MANAMA: Bahrain’s football association said it would request that a World Cup qualifying match scheduled for March be moved outside of Indonesia after the national team allegedly received death threats from Indonesian fans.

“The association will submit a request to remove the match from Indonesia to preserve the safety of the team,” it said in a statement posted to X on Wednesday.

“The association refuses to expose the lives of team members to any potential danger, especially since the actions of the Indonesian fans are completely unacceptable and incorrect.”

The move comes after an Oct 10 match in Bahrain ended in a 2-2 draw, with Bahrain equalising in the ninth minute of injury time.

Indonesian officials and supporters afterwards complained the injury time had gone on for too long.

Wednesday’s statement from Bahrain’s football association said its players had since been “subjected to a torrent of insults, slander, threats and hacking operations” online.

It also expressed “extreme surprise at the multiple death threats received by the team members on their personal social media accounts — a move that reflects the Indonesian public’s disregard for human lives”.

In a statement to reporters on Wednesday evening, Indonesia football association executive committee member Arya Mahendra Sinulingga said there was “no need to worry” about player safety.

“We will guarantee the safety and comfort for our guest, like Bahrain, because the Indonesian nation is a nation that is friendly to guests,” he said, insisting that the match should stay in Jakarta.

“About social media, sometimes Indonesian netizens are noisy but actually, they are friendly and good in their daily lives. Indonesia is friendly. Our nation is famous as a friendly nation.”

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024