Shin Tae-yong Accepts Persija Cannot Play at SUGBK, But Demands JIS Pitch Quality Be Improved

Persija Jakarta head coach Shin Tae-yong has openly accepted that the club cannot currently play at its traditional home ground, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (SUGBK). The statement comes at a time when the stadium is undergoing renovation that will last until March 2027, forcing Persija to rely on Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) as a temporary home. However, alongside accepting this reality, the coach has attached a clear condition — the quality of the JIS pitch must be improved, because the team cannot deliver its maximum performance if the playing surface is not right. Shin Tae-yong did not make this remark casually; he said it at a pre-match press conference. His argument is direct and practical: no matter how well the team prepares, good football is impossible on poor grass. He repeatedly stressed that players need a proper surface to use their full ability, and that the club also carries a responsibility to show supporters a decent game. This is not a tactical complaint but a question about basic pitch quality. Significantly, this is not the coach's voice alone. Team captain Rizky Ridho also publicly stood with the coach on the issue. The message is therefore clear — this is not one man's frustration but a collective dressing-room position. In football, when the captain and the head coach speak publicly on the same issue together, it becomes difficult to ignore. It also reduces the risk of the matter being dismissed as a 'coach's excuse'. The most important aspect of this whole episode is that the direction of pressure has shifted. Normally, when results suffer, questions are aimed at the coach and players. Here the dynamic is inverted — public pressure is landing directly on the stadium operator and the local government. JIS is managed by the provincial-owned enterprise PT Jakarta Propertindo (JakPro), and responsibility for pitch quality rests with it. The coach's repeated remarks have moved the issue out of the club's internal complaint file and into the realm of public accountability. The effect was swift. Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has made a public commitment to improvements at JIS and himself admitted that the stadium's grass 'was not perfect'. His intervention made clear that the problem is being viewed not merely at club level but as a matter of the city's public infrastructure. That is a relief for the coach, because the demand is no longer one-sided and has been acknowledged at administrative level. Understanding the root of the problem requires looking at how JIS is used. It is not purely a football stadium — concerts and other events are also held there. This multi-purpose model directly affects the pitch. After major events, the grass previously took two to three months to recover, disrupting match schedules. It is now claimed that, following improvement works, this recovery period has fallen to roughly one week. That is a positive operational signal, but it should be treated as a governor's public statement rather than an independently verified metric. From a football perspective, pitch condition is not merely an aesthetic issue. A poor or uneven surface disproportionately harms ground passing, one-touch football and set-piece execution. Teams then tend to shift towards a more direct, vertical style as risk avoidance. For a side like Persija that leans on a technical, possession-based identity, this is a double cost — its own identity is compromised, and opponents who defend deep or press aggressively may gain a marginal edge. That is an inference, not something the coach stated as fact, but ordinary football understanding supports it. There is another dimension — duration. SUGBK will remain closed until March 2027, meaning this is not a one-match inconvenience but a structural change spanning multiple seasons. Persija must play as a tenant in a shared, multi-purpose venue for that entire period. For a club with a traditionally strong supporter base that relies on home advantage, this is a serious challenge. Home advantage is built not only from the dimensions of a ground but from crowd presence, familiar atmosphere and the reliability of the surface. If any of those elements is unstable, the benefit shrinks. Looking at the timeline sharpens the picture. Persija played Persik Kediri on Monday (26/10) and their next fixture is against Dewa United, ahead of which the Friday (30/10) press conference took place. So this is not a rehash of an old grievance but a deliberate remark framed around the upcoming match. The coach has pre-established pitch condition as context so that performance is judged with circumstances in mind. This is a double-edged strategy. On one hand it lifts pressure from the players and redirects accountability toward the operator; on the other, if results go badly and the pitch is repeatedly cited, external criticism may say the excuses were prepared in advance. Shin Tae-yong's position is particular here — as a coach who has worked with the national team, his public statements carry extra media weight, which is likely why the administrative response came so quickly. For JakPro, this is also a reputational matter. When both the coach and the captain publicly question stadium quality from a public platform and even the governor intervenes, the operator has little choice but to deliver improvements. The pressure is long-term, because if questions about the grass recur after every home fixture, the issue will keep returning to the headlines. Interestingly, Jakmania — Persija's organised supporter group — sits at the centre of this whole affair. The coach has stated plainly that the team must show good football in front of the supporters. In this way the club is positioning itself as the fans' advocate, a message likely to resonate with the fanbase. For a club known as Macan Kemayoran, playing at a shared ground in its own city is an emotionally weakened position as well. As for risks, the most concrete and immediate one is pitch-related: injury. The danger of players getting hurt on an uneven surface always exists, though no medical or data-based information on this is available. The second risk is the extended venue transition stretching to March 2027. The third is a communication risk, in which the coach's repeated complaints could be read as excuse-making. Overall this is not a dramatic controversy but a solid, officially corroborated infrastructure story. The facts are clear: SUGBK closed until March 2027, JIS as a temporary home, a pitch not yet fully ready, and a governor who has promised improvements. The real test now is delivering on those words — whether the claim of one-week grass recovery holds across a full match calendar. If it does, it will become a positive example for multi-purpose stadium management. If not, Shin Tae-yong's voice will rise again — and this time there will be no easy answer.