija Jakarta.

But without diminishing the efforts of all participating teams, the implementation of the 2021 Menpora Cup is really no longer a matter of losing or winning.

The competition involving 17 League 1 teams managed to show that Indonesia was able to hold a football league in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic without anyone contracting the respiratory disease during the tournament.

As long as we work and work hand in hand, Indonesia can, football has apparently been able to move amid the shackles of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hopefully this positive atmosphere will continue.

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By Michael Siahaan
Editor: Bayu Kuncahyo
COPYRIGHT © BETWEEN 2021