Oleh: Andy Fuller. Diterjemahkan oleh Fiky Daulay. Sepakbola dimotori oleh persaingan. Persaingan-persaingan ini berada di dalam dan luar lapangan: di antara penggemar dan para pesepakbola. Semangat para penggemar melejitkan nilai hak-hak tayang pertandingan besar di televisi. Stadion-stadion diperjualbelikan untuk memenuhi kapasitas dan sports bar termasuk pubs penuh ketika penggemar fanatik terpaku pada pertandingan sepakbola. Antar-kota, atau […]
*by Andy Fuller, Utrecht University Ikhwan, a teenage fan of Arema, told his mother and sister that he was going off to a Qur’anic study group on the night of 1st October 2022. Of course, he was given permission by his mother to do so. He hadn’t returned the following morning though. He wasn’t always under […]
by Andy Fuller, Utrecht University Football is propelled by rivalries. These rivalries exist on and off the field: between fans and players. The passion of the fans boosts the value tv rights for covering the big games. Stadiums are sold to capacity and sports bars and pubs are filled while partisan fans are glued to […]
*translated by Andy Fuller The recovery from this tragedy will be a slow and complicated process. There are many stakeholders. Lots of listening needs to be done. For the moment, I’m not interested in listening to officials, bureaucrats and politicians. I’m not convinced by Mahfud MD: I saw him on Mata Najwa and he was […]
by Andy Fuller* This tragedy was entirely avoidable. And as usual, those who are culpable are likely to escape without appropriate punishment. This tragedy has long been on the cards. But, even its likelihood of eventuating wasn’t enough for the authorities to act. In this case the relevant authorities are: the Indonesian police (Polri), the […]
This article was first published at Sejarah Persebaya. Translated by Andy Fuller* The Kanjuruhan Tragedy which happened during the Arema FC vs Persebaya game which has resulted in the death of 127 people (at the time of writing) is deeply concerning. The event was triggered when the police fired tear gas into the grandstands when […]
On any given Wednesday at Leiden Atletiek, Amina Maatoug, cuts a diminutive figure. Softly spoken, she makes her way through the loopscholing drills with balance and focus. Then, during the technieklopjes, he speed is revealed. Amina’s feet lightly touch the ground, before springing further down the track. Her co-ordination, refined technique, being testament to the […]
Jolijn has a habit of winning races. If not winning, then at least popping up smilingly on the podium. Some of us spend our whole amateur careers without enjoying the glory of flowers, vouchers or an envelop filled with a few euro notes. But, little beats the satisfaction of gaining a PB and steadily improving […]
oleh: Andy Fuller Memang agak sulit menjadi seorang ‘pengamat sepakbola Indonesia’, kalau tinggal di luar Indonesia itu sendiri. Tetapi, derasnya berita dan posting di sosmed menjembatani jarak di antara ‘di luar’ dan ‘di dalam’ Indonesia. Aktivitas para Bonek dari Surabaya (dan di kota lain) sering mengingatkan saya betapa ramainya wacana sepakbola di Indonesia. Sepakbola memang […]
Yamadipati Seno, 6th February 2020. First published on Mojok. All of us already know that it is useless to rely on the police to solve the problem of klitih (roughly translatable as ‘gang violence’) in Jogja. The police take so long to act: perhaps because it is owing to bureaucracy or some other reason. Almost every […]
by Oryza A. Wirawan. Originally published at Berita Jatim & Sejarah Persebaya How does a community of supporters try to encourage a critical understanding of football through writing? We can use the case of the Bonek Writers Forum (BWF), founded on 6th December 2017, as a means to understand this. This community has a fluid form. […]
“it’s the subtle things that I get from my runs. I never come back without feeling different from at the beginning of my run. It makes me on one level physically satisfied for the rest of the day.” ** Running is so full of numbers. There is a proliferation of digits. Athletes are categorised by […]
It’s a strangely warm Wednesday evening at Leiden Atletiek. The warm up consists of a gentle run through the Leidse Hout which neighbours the track. Running through the little woods of the Leidse Hout, I somehow fall into stride with Dominic and somehow we get talking about Sweat Elite – a running YouTube channel and […]
He’s probably one of the most famous folks in Leiden. If you bump into Maikel on a street in Leiden and start talking with him, within moments someone else he knows will walk by. And then a few moments later, someone else. And, then a little while later, another person. Sooner or later, if someone […]
There are many ways to skin the marathon cat. Since joining the Richmond Harriers in 2018, I have been exposed to a training plan which values high weekly mileage. The main coach is Neil Ryan who ran a 2:17 marathon in 1974, which for the era, was a cracking time (and is still not to […]
The watery landscape of the Low Lands means that its cities are engineered to live with water: to accommodate it, rather than to combat it. Leiden is one such watery city and although it is part of the greater Randstad, it upholds its own proud identity: marked by the Siege of Leiden, its university, a […]
One of the outcomes of running most days of the is frequent visits to the running shoe shop. In Melbourne, my choice of shoe shops was simple: I would go to Neil Ryan’s shop in Kew: Runners World. It is at the top of a hill in a leafy eastern suburb. Not far from a […]
There is a joke about amateur runners who are training for a marathon, it goes something like this:  “How do you know if a friend of yours is doing a marathon?” The answer: “Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.”  It is as if the mere act of signing up for such an event is worthy of […]
Brad is in Chelmsford. Soon, he’ll have a route named after him. It will be called the “Brad Wood Chignals Loop with Extra Part Anniversary Trail”. The distance is 16.01km and it is to be run in precisely 4:42minutes per kilometre. A divergence of more than 10% on this pace disqualifies one from having completed […]
I went to the footy on Thursday night. I left my house, turned right and walked towards the light towers. There were no other pedestrians about. There was no queue at the traffic lights in front of the bicycle shop. I didn’t see anyone parking their car urgently and with a bunch of children scrambling to put their scarves and beanies on. I was wearing my light brown cotton jacket: the same jacket I wore, adorned with player badges, on the day we won the 2017 Grand Final and the night we lost the 2018 preliminary final to Cox, Treloar, de Goey et al.
The river which runs through Melbourne is one of the city's key geographical assets. It has been transformed and damaged since colonisation and invasion. These days it is a site for sporting and leisurely rowing. Its banks are a vital pathway for commuter cyclists and recreational joggers.
How are the tensions between cultural heritage and sportized landscapes negotiated? What are the implications of the sportization (sportification) upon the landscape?
Australian Rules Football, the national game of Australia, is linked strongly with hetero-normative values. The game at its elite level, is dominated by men. The game’s legendary players – Jack Dyer, Ron Barrassi, Leigh Matthews, Dermott Brereton, Luke Hodge etc – played the role of physical enforcers as well as exhibiting some of the best […]
Manipulating the ball is a long-tradition in cricket, but, even the Australian cricket public couldn't stomach the cheating of their national team. The culprits sought redemption through dramatic displays of grovelling and tears.
Komik sepak bola, apakah itu suatu genre? Dalam istilah ini terjanjikan kesamaan formulaik yang repetitif, tetapi sebagai konsep yang dihasilkan oleh pengamatan, dalam suatu genre ternyata berlangsung proses hibrida dengan berbagai elemen, sehingga pada prakteknya selalu bervariasi (Grant, 2007: 23). Maka berikut ini, meski ketiga komik mengandalkan sepak bola sebagai wacana dominan, faktor momen sosial […]
There is a book, Swimming Studies, by a Canadian author Leanne Shapton, which documents her notes on swimming and the shapes of pools she swims in. The book also contains photographs of the swim-suits she has collected over time as a swimmer – both serious and recreational. She writes of the smells of pools and […]
Melbourne promotes itself as not only the world's most liveable city, but also one of the world's premier sporting cities. The 2006 Commonwealth Games, however, was a moment in which the city's Indigenous ownership and history was asserted through the Camp Sovereignty protests in King's Domain.
Elsewhere: I had been in Indonesia during most of 2005, and then, I came back to Melbourne in February 2006. Not long afterwards, my father invited me to watch some of the table tennis as part of the Commonwealth Games. I was ambivalent about the ‘Commonwealth Games’ and its heritage as a colonial hangover, but, […]
Team Portraits Charles Edward Boyles (1888-1971) established the practice of having team photographs in front of the grandstand of their home ground. Many of the Boyles photos are available online through the State Library of Victoria. They can be downloaded and are out of copy-right. Ken Mansell, has written an excellent article about Boyles photographs, […]
Rennie Ellis was active as a photographer throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. His photographs, mainly taken in Melbourne and Sydney, are of everyday life: streetscapes, the public enjoying their leisure and of course, watching and doing sport. Ellis is perhaps best known for his photographs of pub, bar and party scenes. He enjoyed […]
After Totaalvoetbal explores the place and role of football in the Netherlands. This volume is made up of essays written while watching and travelling to stadia and suburban grounds in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Haarlem and Leiden. The essays are based on interviews and discussions with fans, professional players and recreational players. Football in the Netherlands is not […]
The choice of Bert van Marwijk as coach of the Socceroos was a selection based on pragmatism and short-term goals. This does not necessarily make it a bad one; but rather merely being the most viable option based on circumstances in the wake of Ange Postecoglou’s departure. The tension around his appointment, and the position […]
The changes in the Australian football (soccer) landscape over the past 10-15 years have been well-commented upon and the continual source of much contention and fierce debate. Indeed, perhaps there is no sport in Australia that is so thoroughly contested as that of football. While Australian Rules and Rugby League dominate the media throughout the […]
I went to the baseball. In Altona. The last time I crossed the Bridge for a sports game was in late August with @4boat and he was a little over a month away from making his already iconic – at least amongst Richmond fans – ‘Tigers Together’ design. We had visited the Whitten Oval and […]
Footy fans cheer together, barrack together, shout at the umpire together, and sometimes, cry together. During the third and fourth quarters of the 2017 Grand Final, when it became clear Richmond would be Premiers, many Richmond fans in the crowd – and elsewhere – started to shed tears. These were tears of joy, relief and […]
It is a calm Sunday afternoon in late August 2016. For the AFL and amateur footy leagues, the season is coming to an end, but, for the Krakatoas, the pre-season training is just beginning. At the designated meeting time a few have arrived at Arden Street: the home base of the North Melbourne Football Club […]
Richmond’s Premiership win is leaving a long wake. Piles of Premiership slabs remain stocked high in alcohol shops affiliated with supermarket chains. Richmond Tweeters send photos of themselves watching replays of said Grand Final. Scarves remain slung over front doors. Cut outs of paper Tigers and cardboard Premiership cups remain stuck up on the inside […]
The re-launch of the Go-jek Traveloka Indonesian Football League saw the return of Persebaya from several years in non-playing wilderness. This was a struggle played out on the increasingly orderly streets of the port city of Surabaya, and of course through social media campaigns, where fans strengthened their attacks and resolve against the PSSI (Persatuan […]
“I have found that when speaking out against the injustices that I have perceived to exist in sporting communities, particularly within professional Australian rules football, that my words have always been used against me. So, I want to stress, that I am happy to be here and speaking in a safe space.” The space is […]
The path next to the river is used by cyclists, runners and walkers. I rode eastwards: into a cold wind. Overcast. And the sun did not come out. This was normally my running route, but, owing to a slow-recovering injury, I was on my bike as some kind of alternative. This third weekend of October […]
I was queuing to get into a burger restaurant on Saturday night, after the game, in front of Avenue Book Store and someone asked, ‘Has anyone seen a shoe around here?’ ‘What does it look like?’ ‘Kind of like this one, but for the other foot.’ ** On the night: The Burger joint was relatively […]
footy dreamings: Playing the Large Glass   Edwards has the Ball   Daniels Everywhere Edwards Down the Line
D.J. Mulvaney. 1967. Cricket Walkabout: The Australian Aboriginal Cricketers on Tour 1867-8. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 112 pages. Prior to the start of the Boxing Day test of 2016, a group of historians and cricket enthusiasts gathered by the Scarred Tree in Yarra Park (i.e. next to the MCG) to remember the Aboriginal cricketers who […]
@wludbey: few metres beyond 50 metre line 30 yards inwards start of the wing Pies members stand side (railway line end) Facing crowd after siren[1] Sport in the City* Sport makes it home in the city. Sport articulates the ideals of the modernist drive. The success of the individual, a level playing field, equal opportunity […]
Les Murray adalah salah satu tokoh terpenting dalam perkembangan sepakbola di Australia. Bersama Johnny Warren, Les Murray memperjuangkan popularitas sepakbola sejak awal 1980-an. Mereka berdua membentuk tim yang paling menonjol dalam siaran sepakbola lewat saluran SBS. Les menjadi sesorang yang ikonik dan tak bisa dipisahkan dari sejarah sepakbola periode National Soccer League sampai sekarang. Seperti […]
My Aunty Hannah is an artist: a former-painter, but now a ceramicist. I remember ‘artist’ was how she was introduced to my brother and myself as boys: she had been living in the Netherlands for some years and my first proper memories of her are only as a boy, about 4-5. ‘Artist’ was used as a […]
Vecsey, George. 2008. Baseball: A History of America’s Favorite Game, New York:  The Modern Library. I am reading books on baseball yes I am. Perhaps baseball is one of the most incongruous sports. Its slowness and efforts at maintaining tradition are matched by its will to innovation and dislocation. Clubs move around the States losing […]
Richmond, a User’s Manual #3, “Scrapbook” RaUM #3 Inclusive of: It’s easy to be critical, and sometimes if things go smoothly, it’s easy not to notice and to take it for granted. The RFC is indeed doing somethings well. The RFC is changing. Members aren’t necessarily engaged as they could be, but this Club is […]
Richmond, A User’s Manual, Second Edition RAUM, Second Edition #raumsecondedition Footy is hyped up. Footy becomes locked into grand narratives. But footy remains personal, individual, idiosyncratic and subject to the whims of everyday life. Histories of footy clubs relate to the histories of the suburbs which they occupy. Demographics change. Shops change. Being inner suburban […]
The Australian Football League differs from the Victorian Football League in that rather than seeking to consolidate a local, state league as the premier competition of Australian rules football, the AFL seeks to broaden the game’s popularity, participation and fandom. This has an impact on the game’s culture and the kind of teams that are […]
Football without a goal is like capitalism with bankruptcy or religion without hell. This is according to Tony Schumacher, the German goalkeeper who was condemned by the world when he knocked out the teeth of Patrick Battiston, a French player, during the 1982 World Cup. Goals are indeed inseparable from football, for it is goals […]
Kenny Dougall on Sparta’s First Season back in the Eredivisie So Sparta survived. On the final day, the Roda result went Sparta’s way, and Sparta won 1:3 away against Go Ahead Eagles: a team that had been destined for relegation early on in the season. Back in the Eredivisie for the first time in seven years, […]
The AFL was criticised throughout the 2015 season, and subsequently, for not having dealt earlier with the persistent booing of Adam Goodes in previous years. Here was a legend of the game, being tormented week in, week out, on the footy field: his work place. Mr. Goodes left the game without fanfare. He left the […]
When I was in primary school, I already had a strong wish to be a journalist. So, I would retype articles from the newspaper: and most of the articles I typed were about sport. Most of the articles were about football, but, of course there were many articles about badminton [that sport at which Indonesia […]
Running is obsessed with numbers: distance run, elevation climbed or descended; minutes and seconds used up to complete X-event, age of runner, position finished – according to age-group, gender and whether one is or isn’t a professional or serious competitor. Chris, a friend who I run with, endorsed our coach for being ‘a numbers guy’. […]
The Tactics of Wayne Elliott Wayne Elliott’s work explores elements of play, pleasure and joy in sport. His paintings are bright and colourful. The figures are drawn with fine lines. The colours are cartoonish. His works don’t engage with contemporary (visual) arts theory. And this is one element which I immediately enjoyed about his works. […]
The Richmond Football Club has an alliance with Rumbalara Football Netball Club (see this article). This alliance is a means for Richmond to recruit talented young footballers from the north of Victoria. Rumbalara is on Yorta Yorta Country. These are the lands  of notable figures such as William Cooper, Sir Doug Nicholls, Jimmy Little, Deborah […]
& Talking with Swish about Very Important Matters I meet Swish on the corner of Spring and Collins St. I am wearing my Richmond baseball cap as a means for him to recognise me. I have no idea what he looks like. A couple of years ago Swish corrected a mistake I had made regarding my […]
I’m doing a zine this footy season. It is based around my experiences as a Richmond fan and my engagements and conversations with the Club, other fans, the suburb, Punt Road Oval and the MCG. This is a continuation of what I do with Reading Sideways. Blogs are great, but sometimes it is nice to have something […]
Andy Fuller, University of Melbourne Australian rules football is generally considered the dominant code in our sporting-obsessed nation. It is a hybrid game with contested origins: some elements are drawn from rugby and football, and some from marn grook, the Indigenous game. Whatever its origins, footy is played on suburban grounds, in country fields, on […]
I drove south today. I don’t have any memories of this ground. This was the first time I have been there. The Saints are moving back to Moorabbin after failing to establish themselves at Seaford and not coming to an agreement with Cricket Victoria to share the Junction Oval. This is their other historical home: […]
A long time ago:  And Sparta became champions. The referee blew the whistle and the players hugged each other; screamed in celebration; some piled on one another in the goalmouth. Coaches in suits and Sparta ties shook hands like gentlemen and embraced as lovers. And then, the crowd ran onto the field. Some players ran […]
“The track is home”, says Amy at the end of training. Paul quickly adds, “Yeah it is, isn’t it? I love the track. It is all I used to do as a kid.” The two of them have just finished an intervals session of 10 times 400 meters at the Holden Centre under the guidance […]
Zack Hample and the Fine Art of Ballhawking “I’ve snagged exactly 90 balls at this stadium over the years. So, I’m hoping to get at least 10 today and reach triple digits. At some point in my life I’d love to get 100 balls at every stadium and if I do it today, this will […]
Pastoral Football I took these photos while on holiday in 2015. We were in Lyon and then went to the countryside for a few days. We passed through this village a few times and on one occasion I took these photos. It was hot and there was no breeze. The absence of grass makes the […]
Growing up in Melbourne during the 1980s, Princes Park was one of the regular grounds I attended with my father and brother. I was an Essendon fan (I have long-since renounced them) and my brother was a Carlton fan: he has renounced them too, along with Australian rules. And so, my father would alternate taking […]
When we talk about football infrastructure in Jakarta, it is easier to talk about the stadiums that have been destroyed than those that have been built. Stadion Ikada was demolished to build Lapangan Monas (Sukarno); Stadion Menteng was demolished to build a park (Governor Sutiyoso); Stadion Lebak Bulus was demolished to make space for a […]
Such are the little moments that project one into or away from footy. The game can offer a place for an athlete, a player with skills and abilities and professionalism. Or, it can move to the sidelines of one’s life. These are footy transitions: the small moments that shape one’s trajectory towards or away from […]
Ah, the Richmond Football Club. It is a club with a tremendous supporter base and a tremendous myth. A great Club of the late 1960s, 70s with a last hurrah long ago in 1980. And since that time, the Victorian Football League has become the Australian Football League and the footy landscape has changed dramatically. […]
I never expected to live and work in Australia. Coming to Australia is a rare opportunity since it is quite expensive for most Indonesians. Many Indonesians never get the opportunity to go overseas. I also was not born in a wealthy family. In fact, if I wanted to play badminton with my dad, we always […]
Karvikhamn,  Norway, October 2016 Finnsnes, Norway, October 2016 Finnsness, Norway, October 2016 Finnsness, Norway, October 2016 Karvikhamn, Norway, October 2016 (below and above)
My name is Ery. I am a 24 years and come from Purwakarta – a small city in West Java, Indonesia. I’m a little bit chubby and I’m crazy about sport. Lately, I’ve been crazy about footy. But before I get to that, here is a little bit about growing up playing sport in Indonesia […]
Sporting landscapes are constantly shifting. Teams come and go or are merged and sent elsewhere; stadiums are dismantled and constructed; leagues are closed down and started up; new formats of traditional games are introduced; women’s leagues are given attention and arrive on television screens. The 2000s in Australia – just in football terms – has […]
And so this is Grand Final Day. It is not the last Saturday of September, but the first Wednesday of September. The day begins at 7:30 at Vic Park and the bus departs and heads to the Holden Centre of the other Collingwood Football Club. Nathan comes in and gives some words. He is all […]
I walk towards the stadium. Its grey walls loom over the trees. Chatter amongst us grows louder and denser. We are funnelled along pathways; broad footpaths; all moving in the one direction. Now and then the crowd is split by a singular and still figure standing at a small desk selling Records – or in […]
The Collingwood Knights play in the Reclink Football League on Wednesdays during winter, their homeground being Victoria Park. The club is run by a policeman,  Chris McGeachan, aka Geeks, Shane Williams of Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS), Mannon Johnston of Headspace and Pete Burns, a sports-oriented social worker. The Club is inclusive and welcomes […]
Some Thoughts on Amir Khan and Cathy Freeman* The lanky teenager bedecked in red stepped into the ring: eyes wide. The Union-Jacked fan club stood cheering in the stands, providing their last minutes of support before the fight that would  determine the 2004 Olympics gold-medal in the 57-60kg division. Britain’s youngest ever boxer at the […]
It is no easy life being an elite 10,000m runner. One is under-paid and under-appreciated at least by the standards of global sports. A track runner can be anonymous for as good as four years, yet, on the Olympic stage, the athlete can become a star, on the minor proviso that she or he, wins […]
I’m a Carlton supporter. Don’t hold it against me – I have other things happening in my life. I read novels, I have friends – many of whom aren’t into footy.  My experience of being a suffering football fan has been short-lived. We, the Navy Blues, only accept success in our narratives. Yet, something strange began to brew […]
A lot happened in the lead up to the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round. Carlton Football Club apologised for its discrimination against Sir Doug Nicholls. Richmond Football Club promoted the role of its Laguntas Program and Korin Gamadji Institute. The AFL showed a series of short videos on the life of Sir Doug Nicholls. Each […]
Saya pernah memimpikan menjadi seorang Fillipo Inzaghi, mencetak gol, lalu merayakannya dengan begitu emosional sambil berlari dan berteriak ke pojok lapangan , dan ribuan orang yang memenuhi setiap sudut stadion pun ikut berteriak karena saya. Sayangnya waktu begitu cepat berlalu, usia saya kini 24 tahun dan bukannya saya sudah tergabung di klub Ac Milan atau […]
I spoke with Dr.Ken Setiawan, McKenzie Fellow at The University of Melbourne, regarding football in Indonesia for the podcast, Talking Indonesia. The interview can be found here Football and Fan Culture. Below is an excerpt from the conversation. What got you into studying football in Indonesia? From the time I started visiting Indonesia regularly in […]
The AFL is in a rush to be ‘inclusive’ and to be more representative of society. For so long Australian rules has been exemplary of the archetypal Aussie macho male. Tough, arrogant, abusive, crass. As Mike Sheahan said in his interview with the sport’s best investigative journalist, Caroline Wilson, “footy is a man’s game, everyone […]
(An article of mine has been published in Sport and Society journal) Football fandom and sports culture are largely neglected in studies of Indonesia. This is despite the highly complex nature of football fandom in Indonesian cities. This essay draws on experiences in two cities in central Java: Yogyakarta and Solo. Contemporary football culture in […]
An Interview with Kenny Dougall, left-back of Sparta Rotterdam It wasn’t the game I expected it to be. I left home with the expectation of witnessing a 90minute-long celebration of Sparta’s successful season in the Jupiler League, which had seen them become Champions and earn automatic promotion to the Eredivisie. I saw their last game […]
Baseball is traditionally called America’s pastime, but it is the National Football League that has dominated the American consciousness for the better part of the past two decades and over the past fifty years has built its brand around the message that football and the American way of life are synonymous. Football is a blue-collar […]
Being a football fan is serious business. Ultra fan groups are highly competitive within their own group and with other supporters of other clubs. Some fans will kill for their club; ultra fans recognise that taking on a loyalty to a club and fan group puts them at risk, meaning that they need to hide […]
Following a football team, seriously and committedly, so often feels like a fruitless endeavour. For years, fans suffer in ignominy as their team under-performs and follows one losing season with another. Coaches get sacked on a presidential whim; promising players leave for better-run clubs; injuries strike down established stars. And then, when the good times, […]
*Many fans of Australian rules football like to think of it as the world’s greatest game. Yet this grand assertion is often accompanied by an awareness that it is a professional sport, in only one, sparsely-populated country in which it competes directly against the rugby codes for interest during winter. The dominant administrative body of […]
It’s getting late on Tuesday afternoon. It could be any Tuesday of any week of the year: coaching and training is relentless. There are always runners in our group, Love the Run, with events coming up and each race needs to be prepared for adequately. Each runner’s race needs to be given importance. Unlike team […]
*Robbie Gaspar, from Fremantle, played professional football in Indonesia from 2005 to 2012. Throughout this time he became a fan-favourite for the manner in which he played the game and engaged with the fans. He speaks Indonesian fluently, and, has a lazy 95,000 followers on Twitter. He has worked for FIFPro and for APPI – […]
*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 […]
How a Stadium Looks So many of the suburban stadia of South Australia and Victoria have since passed into occasional use or have become training facilities for big clubs which play their home games elsewhere. Their amenities are diminished; the paint is peeling and they are marked by a relative emptiness and silence. Gone are […]
*Recently published in Inside Indonesia (7 March, 2016) Football is the most popular spectator sport in Indonesia with second division games regularly attracting crowds of 30,000 spectators. Massive dance choreography and chanting are usually performed for the full duration of games, creating enormous spectacles. Yet, the passionate and creative fan culture also has an ugly […]
The canon sounded twice. What was this? A false start, in the New York Marathon? The human tsunami of runners started on their way, heading over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. We, some 50,000 runners, racers, amateurs, began filtering down the course on a journey through the five boroughs of New York to Central Park, taking […]
*Tim Flicker, recently returned from Pontianak (a city of 600,000 residents in West Kalimantan),  writes on the intersection of promoting healthy leisure activities with promoting greener cities. Car Free Day in Indonesia was originally established in 2002 in Jakarta. The main objective of Car Free Day is to socialise communities and reduce their dependence on […]
Indonesia occupies a curious place in global football culture. Football is everywhere in Indonesia: in the streets, in bars, in narrow alleys, in grand and packed stadiums, and in the shabby empty lots of urban decay. The game is a cultural product open to endless varieties of meanings, uses and articulations. Football, as the world’s […]
*What role do football clubs play in promoting healthy lifestyles? Can identification with a football club encourage participation in sport and being more critical about what one eats? Can stadia be places in which we find comfort? Football is an integral part of communal life in The Netherlands. The country has the world’s highest participation […]
Oh Holland: home of wonderful splendid Total Football. Johann Cruyff architect of the beautiful game at Barcelona. And now, Holland: struggling against lesser ranked nations, and well, not qualifying for Euro 2016. Holland’s most famous football figure is currently not a Bergkamp, Cruyff, van Bronckhorst or a van Persie (at his volleying, heading best), but […]
& about a 4.4km x4 race /1/ I went to the football today. In Katwijk. A queue of some 40 people before buying our tickets, 8euros standing. Staan. It rained. The  wind blew it horizontally. Katwijk, top of the table, playing Rijnsburgse Boys, some way down the table, but not quite at the bottom. Katwijk […]
*Some time last year I participated in a conference on ‘sport and discrimination’ held by the University of Sunderland at their London campus. ‘Discrimination’ evoked ideas of ‘racism’,  ‘prejudice’, ‘abuse’ and also a resistance to, a mediating of, and also an avoidance of. In my paper I wanted to stress not the act of discriminating […]
*I found The Football Pink – through a re-tweet. And I started to follow the account. I contacted the editor, Mark Godfrey and asked him some questions about being a life-long Everton fan and how his magazine, The Football Pink (TFP), came to be. Issue No.11, is some 50pages of pure footballing history and curiosities. […]
(above photo from Korin Gamadji Institute.) The AFL has aligned itself closely with the cause of  reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia. It regards itself as being a progressive agent of change in promoting Indigenous rights and well-being. There is much infrastructure in place to show the  work of the AFL with Aboriginal Australia: the […]
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 […]
A friend of mine, who is an FC Augsburg-Fan searched in our Facebook-Football-Group (some kind of a private groundhopping group to plan trips with friends of mine and also for football information), for people,who want to join him for the Europe league away game in Belgrade against Фудбалски клуб Партизан (Cyrillic spelling of Partizan Belgrade). […]
*This is the first in a series by Paul Town on his reflections on different stadia and football clubs. Paul has visited hundreds of grounds throughout the UK, as a fan of Bradford City and more recently as a professional painter. I was commissioned by the committee of the new Darlington Football Club to paint […]
*Tony Incenzo, a football journalist with Talk Sport and fan of Queens Park Rangers has visited some 2,000 football grounds. By the age of 17, he had visited all 92 grounds in the English Football League (see the video at the bottom of this page). Tony married recently and celebrated the occasion through posing with […]
(notes after reading David Conn’s, Richer than God) ‘it is typical City’  […] ‘In goes Dzeko…hope rekindles here. […] ‘Ag-uuueer-ooooooohhhhh. I swear you’ll never see anything like this again.  So watch it. Drink it in.  They’ve just heard the news at the Stadium of Light. … Premier League dreams have come true in blue.’ Martin […]
Setiap hari kita buka internet untuk tetap up-to-date dengan kabar dari Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barca. Kita pakai kaos atau jersey ori agar tampak keren. Kita bangun pagi-pagi untuk nonton Liga Champions. Kita tidak tidur agar bisa nonton derby Manchester atau el clasico di Spanyol. Kita tiba-tiba menjadi pendukung tim German yang sangat nasionalis waktu […]
I first learned about the practice of groundhopping through someone who has now become a friend. He is from Kiel in northern Germany and his name is Hendrik. I met him in Prague, where he presented on groundhopping as practiced by Germans and English. I presented a paper about PSIM’s supporter group, the Brajamusti. While […]
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 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 […]
Unstarted Business The atmosphere at the start line was charged. I had watched many replays of earlier races on YouTube. The NYC Marathon is one of the few long-distances races having live TV coverage. The New York marathon is no ordinary race, though – it is the biggest marathon in the world. I had goose […]
/1/ Marathoning is a mass event. Tens of thousands of participants – ranging from rank amateurs to elite professionals – compete in the same event. Many of the participants are in their 30s or 40s or above. Many are middle-class. /2/ Marathoning is an urban event. The courses wind past city landmarks and urban peripheries. […]
It is round 4 of the W-League and I’m traveling across Melbourne to Epping Stadium to see Melbourne Victory play Adelaide United. This is my first W-League game of the season, after having watched both the semi-final and final in Perth last season. The game is to be played in Epping, some 20km north of […]
Hatem Ben Arfa, recently interviewed by France Football, spoke of his troubled time at Newcastle FC. For him it was a kind of hell; he felt he was being punished beyond his crimes. He says, “It was a very, very difficult period. The worst of my career. It was as if my hell began at […]
Senayan Stadium erupted as Sobrat’s strike escaped the grasp of the Young Indonesian’s goalkeeper, Ronny Paslah. The net bulged as the score became 1-0 for the Jonggring Salaka. Young Indonesia would find it difficult to come back from such a position: the goal had been scored in the last minute of extra-time. But, why was […]
“So, do they come to Quick thinking it is a Dutch, establishment club?”, I asked Dennis regarding SC Remo. “Yes, of course. But, they don’t come to the club, looking for a fight, or to square off. There are always some tensions – but, that is just the same against other clubs. And, there are […]
Sukab dribbles the ball. Sukab dribbles the ball upon a manicured green field. He guides the ball gracefully, with the skill of a player in the Italian Seria A. Sukab – Sukab from Indonesia – dribbles the ball, caresses the ball, heads the ball, guiding the ball along the field, the great empty expanse without […]
*Faded Footballers is a documentary project, led by Adam Labno, looking at the lives of professional footballers and how they finish their careers. The footballers studied are those who have often had spectacular exists and downfalls: blowing their cash due to drug or alcohol addictions, depression, any other combination of factors. Rarely do these players […]
*This article was originally published on Kunci’s website, here, in June, 2013. Footy is geographical. Footy relates to space. A space that is personal, local and national. Footy  occupies the space of its consumer. One watches the game enshrouded by a crowd: swamped by the shouting of others, by the collective flow of the mass […]
*Tim Flicker writes on the poor state of Australian football relations in Asia Robbie Gaspar (pictured below) is a name known to few Australian football fans, and yet he is one of the few Australian footballers to have had a stellar decade-long career in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia . While games in Australia’s growing A-league […]
*An edited version of this article appeared on Shoot Farken, here: Dutch football by the Dunes, Escaping Carnival Chaos to Watch Quick Boys Ned woke up at 6am for the 6:30 Grand Final start in his hotel on Ibiza. Fifty minutes later the AFL’s international streaming website was still loading and he had missed the […]
The term ‘groundhopping’ has been used since the late 1980s and is made up of the two English words ‘ground’ and ‘to hop’. Groundhoppers are people who cross national borders, and travel within their own country, to see as many football stadiums including football games as possible. It is a kind of football-based tourism.   […]
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 […]
*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 […]
Running is about getting a good time and improving. My time today in Eindhoven was not what I was aiming for: it was more or less eight minutes slower than the time I had set as a target. Of course, perhaps because I talk too much or had too much confidence I had mentioned this […]
I first saw Kate Birrell‘s paintings on The Footy Almanac‘s website. Her painting was of Luke Hodge, in one of his classic postures: his right arm raised for balance, the other guiding the ball perfectly on to his left boot. Birrell has not only contributed to the Footy Almanac anthologies but is also an active […]
*Samandeep Chouhan looks at the ill-fated goodwill tour of Leicester City to Thailand in July 2015. How does foreign ownership impact the local ambitions of an English Premier League Club? When we think of the English Premier League we tend to think of passion, history, skill, celebrity and so forth. We think of players such […]
I turn left onto Langegracht, on one side of the street is a police station and on the other side are some junkies sitting, talking. There is a safe injecting facility nearby – apparently. My bicycle moves slowly and almost in a straight line. A woman ahead of me, riding quickly, has something fall from […]
(or, Playing Footy and Negotiating Identity) Sport and discrimination: sport, perhaps, is discriminatory. The question is not whether or not ‘discrimination’ takes place in the Australian sporting context, but, how it takes place and what kind of face discrimination shows. I find ‘discrimination’ a somewhat intimidating word; a word that provokes defensive responses. I find […]
*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 […]
*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 […]
Take the train to Den Haag Laan van Nieuw-Oost Indies train station, and then the #3 tram in the direction of Zoetermeer to Forepark. From there, descend the stairs to the underpass, turn right, walk along the dual carriageway and go past the BMW and other car shops. In the distance you will see a […]
“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. […]
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 […]
/1/ A stadium has multiple lives: it’s an architectural structure that can serve grand political interests and ideologies, as well as those more local. In de Certeau’s terms, a stadium is a kind strategy, and within it, and around it, users make it a site of their tactics. A stadium can both serve as a […]
Football fashion in Indonesia mixes global styles with local identity. The small, independently run boutiques seek to capitalise on support for local teams, while at the same time, appropriating the casual style from England and Italy. These are fans who are defiantly local in their support of domestic teams and up-to-date with contemporary football fashion. […]
*by A. Widya Syadzwina (trans.Andy Fuller). @widyasyadzwina **An Indonesian version of this article first appeared at Fandom.id (photos by Erick Didu of Cakrawala newspaper, Makassar) This article focuses on one of the inter-kampung competitions in Indonesia. A.Widya Syadzwina explores football during Ramadan in Makassar. This year, however, the competition is not only healthier than usual, […]
It is mid-morning in an outer suburb of The Hague. HVV Haaglandia is the site for a gathering of supporters of ADO Den Haag, Legia Warsaw, Juventus, Club Brugge and Sparta Rotterdam. I have come to the event with Neal McClimon, an Englishman, who is well-known and respected amongst ADO fans. Neal is nursing a […]
*by Fajar Junaedi and Andy Fuller **an earlier version of this article was published on Football Fandom Indonesia. ***photos by Husin Ghozali Resistance towards injustice can appear anywhere. The resistance to the political forces that have sought to kill off the Persebaya football club emerged at an informal coffee house (warung kopi) known as Warkop […]
Gelora Bung Karno Stadium is one of the great Sukarno-era monuments of Jakarta. It is the home of Persija football club and also the offices of the PSSI – The Indonesian Football Federation. (Official page is here, Persija, and fans page, is here JakOnline). The venue is used for rock concerts – Deep Purple, Metallica […]
In 2014, I spent some time with the Brajamusti supporter group of Yogyakarta. They actively support and work for the team, PSIM: a second division club with a long history. Indonesia has tens of millions of enthusiastic football fans. It is a football mad country. Many of the fans, however, support English, Italian or Spanish […]
*Article by Ary Wibowo, Kompas newspaper, Jakarta **Translated by Andy Fuller Football, in Indonesia, is like a party. Football can become a means of national resistance, entertainment, a resource of happy stories, as well as a means of making a living. How depressing Indonesia would be without football.People of all ages – from very young […]
*Guest post by Fajar Junaedi of Muhamadiyah University, Yogyakarta **This article is a translation of Kapitalism Semu dan Kegagalan Swastanisasi Sepak Bola Indonesia. There is a missing link in professional football in Indonesia. The combination of the Association clubs with those of the Galatama (professional) clubs was intended to create a holistic professional competition. But, […]
*Originally published on Shoot Farken as “Modern Football and Urban Alienation Under the Golden Arches in Maastricht” An underground freeway is being built on the eastern edge of Maastricht. The current site is a broad expanse of dust. Middle of the range sedans and trucks speed along the four lane, two-way road. There are as […]
Or, “The Last Day of The Season” The weather is mild: this is an evening for t-shirts and light jackets. The train leaves for Dordrecht from Leiden at 18:30 and will stop at Schiedam Centrum more or less at 1900. This allows for a twenty minute journey to Het Kasteel (The Castle), via the RET  […]
*Thomas E. Fuller is a psychologist and photographer based in Maastricht, The Netherlands. His photos of bicycles can be found here, Love Your Bicycle.
Uncle Tony barracks for Port. Aunty Kip barracks for Port. Uncle Tony is a joker. I’m not sure of his job. I remember he gave me a Crowded House cassette when I was seven, one Christmas in Helmsedale Avenue, Glengowrie. Aunty Kip is a nurse, who changed her name from Cheryl as a teenager. I’ve […]
Last year I visited a few soccer stadiums in Yogyakarta. Here are some of my photos. Krida Sono, Yogyakarta Krida Sono, from the South End, looking North Mandala Krida, from the South, looking North Mandala Krida, Southern End and Eastern-stand Rennovations Tridadi Stadium, South End, looking South Tridadi Scoreboard, Northern Yogyakarta Tridadi Panorama *If you […]
Gouda, Olympia v. Kocatepe, 3:1 Take the 12:52 intercity in the direction of Utrecht, get off at Alphen aan den Rijn, then take the 13:12 sprinter to Gouda. Do not get off at Boskoop or Waddinxveen Noord or Waddinxveen. As the train slows to a halt, a candidate passenger spits at the train. He has […]
PSIM, a football club based in Yogyakarta and founded in 1929, has seen better years. The club is well and truly in the  second tier of the domestic competition and suffers from poor management and fan violence. The violence not only occurs between fans of rival clubs but also between the two main supporter groups […]
The supporters of Persebaya 1927, have been protesting the fate of their Club for several years. Their anger is increasing; protests are intensifying. The protests are taking place on the streets of Surabaya and very heavily also on social media. Bonek 1927 are protesting against the monopolising of power within the PSSI by La Nyalla […]
*An edited version of this was published in The Jakarta Post. Before I got back on the train to Yogyakarta, my friend, Ramdhon said, “take your t-shirt off – it is better not to wear it in Yogyakarta, or even on the train.” Yogyakarta and Solo are seemingly locked in ongoing tensions: two nearby cities […]
The Catastrophe of PSS Sleman Sofyan, an Acehnese man, living in Yogyakarta runs a small stall by the side of Lapangan Minggiran (Minggiran Field) in the southern part of the city. His regular customers are largely ex-soccer players from the local leagues. Some are doing it tough, others have regular jobs as coaches or accountants. […]
Football Violence in Indonesia: A Case from Yogyakarta On Sunday 12th October, 2014,  Muhammad Ikhwanuddin, was killed in a car park near Adi Sucipto airport, Yogyakarta. He had been dragged from the bus, beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed in the chest. The bus had been pursued by around 30 men and boys on […]
I have started a series of drawings specifically for Tiger Tiger Burning Bright – a website founded by Dugald Jellie and Chris Rees. The website focuses on footy stories written from the perspective of Richmond supporters. I contributed to the blog last year in a series of reports on ‘watching from Leiden’. This year, I […]
A crowd of runners gathers beneath the roof of an apartment balcony near the start of the race. Slowly, the density increases. Some perform mild stretches; others talk and joke lightly with others – either their friends or strangers. With five minutes to go, the crowd dissipates and heads towards the start line, marked by […]
Tom Boere, FC Eindhoven’s No.10, scored in the 86th minute to make it 1:2 to FC Eindhoven. There was a brief gasp from the Jong Ajax fans and jubilation amongst the travelling FC Eindhoven fans. They had scored their first goal at the start of the second half, Ajax had equalised and then without many […]
*This piece was originally published on Shoot Farken, here. Football is a practice of cultural production. Being a fan is intrinsic to issues of identity – nationalism, parochialism, ideology, gender. The football stadium is, most often, an overwhelmingly male space. Fans claim space within the city; filling up trains and dominating sidewalks. The traces of […]
The Blackness of the Game: After Reading Klugman and Osmond’s, Black and Proud Sport is a social space in which racism can be both perpetuated and combated. Sport, as a part of mainstream society, is implicated in debates and discourses on racism at all of its levels. From the amateur level, to that of the […]
Sriwedari Stadium Solo and Yogyakarta are two central Javanese cities separated only by some 60km. The fans of the two main teams, those of PSIM in Yogyakarta and Persis Solo in Solo, fight when they pass through each others cities. In the Divisi Utama season of 2013-14, arrangements were made so that the teams played […]
Retro Football and the formerly Footscray Bulldogs Footscray’s greatest player, Ted Whitten, is also the icon of Victorian football and the champion of interstate rivalry. And, the Western Bulldogs are one of the AFL’s least glamorous clubs. Along with Melbourne, North Melbourne, St.Kilda and Greater Western Sydney they have a low membership and low crowd-drawing […]
Andy Fuller, Playing Cities Making Sport, Yogyakarta: Tan Kinira Books, 2014 This book came out of an attempt to archive what I have written over the past two-to-three years. Initially, I wanted to collect all of my shorter writings and essays. They were to be grouped under the headings of: cities; literature; sport. After a […]
An anthropology of Lapangan Minggiran, Yogyakarta In the mornings, I walk to Lapangan Minggiran: about one kilometer from my house. To get there, I walk through the small yard of a kampung, in which a few children play and where the elders burn rubbish. A middle-aged woman has a stall on the corner and she […]
Tambak Sari Stadium, Surabaya There is something mournful about an empty football stadium. The stands are empty; the pitch is free of action. The air lacks the buzzes of expectation and the urgent statements of PA announcements indicating which player is coming off, which player is coming on or which player has been awarded a […]
Mum and dad are moving house. They are leaving behind their house in Glen Iris and moving to Richmond. I remember the Glen Iris house for many things, but, perhaps specifically for driveway cricket. Our backyard was on a hill and not suitable for the game, so, my brother and I played in the driveway. […]
Teman-teman pecinta PSIM dan sepakbola di Indonesia, isi buku saya tentang PSIM dan Brajamusti kurang lebih begini. Maaf, untuk sementara ini, bukunya dalam Bahasa Inggris. Versi Bahasa Indonesia segera menyusul. judulnya: I Love PSIM: the Brajamusti and the Fight for Soccer in Indonesia (Saya Mencintai PSIM: Brajamusti dan Perjuangannya untuk Sepakbola di Indonesia) Kata Pengantar: […]
Joko Riyanto went to the game with a few thousand rupiah in his pocket. He left the game, carried by trembling police, with Rp.3,000 (30 cents, for what it is worth) in his pocket and a bullet hole in the right side of his chest. The day after the game, players and the coach of […]
These are some photos of the PSIM murals I have collected over the past two months. Jl.Tirtodipuran, opposite Bu Ageng restaurant Jl.Veteran Jl.Taman Siswa Jl.Kol.Sugiono (correction)  
*draft of introduction to my co-authored work with Dimaz Maulana. Perhaps it will form a book. We’re working on it. The woman at the counter asked me about the work I do. I told her “writer”; which is an arrogant way of saying, “unemployed”. The next day, she asked me what am I writing about, […]
*any resemblance between the names used below and their real life characters is purely Matt Priddis stepped up to the podium. He was wearing the usual outfit: a black suit, a white shirt, and a black bow-tie. His curly blond hair hung almost to his shoulders. Some curls gently fell onto his checks and over […]
Leanne Shapton, Swimming Studies, London: Penguin Books, 2012. Here is Leanne Shapton’s website: leanneshapton.com I am reading Leanne Shapton’s Swimming Studies, yes I am. Shapton is a Canadian artist and former elite swimmer, who almost made it to the Olympics. Nowadays, it seems that she is equal part author, publisher, illustrator and recreational, but regular […]
Fragments /1/ There is a Ritual Salts bag lying in a field in Eastern Ukraine. The farmer, Valeriy Sulyivka who picked it up and who saw the suitcase in which it was packed fall, doesn’t care for Breestraat in Leiden, but that is where the passenger Hans Noteboom bought his gifts for his wife. He […]
Football Nationalism Nasionalisme Sepakbola Indonesia Garuda di Dadaku – The Garuda on My Chest – is the title of a series of feature films telling the story of a boy’s desire to play for the Indonesian national football team. The title of the films was also adopted by Prabowo Subianto during the 2014 presidential campaign. […]
Sindhunata The writings of Sindhunata are further evidence of the often greater-privileged status of global football over that of the national team and the domestic leagues of Indonesia. Sindhunata is the author of three books on football: Bola di Balik Bulan (The Ball Behind the Moon), Air Mata Bola (The Tears of the Ball) and […]
Seno Writes Soccer, Seno Menulis Sepakbola Seno Gumira Ajidarma (born 1957, Boston), one of Indonesia’s most prominent authors, has contributed to the discourse on soccer in Indonesia through the means of short stories, journalism and academic writings. These writings reflect his trajectory as a writer and also the professions and jobs that he acquires.   […]
Fajar Junaedi, Bonek, Yogyakarta: Buku Litera, 2012. Fajar Junaedi’s Bonek: Komunitas Suporter Pertama dan Terbesar di Indonesia (Bonek: The First and Largest Supporter Community in Indonesia) is the first major study of football fans in Indonesia. It examines Bonek, the large and highly visible fan club of Surabaya’s Persebaya soccer team and traces the development […]
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Lagercrantz, I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, trans.Ruth Urbom, London: Penguin, 2011. I am reading Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s autobiography yes I am. In the late 1990s, Malmo Football Club (Malmo Fotbollforening, MFF) was relegated to the second division. The documentary Bladarar shows some of their fans in tears as the final whistle of the […]
Arsenalism I am reading Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, yes I am. This is Hornby’s first book, and now, it has been reprinted probably dozens of times, continuously repackaged in a different cover with a different font and page layout – just in the manner of soccer teams and their endless slight variations on the team’s […]
Politics of Soccer in Indonesia Politik Sepakbola di Indonesia Nurdin Halid occupies the inglorious position of having been the only national soccer boss, to have run the sport’s governing body from within jail. He is perhaps also the most hated man in soccer in Indonesia: for he governed (mismanaged, corrupted) the PSSI (Perserikatan Sepak Bola […]
The Cikampek Toll Road was closed in the lead up to the Persib – Persija football match as a result of a confrontation between Persija fans (known as Jakmania) with the police. Some of the Jakmania fans damaged vehicles and looted their contents – reports say. The game was halted several times due to crowd […]
Each stadium has its own architecture. The gently rising terraces of suburban football grounds or the steep stands of the MCG. Stadium architecture is a response to the size of the field upon which the game is played. Australian football developed in borderless paddocks: and the grounds we have now reflect the early expanses. I […]
Football team merchandise is a necessary means for creating a club’s image and subculture. It’s attractive for youth and stakes a claim for difference from the mainstream. The styles of the t-shirts also provide a link with the pop cultures of music and other football teams. Through the posing of the amateur models, an anthropologist […]
Foreign Footballers in Indonesia a preliminary list (subject to verification) I am wondering who plays football in Indonesia. And so, here is a preliminary list of foreign players playing for teams in the Indonesian Super League.Each team is allowed to have four overseas players: at least one of these players must come from Asia. Players […]
Bonek I am reading Fajar Junaedi’s book Bonek: Grup Supporter Terbesar dan Pertama di Indonesia (Yogyakarta: Buku Litera 2012), yes I am.  From my search of the KITLV catalogue, this appears to be the first monograph on a supporter group or soccer fans in Indonesia. Junaedi is an academic based at Universitas Muhamadiyah Yogyakarta. He […]
Doing Boxing In the off-season, footy clubs put up videos of their players doing their boxing training: combinations of punches, footwork, sparring. Some footy players have reputations for being adequate boxers, the retired-Shane Tuck of Richmond, being one. Barry Hall thought he was both a boxer and a footy player until the moment arrived for […]
Boxing Gym Aesthetics I am reading Loic Wacquant’s book, Body and Soul: notebooks of an apprentice boxer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), yes I am. I have a postcard of Jeff Wall’s photograph Boxing (2011) on my desk. I have my memories of my own training at boxing (and muay thai) gyms. Wacquant is a […]
Running Through the City The starting points for this post are the idea of the flaneur, Michel de Certeau’s chapter “Walking in the City” from The Practice of Everyday Life  and watching of several video clips from the Epic TV website. The flaneur is an iconic figure of late 19th century or 20th century cities. […]
Footy Memories I have recently signed up to be a contributor to an online footy and sports website, journal: Footy Almanac. The Footy Almanac was founded by John Harms and Paul Daffey. They invite contributions from anyone interested in writing for their website – but, primarily, it seems about sport and more specifically about footy […]
Sepak Bola & Eduardo Galeano Ada buku yang ditulis Eduardo Galeano, judulnya, Soccer in Sun and in Shadow – penerbitnya Verso (2013). Ini salah satu buku kesukaanku. Buku ini melintasi beberapa genre. Soccer in Sun and in Shadow tampak jelas sebagai buku olahraga, tepatnya sejarah sepak bola di Amerika Selatan, dan lebih tepat lagi, dua […]
Playing the PS Vita “Everything I learned about life, I learned from playing FIFA on my PS Vita”. I am trying to justify playing my PS Vita: a machine I use almost exclusively for FIFA – I think I have the 2013 edition.  Whatever the case, Suarez is playing for Liverpool – which is a […]
In Colombijn’s article on football in Indonesia he writes that his article is the first on football in Indonesia (Colombijn 2000). It seems impossible to find articles on ‘sport’ let alone ‘football’ in Indonesia from some of the usual sources for Indonesian studies – Indonesia, BKI, RIMA and others. In the list below is a […]
Articles on Sport in Indonesia I am beginning to do some reading on sport in Indonesia. I am starting to compile a preliminary bibliography. The list is given in the order of reading or finding the articles. A Starting List Freek Colombijn (2000), “The Politics of Indonesian Football”, Archipel, Volume 59, pp.171-200. Colombijn argues that […]