Soccer in Indonesia

If you ever get a chance on your travels in Indonesia I strongly suggest you go to a local soccer match. I have been to many matches in Yogyakarta. The pre-kickoff festivities [if you can call it that] usually starts first thing in the morning with the rival team supporters arriving in town waving their team’s colours, flags and paraphernalia, and basically stirring up the locals. This rivalry banter can go on for hours but when the time comes near to kickoff then it is absolute pandemonium in the stadium. Of course the team supporters are separated but that doesn’t stop the hurling of abuse and objects at hand.

Matters can get very ugly if the local team loses as the visiting team generally does a victory ride through the centre of tow on motorbikes and waving flags and jeering. Naturally this is met with several objects flying [again] and fights resulting in some blood being spilt.

Oddly enough, soccer in Indonesia is big money but not in the league of say Europe or England. There is a lot of corruption player stealing. Award winning journalist Duncan Graham of Indonesia Now wrote an excellent article about soccer with regards to funding.

Multicultural soccer

Arema is a soup word made up of the ingredients Arek (teenager) and Malang. It also refers to an alleged Javanese hero of the 13th century, Kebo Arema — he was apparently a court official with no claim to footy fame.

Local fans say they are not bonek (bondo nekat, penniless soccer hooligans who bum rides to matches and trash facilities), and say the offenders come from Surabaya.

And in Surabaya, they say the hooligans come from Malang.

Arema was formed in 1987 and had a rocky time financially and on the field until it was taken over in 2003 by the tobacco company Bentoel, and serious money started to pour in. The budget this year is a reported Rp 20 billion (US$2.2 million).

This gave the club the necessary kick-start and the cash to buy talent. One year later, Arema became division one champions in the national league.

The club is a member of the Asian Champion League and also plays in the first division nationally. It has a 25-man squad including three players from Cameroon and one each from Brazil, Liberia and Chile.

Unlike most clubs in Indonesia, Arema claims it gets no government backing. Jakarta recently ordered regional administrations to stop funding soccer; some local authorities had been using welfare budgets to pay players.

A looming problem is future sponsorship, with health authorities claiming tobacco’s links with sport will have to be severed as they have in other countries. Legislation to do just this is soon to be debated in the House of Representatives.

— Duncan Graham