Ganesport presents overview of Indonesia’s sport governance at Play the Game 2022


Ganesport Institute, Indonesia’s first think-tank in sport policy and management, presented its 3-year studies observing the country’s sport governance at Play the Game 2022.

Play the Game, an international sport conference with interest in sport politics, governance and social issues, celebrated its 25th anniversary gathering top sports stakeholders ranging from journalists, academics, politicians, sport federation officials, athletes, activists, CEOs, public servants to coaches in Odense, Denmark, in June.

Ganesport director Amal Ganesha presented studies, experience and observations about the current state of mind inside Indonesia’s sports stakeholders.

“Symptopms of bad governance in Indonesia’s sport sector have been very obvious with recurring events of violence, corruption and imbalance sport policy objectives,” Amal said during his presentation on Thursday (30/06/2022).

“There’ve been a clear imbalance between elite sport and grassroots sport, in which the latter is significantly neglected, while the elite sport policies have been unsuccessful for years,” he said referring to the institute finding that Indonesia’s cost per medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics reached Rp 1.1 trillion or US$ 84.6 million, far more expensive than that of the UK’s Team GB with around US$ 9.3 million costs per medal after the accumulation of four-year cycle of funding into the elite sports.

One of the reasons why the governance of sports in the country is very weak, Amal explained, is because top sport actors only know about medal achievement, while other important areas such as governance, policy and development are not given significant attention.

This was Ganesport’s second participation at Play the Game as it firstly participated at the conference’s 2019 edition in Colorado Springs. At the 2022 edition, Ganesport delegates comprising Amal himself and sport journalist Dex Glenniza received a substantial grant from Play the Game to be able attending the conference in Odense.

Ganesport also partnered with Play the Game in 2021 to accomplish National Sports Governance Observer 2 studying Indonesia sport governance context. Play the Game was founded in 1997 by Danish journalist Jens Sejer Andersen and it is now part of the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan), an agency under the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Featured image is courtesy of Play the Game/ Thomas Søndergaard

Play the Game Publishes the First-Ever Sport Governance Report of Indonesia


Play the Game/ Danish Institute for Sports Studies has just released its flagship National Sports Governance Observer 2 with Indonesia’s sport-governance report included among 15 benchmarked countries across continents. Ganesport Institute partnered with Play the Game in accomplishing the project.

Surveying nine national sports federations in Indonesia, the report found the overall score of 28 percent, implying the country’s sports sector is still in early developing phase. According to the report, Indonesia was in the third-lowest performing countries in terms of sports governance among other countries, indicating that good sports governance is relatively new in the Southeast Asia’s largest country by population.

“However, there’s still a silverlining in the report, that says internal accountability among Indonesia’s national sports federations is fair enough, albeit there’s a huge room for improvement,” Ganesport director Amal Ganesha said on Wednesday (24/11/2021).

According to the Indonesia’s report, the poorest aspect of sports governance among national sports organisations is transparency.

“Transparency is very unpopular within sports organisations in Indonesia as they deem not important compared to other things such as winning gold medals in the Olympics,” Amal said.

Nine samples of observed sports federations in the report are the Indonesia National Sports Committee (KONI), the National Olympic Committee of Indonesia (KOI) and national sports federations of football, swimming, athletics, badminton, handball, tennis and basketball. Of these organisations, Amal believes KOI and the basketball federation have the most excellent scores of sports governance.

“You can see it clearly that KOI and Perbasi have the highest performing governances within their organisations, probably because they’ve been historically led by business professionals,” he said. “However, you can’t say that they’ve already implemented good governance inside their organisations. I am sure that sports governance is still new in Indonesia’s sports sector,” he added.

Good governance in the sports sector is considered important in the more developed countries with advanced sports ecosystems. You can read the full report of Play the Game‘s National Sports Governance Observer 2 by clicking Here.

Ganesport Teams Up With Idan to Hold a First-Ever Governance Research in Indonesia


Ganesport Institute, Indonesia’s first think-tank in sport policy and management, is undertaking a first-ever research about governance in Indonesia’s sporting landscape, teaming up with the Danish Institute for Sports Studies, or Idan.

Idan, who’s merged with international sport conference initiative Play the Game, invited Ganesport in October to come to Colorado, United States to share a study about leadership at football association which had been initially released in Jakarta in July.

Idan/ Play the Game’s flagship measures called the National Sports Governance Observer (NSGO) for the first time will be conducted in Indonesia, assessing how far the country’s sport federations have reckoned good governance theories and principles.

“Play the Game has for a long time been promoting good governance in sport and we share the same interest about it. We believe that good governance contributes to how well a country excels in sport, as it’s also backed by a reliable research,” Amal Ganesha, co-founder and director of Ganesport Institute, said on Friday (07/02/2020).

“We’re really excited about the project,” he added.

The NSGO has given impact in other countries with Poland, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands and Cyprus having reportedly been influenced by the measures, which inspired their lawmakers to create new legislations that adhere good sport-governance.

Splas Goes to Popular Jalak Harupat Stadium


Splas FC made a trip to the Jalak Harupat Stadium, in Bandung, West Java, on Saturday (03/12/2016), playing exhibition matches with local football boots collector group FBI Bandung.

With total nine matches being undertaken, Splas, which brought three teams on the day, recorded four wins, one draw and four defeats in total.

Splas, a community based football club named after an extracurricular activity at 14 senior high school in Jakarta, broke a perfect result from its elite team with three wins 1-0, 1-0 and 4-1 against the Bandung’s side. Winger Ardyan “Acil” Prasetya sparkled after scoring three goals, including his late crucial goal in the second match. While midfielder Hardi Ananda Suyuti showed indispensable role in the team with his tenacious pass and move, eventually breaking the deadlock with a mesmerizing lob finish in the first match.

Furthermore, the Splas B team recorded one win and two defeats against the FBI. While Splas C team suffered two defeats and one draw.

“I’m glad with our first stadium visit to Bandung. We expected to play more at monumental stadiums in the country,” Splas chairman Muammar Khadafi told Ganesport Foundation.

Jalak Harupat has been frequently used as home base of Persib Bandung, an Indonesian elite football club who won the 2014 Indonesia’s super league.

Splas has been supporting our social causes by attaching Ganesport’s logo on its jersey.

Satu orang satu bola, kata Suwirwan


Wajah sangat sumringah terpancar dari anak-anak RSC Football dalam sesi latihan Sabtu (23/04/2016). Walaupun kondisi lapangan basah, semangat mereka tidak kalah.

“Sekarang kita bisa latihan dengan bola yang cukup. Tolong dijaga bolanya ya,” ujar Suwirwan, Koordinator peserta RSC Football.

“Rasionya, satu orang latihan dengan satu bola, ini akan baik bagi kalian,” lanjut pria yang bermukim hanya beberapa meter dari lapangan sepak bola.

Terima kasih pada Kick Andy Foundation dan Nike, karena bantuan bola sepak kepada RSC Football. Bolanya empuk dan enak untuk ditendang-tendang.

Digagas sejak awal Januari 2016, RSC Football selama empat bulan terakhir latihan hanya dengan empat buah bola, padahal peserta latihan berkisar 18 s/d 24 orang. Lalu beberapa minggu terakhir, hanya latihan dengan tiga bola karena satu bola bocor. Alhasil bantuan Kick Andy Foundation telah membuat kami sekarang latihan dengan 20 bola.

Wajar anak-anak menjadi sumringah, mengingat selama ini tidak pernah kebagian bola segitu banyak.

Banyaknya bola dalam latihan sepak bola sangat penting, karena anak-anak harus sebanyak mungkin menyentuh bola agar kemampuan mereka meningkat di atas lapangan hijau. Dengan jumlah bola yang ideal, pelatih juga mampu berikan materi yang maksimal.

Semoga bolanya awet tahan lama…

Kembalikan Sepak Bola ke Akarnya


Pada hari Sabtu kemarin (05/03/2016), bertempat di kota Yogyakarta, Ganesport Foundation dan komunitas Supergard menyelenggarakan seminar yang juga dihadiri oleh Indra Sjafri sebagai nara sumber.

Sebagai seorang Pelatih Kepala, Indra Sjafri menjelaskan bahwa pos tersebut harus dilakoni dengan kemampuan manajerial yang baik.

Indra menjelaskan dengan bercerita dari pengalaman-pengalamannya membesut Tim Nasional U-19 dan Bali United FC.

“Jika ingin maju, kita harus libatkan banyak orang yang ahli di bidangnya,” jelas pria yang lebih sering disapa Coach Indra.

“Seorang pelatih kepala adalah manajer. Dan manajer yang baik adalah manajer yang mau melibatkan banyak orang-orang hebat untuk capai beberapa tujuan,” lanjut pria asal Minang tersebut kepada para peserta.

Ia juga membahas tentang betapa seringnya manajemen klub profesional di Indonesia lebih banyak belanja daripada raih pendapatan.

“Lebih besar pasak daripada tiang, itulah letak kesalahannya.”

“Ibu saya selalu bilang, jika kita punya uang sebesar 11, maka kita belanjakan 10, sisa satu untuk jaga-jaga.

“Yang sering terjadi di sini [industri sepak bola Indonesia] adalah kebalikannya.”

“Karena kita sering menonton liga sepak bola Eropa yang gemerlap, sehingga kita ingin buru-buru meniru mereka padahal kita hanya mengetahui ‘kulit-kulit’-nya saja,” tegas Manager Coach Bali United itu.

Mengenai sepak bola di level akar rumput, Coach Indra juga memaparkan pendapatnya.

“Sepak bola di level usia dini seharusnya jangan terlalu diarahkan pada prestasi atau ajang-ajang seperti cup-cup yang sering ada itu. Anak-anak harus bahagia dulu dengan bola, setelah itu baru nanti ada proses otomatisasi seiring mereka dewasa,” terang Indra Sjafri.

Tema seminar pada hari itu memang beragam, dimulai dari aspek komunikasi dan tata kelola klub profesional, manajemen keuangan dan merek, nutrisi atlet, serta tata kelola sepak bola di akar rumput (grassroots).

Beberapa peserta mengaku dapat banyak ilmu baru, terutama tentang bagaimana tata kelola sepak bola di akar rumput yang ternyata sering salah kaprah di Indonesia.

“Saya baru tahu ternyata anak-anak itu tidak boleh diperlakukan seperti atlet profesional. Seminar ini sangat berguna bagi SSB kami,” kata Wahyu Widodo, salah satu peserta yang merupakan pengurus SSB Perwira Timur Purbalingga.

Sesi mengenai perkembangan sepak bola grassroots memang dilakoni oleh Irman Jayawardhana, seorang akademisi manajemen olahraga yang pernah bekerja di Coundon Court FC, sebuah klub grassroots di kota Coventry, Inggris.

Irman menerangkan bahwa jika SSB terus menekan anak-anak untuk menang/ juara, maka akan tercipta proses degradasi mental.

“Di level 13 tahun ke bawah, anak-anak harus diarahkan untuk bersenang-senang dengan bola, bukan berkompetisi layaknya pemain profesional,” kata Irman.

“Imbas dari perilaku tersebut [fokus pada prestasi] adalah kemunduran sepak bola kita. Banyak anak-anak yang seharusnya berbakat, tapi redup lebih dulu karena tekanan psikologis dari banyak pihak, terutama pelatih dan orang tua.”

“Kembalikan sepak bola kepada akarnya, yaitu kebahagiaan.”

Irman juga menjelaskan bahwa sepak bola harus dimulai dari sebuah organisasi non-profit atau komunitas, bukan entitas bisnis.

“Tahapnya harus dari komunitas dan non-profit dulu. Kekuatannya berasal dari gerakan bersama di antara para anggota untuk perlahan membangun klubnya.

“Namun jangan terburu-buru untuk jadi klub yang berbasis pada bisnis, karena nanti bisa-bisa terpeleset dan membuat klub jadi bubar,” pungkas Irman.

Setelah sesi mengenai sepak bola grassroots, panitia menghadirkan Abimanyu Bimantoro yang berbicara mengenai manajemen merek di sepak bola.

Mengambil contoh kasus FC Barcelona dan New York City FC, Abimanyu menerangkan betapa pentingnya bagi sebuah klub untuk memiliki nilai-nilai yang menjual.

“Prestasi tim di atas lapangan memang penting, tapi ada yang lebih penting, yaitu menciptakan nilai-nilai (values) dan mengkomunikasikannya kepada para fans,” terang Abimanyu kepada audiens.

“FC Barcelona memiliki banyak nilai-nilai, salah satunya adalah mereka bertahan sangat lama untuk tidak membuka ‘spot’ komersial di kaus dada mereka, sehingga akhirnya ketika sekarang dibuka nilai komersilnya begitu tinggi. Itu adalah bentuk strategi pemasaran,” lanjut Abi.

Kegiatan seminar berlangsung dengan menarik dimana para peserta begitu kritis bertanya kepada para nara sumber, dimana hal tersebut diakui sebagai hal yang positif.

“Saya melihat masih ada semangat dari para pelaku sepak bola di Indonesia, meskipun situasinya saat ini carut marut,” ujar Amal Ganesha, Ketua Umum Ganesport Foundation.

“Seringnya peserta bertanya dan berbagi pengalaman adalah hal yang sehat dan saya melihat itu sebagai sinyal positif, bahwa mereka masih semangat dengan sepak bola.”

“Kita mendapat beberapa pertanyaan yang sangat challenging, terutama dari teman-teman SSB, karena sejujurnya perkembangan sepak bola level akar rumput di Indonesia belum banyak datanya. Kami antusias sekali untuk bisa kontribusi pada kemajuan mereka [SSB],” pungkas Amal.

Yayasan Ganesport adalah organisasi nirlaba yang didirikan sebagai bentuk pengabdian kepada masyarakat melalui olahraga. Acara seminar kemarin diakui sebagai bagian dari tujuan yayasan, yaitu semua pemasukkan dari peserta dialokasikan untuk misi-misi sosial.

Bersama Indra Sjafri, Ganesport Jadi Pemateri Seminar


Seminar akan dilaksanakan pada bulan Maret 2016 mendatang di kota Yogyakarta.

Bersama dengan kelompok pecinta sepak bola Supergard dan Indra Sjafri, para punggawa Ganesport Foundation akan menjadi pemateri Seminar mengenai tata kelola sepak bola yang benar dan profesional. Kebanyakan dari pemateri merupakan sport scholar dengan keahlian di bidangnya masing-masing.

Menanggapi acara ini, Dibyo Dwiputranto, salah satu BOD Ganesport yang sudah menyelesaikan studinya, MBA Football Industries, mengatakan: “Ini kegiatan (seminar) yang saya tunggu-tunggu. Saya senang dan excited sekali.”

Anda dapat mengikuti seminar tersebut dengan menghubungi pihak-pihak terkait yang tertera di poster.

MIPA Football Went Through Next Stage


MIPA Football team won a tight game 1-0 against Law Faculty in UI Olympics 2015 and went through to the next stage.

The format of this year competition is play-offs, so then all the participants are given no choice but win!

MIPA Football became our partner and displaying Ganesport logo on their jersey as an action to support the society. It was a tough game yesterday (5/11/2015) at Stadion Universitas Indonesia, of which the opposition gave hard challenge for the MIPA boys.

There were lots of chances to score, but no sides created a goal until a moment from The Blues in late minutes of the game. It was a long-pass from a midfield player and the ball went through the box of Law team, the striker of The Blues suddenly appeared and made a little touch to push the ball come into the net. 1-0 to MIPA!

That scoreline was not changed until the game finished and The Blues was in jubilee while they got back home.

Ganesport Teams Up with MIPA Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Football


The partnership deal includes composite logo attachment on MIPA Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Football team.

MIPA Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Football will compete in @olimpiadeUI 2015 as they are considered one of the best.

The association of Ganesport Foundation and MIPA in @olimpiadeUI 2015 is expected to add awareness of Ganesport for sport community at universities.

Women’s Volleyball will play against Faculty of Dentistry on their first game tomorrow. The game will be held at Pertamina Hall FEUI campus. While MIPA Men’s Football will see Law Faculty as their first opposition on Stadion UI’s pitch. Please come and support us!