The APPI has come a long way in recent years: “A lot has changed since I played my first match as a professional goalkeeper in 2010,” he says. “Today, players are more aware of the importance of their contract. When I started, many players didn’t even have a copy of their contract. Today it is. Our relations with the clubs, the league and the federation have improved a lot. A few years ago, we were like a debt collector, constantly knocking on their doors to make them aware of the problem of non-payment. This problem has diminished (although it still exists), but they invite us to their meetings and discussions. Now they listen to us.”
Ardhiyasa refers to an example from this summer. The federation (PSSI) planned to increase the quota of foreign players in the first two divisions in order to improve the quality of the championship. The APPI was not consulted on this proposal and quickly organized a questionnaire to gauge players’ opinions on the issue. They opposed this increase, fearing that it would reduce their development possibilities, that it would harm the development of the national team and that it would undermine the financial viability of the club. The APPI launched a social media campaign and public panel, with representatives from the FA, league, union and some players. A day later, the APPI announced its final decision, which included several crucial adjustments to ensure local player development and financial viability.
“Our reasoning was: we have a huge population, almost 300 million people, and many of them are football crazy and play football. We should think about ways to improve the training of all these core players, rather than bringing in players who do not have additional qualities and who do not progress our football,” Ardhiyasa explained. “We have no problem with clubs having a limited budget to bring talented foreign players into our league, but we should avoid wasting our local talent.”
Ardhiyasa added: “The campaign showed that the solidarity between our players is strong and the football federation is ready to listen to our voice.”
APPI is about to celebrate its 15th anniversary and the word “resilience” fits perfectly with the history of the union. “We have survived many hurricanes,” says Ardhiyasa. “Among other things, we had to deal with another union that had been created by the federation. We got stronger and he disappeared. Then FIFA temporarily banned Indonesian football, Covid-19 happened and we saw the horrific disaster at Kanjuruhan Stadium, where 135 spectators died. During our 15 years of existence, no federation president has managed to complete his term, which means that we have had to start new relations with the PSSI on several occasions.
“We’ve weathered all these storms and we think we’ve even gotten better every year. This is a good message for all unions: you have to find a way to survive every hurricane you face. If you can do this, you will likely become a stronger organization.”
