Thursday, April 02, 2026
Remembering Aremania
On this day in 2010 I got to witness Aremania up close and personal for the first time. Back in those distant days, Arema were seen as a big club and their supporters held up as a kind of ideal for the rest of the country. Before Brigata Curva Sud took the Indonesian football atmosphere to the world, there was Aremania.
Me being me, I'd hired a car and driver for the nearly one-hour drive south from Malang through kampungs and rice fields to the temple that was Kanjuruhan. We weren't alone on the narrow lanes, in front and behind were hundreds of Arema fans making the same journey, doubled up on motorcycles, flags waving as they weaved in and out of each other, klaxons sounding out of unity, not aggression
We arrived about 2 hours early and I took my seat in the press box opposite the open terrace where the hardcore Arema fans were already congregating. As we approached kick-off, the noise levels were going off the scale. The opponents were the unfancied Pelita Jaya but no one cared - they were there to see an Arema side chasing the Indonesia Super League title for the first time
The game wasn't bad. Inspired by Singapore duo Noh Alam Shah and M Ridwan, Arema hit Pelita Jaya for 6 with a hat trick for the mercurial NAS. Yes, I did watch the game, well, I had half an eye on the game. I was mesmerised by the spectacle of thousands of Aremania chanting, swaying as one
The beaches of Bali, the temples of Yogyakarta, the majesty of Mount Bromo are typically cited as among Indonesia's primary tourist attractions, but here in rural Kanjuruhan was a man-made attraction rivalling those more traditional destinations. Forget the Kop, San Siro or Camp Nou, here was a football crowd worth travelling for
In those days, Arema and their fans could do no wrong. They inspired a film called The Conductors and on this particular humid evening, each song, each chant, each performance was greeted by enthusiastic applause from the 'normals' sat in front of me in the main stand. Arema would end the season winning the league with an estimated 60,000 fans heading to Jakarta for the end of season party.
Indonesian football was blue and Arema were going to lead it to a glorious future.
Except of course, it never happened. Arema soon became a normal team, a mid-table side with the memory of 2010 burning fresh in the psyche of the supporters. Indonesian clubs have rarely been able to build on success. The league is just to competitive, and the clubs then were so poorly managed, the idea of sustained success was an alien one.
There have been a couple of runners-up since that heady season, but sadly, Arema's fall from grace was cemented on a fateful October day in 2022. Arema lost to their bitterest rival, Persebaya, at the Kanjuruhan Stadium. Some fans invaded the pitch, security responded with tear gas leading to a stampede. In the resulting crush, 135 fans lost their lives.
Arema Football Club has never been the same since. Frustrated at what they see as the poor response by the club, many fans have turned their back on the team. Whereas once, crowds regularly topped 15,000, this season many have been in the hundreds.
Some of those who perished may well be in the video above. Many others have just stopped going and I have no idea what it would take for them to return. All that remains of Aremania in their prime can be found in videos like this one and many other to be found on YouTube
# posted by Me @ 4:03 PM 
