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Sunday, January 20, 2008

 

Them vicious football fans

Another podcast or whatever you wanna call them. It lasts about eight minutes, is about 8 MB and you can copy and paste the link and play it in i-Tunes. If you don't have i-Tunes you can download it free. We did!

http://www.the-spiceislands.com/Jakmania%20in%20Solo.wav

While in Solo I met up with some of the Persija support and asked them their opinions of recent events including the riot in Kediri and the kerfuffle including their own team in Solo.

After spending an hour or so with them and I walked back to my hotel near the stadium and recorded the story while it was fresh in my mind. It was a long old wobble for sure and at the start you hear me wheezing like a fat old 40 something. I also say umm and and alot!

Rather like the other day when I interviewed the Arema fan I just pass on what they say without comment. Later in the evening I met with assistant coach Isman Jasulmei and Bambang Pamungkas and passed on some of the fans comments regarding conspiracies and they heartily poo pooed any such suggestion.

Don't get me wrong. Although I do extol the virtues of the Persija fans there is a hooligan element among their support. There are lads who would like to engage in mindless violence and have done in the past. But at the moment they seem a pretty loyal bunch of fanatics intent on supporting their team as best they can.

After the Gonzalez goal in the first match fans with other clubs would have reacted in a negative manner but the Jakmania didn't. You could say the thugs were on the pitch instead!

With Persipura and Persik fans in town as well as Sidoarjo there is always an element of risk. But strog coordination between the fans, and excellent arrangements by the Persis Solo fans, Pasoepati, ensured nothing happened. And of course nothing stories they never get heard.

At the end of the game the Persija fans started waving at the Solo support and singing thank you very much. We used to do that against Tottenham but we'd be thanking them for another three points and we waved something a little less polite.

The highlight of the trip for someone like me who doesn't like Liverpool but pines for the old English style terrace atmosphere was when the Jakmania started singing You'll Never Walk Alone in Indonesia complete with scarves raised aloft. An impressive sight and sound.

Poor Isman. The squad had to fly to Surabaya the next morning to prepare for the final Play Off with Persipura, both teams on the same flight, and because there weren't enough seats on the plane Isman and some other members of the back room staff had to make do with the train leaving at 1 am. The glamour of top flight football eh?

While the Persipura v Persik game was on I sat down with Bambang and discussed his career, Persija and the national team. That interview should appear over the next couple of days.

Pictures of the day can be found here and here.

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Comments:
Hello, nice podcast.

Have been following the finals from Medan. A lot of people here believe it is more likely that the clubs are using the conspiracy theory just the vent. They were referee decisions (good or bad based on who you support) and that is it. Probably has more to do with the Indonesian attitude of fists before mouth.
 
thanks hylton

yeah, it s just too easy to blame someone or something else when things go wrong
 
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