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When it comes to football, it is widely known - at least for those football enthusiasts out there - that a referee is the highest leader of the game. This means that whatever decisions a referee makes taking into consideration what happens during a football game, his decisions are absolute and cannot be protested in any way by either the players of both teams or by the spectators as well as any other officials that do not hold the rights to do so.

However, things did not seem to go that way for referee Jimmy Napitupulu while he was leading Indonesia Cup football game final today between Sriwijaya FC and Arema which was held at Solo. Today, on Sunday, 1st August 2010, a lot of his decisions during the first half were protested by the spectators who fully crowded Stadium Manahan at Solo, the stadium where the final game was held.

However, the climax took place when Jimmy Napitupulu made a decision to show a red card to one of Arema's players, Noh Alam Shah, on the first half, leaving Arema to play with only ten men. The referee showed the player a red card for lifting his leg too high in the air and kicking Precious Emuejeraye, playing for Sriwijaya FC, on the face.

Unfortunately for the referee, this caused the spectators - Arema's fans, needless to say - to go mad. At this final game, Arema's fans were not hard to find here and there since they crowded the stadium heavily. Following this incident, Regional Head Police Officer of Mid Java, Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, requested at the end of the first half - which ended 0-0 - that officials substitute the referee. He also said that if this could not be granted, he would dismiss the Indonesia Cup football final game.

According to him, the reason was to prevent riots from happening due to Arema's fans madness. However, as a matter of fact, there were unlikely any signs of riots at the given time. When asked by one of the reporters on site reporting about the final game, this head police officer mentioned that it was no problem for PSSI officials to go home and that security issue was police business.

The thing is that he might not know that Jimmy Napitupulu is a FIFA-certified referee and has a good reputation for leading lots of football games in Indonesia. With FIFA certifying the referee, it means that the referee has what it takes to lead a football game as how he is supposed to. A FIFA certification also means that the referee knows the rules of football games in details, what to do if players commit fouls and when to show yellow and red cards. Needless to say, FIFA only certifies a referee whom the world's leading football federation can trust.

Nevertheless, after the first half had ended, the game officials had to focus their attention on this rare problem. This had also caused the second half to be suspended for more than an hour. There were also rumors that a solution of twin champions might be in effect due to this particular problem.

However, this was very funny. Even the Dutch coach of Arema himself, Robert Rene Alberts, didn't even mind the referee's decisions. So, why should have Inspector General Alex Bambang Riatmodjo even bothered substituting the referee at all? Arema's coach was even willing to continue the game with only ten men on his team. The coach said that it was a pity such an incident as this had to take place as Indonesia was a beautiful country with very good people. Thus, he added that Indonesian people should try to get more professional when it comes to football. Meanwhile, the coach of Sriwijaya FC, Rahmad Darmawan, indicated that it didn't really matter whether they won or lost the final game. What really matters instead was whether players of both team played fairly or not. This coach also said that in case Arema won the game after all, he would gladly congratulate Arema's players and coach. So, once again, a fair play was a lot more important than a winning.

Of course, this incident is very bizarre and is one of a kind. As a matter of fact, there are neither such things as referee substitution nor twin champions in a football game all over the world. At least, that's the way a football game is supposed to be. But Indonesia seems to be an exception. There were also rumors that sometime around 70s, such an incident as this did took place as well during one of Indonesia's football games. At that time, the final solution taken was to have twin champions. Then, twin champions also emerged during the last PON which took place recently before this particular final game of Indonesia Cup was held. bola, sepakbola, berita bola, jadwal liga, berita sepakbola Unfortunately, if things like this keep on happening at Indonesia, chances are FIFA may ban this country from independently holding its own football game. Of course, this is not quite likely something a country will want to have to go through. With that being said, PSSI - which stands for Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia - and the rest of the football officials in charge in Indonesia will have to work hard and make this their top priority homework so that things like what happened during Indonesia Cup football final today will not take place anymore in the future. One more thing, if you don't really know what PSSI is, it is the top federation that is in charge of football in Indonesia.