Love Thy Arsenal
*Tim Flicker, a long-distance Gooner, hangs out with some other long-distance Gooners, where his credentials for being a real Arsenal fan are tested. Even when watching football is boring; singing, chanting, hanging out with friends makes up for the lack of action. The Arsenal Indonesia Supporters (AIS) Club was formed in 2004 and has since […]
Always Sparta Rotterdam
The fan shop was had just opened. The lights on the towers had not yet been turned on. On the way from Marconiplein RET trains top, a teenager had accelerated down the footpath on his bicycle doing a wheelie. Someone else had parked their (non-motorised) scooter on the footpath as they waited for their Chinese-Indonesische […]
Bonek Chants as Interpellation
The ‘Battle of Heroes’ was a friendly game held at the Stadion Gelora Bung Tomo in Surabaya in June, 2015. It featured players from Persebaya Surabaya in the team ‘Andik and Friends’ against a team of players from South America who are currently based in Indonesia. The game was partly possible because of the suspension […]
The Art of Conducting
The modern orchestral conductor emerged with the rise of large scale symphony orchestras in the 19th century. In orchestral and choral music, a musician – a concertmaster – was able to use his body or bow to maintain rhythm and indicate the kind of sound to be played. The typically bombastic and verbose Richard Wagner […]
Paul Town: Stadium Painter
Around the time of the 30th anniversary of the Bradford City/Valley Parade fire, The Guardian featured a story on Paul Town and his paintings. I went to his website, Stadium Portraits, and liked what I saw. The name itself referred to the human qualities of stadiums. The paintings were inexact imaginings of old stadiums; some […]
The Rise of Jawa Pos and Persebaya
*An earlier version of this article was published in Indonesian on Fandom.id, here: Jawa Pos dan Sepak Bola. Fajar Junaedi looks at the role played by newspapers in creating football fan culture in Java. The Jawa Pos (Java Post), a newspaper based in the east Javanese city of Surabaya, recently had a three page report […]
Racism and Resistance
*An edited version of this essay was published on Shoot Farken, here. **This essay was initially published in the lead up to Adam Goodes’s return to footy, after a one week break, caused by the ongoing booing of him throughout the 2015 season. ***The essay is a continuation of my paper on Shane Edwards that […]
Of Istanbul and Football Politics
*An oldie, written during April 2014. “I hate Galatasaray. They are the worst team in the world,” Orhan remarks at his Camper shoe store on Istiklal Caddesi. A pedestrian walks past the shop wearing a Fenerbache shirt; he calls out to indicate their shared allegiance and she replies with a smile. Despite Orhan’s antagonism and […]
Bonek 1927 as Ultras
“GreenNord27 belongs to all of us. It doesn’t belong to a particular community. No one [group] dominates and no one has a monopoly on it. No one feels the most heroic; no one takes credit for having given the most service or having the rights to it. Everyone: One Heart, One Attitude and One Movement. […]
Bonek Against the President
Letter to President Jokowi from Bonek 1927 On the Eve of the 70th Anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence “We Demand a Mental Revolution for Clean Football” Presiden Jokowi, whom we venerate, We pray that you – Father President – are always given health so that you are able to carry out the obligations of the national […]