Fans With No Proud

I’m a fan of Spanish football club, Real Madrid. I would proudly declare that. I even join the Madridista Indonesia, a mailing list and (maybe) an official Real Madrid fans club here in Indonesia.

I WAS fans of Manchester United too… up until they won the legendary  treble on 1999. I was very proud and feel somewhat attached to the Red Devisl. So attached, I even pray to God when they were still one nail behind Bayern Munchen up until the 90^th minute of that year’s Champions League Final (how stupid!). But, voila, miracle happened; they scored two goals in the last three minutes of the game.

Pasti doanya makbul karena bukan Cuma gw fans yang berdoa saat itu.. hahaha *Bahasa mode off*

I still have the MU original jersey, and some vcd about them too… I was a devoted fan that time…

I have been fans of Aspac, an Indonesian Basketball club since the days of Suko Daryono and Triadyana Adiloka, about eight years ago. I would be happy to say that too. I regularly watch their game whenever they play in Senayan. I even join the “Aspac Fans” group on Friendster. Hahaha of course, it is of no use whatsoever.

Lastly, I am a Persija fan. But I do not know if I could be proud with that. I won’t speak loudly about that too…

Jakarta is my hometown, enough reason to support Persija. On the field, this is a consistent team which achieved respectable positions every year, playing lovely football, and even won the league on 2001.

But off the field, it’s different. The Persija fans club, “Jakmania” or “The Jak” have an odd reputation. Famous because of their creativity and also because they’re one of the pioneer of organised fans club in Indonesia; yet notorious for some riots they made when Persija lost in Jakarta or when they travel to support Persija to some adjacent cities like Bogor and Tangerang.

Just last week, one of the Jakmania died on another post-match riot in Jakarta. The news reported that the man died because some Persipura fans beat him to death when they met on their trip home, near Senayan. It’s ironic, because Persija and Persipura did not play against each other that day! They both lost to PSMS and Sriwijaya. Maybe it’s about a long feud dating back from one or two years a go, because Persija haven’t been able to beat Persipura in their last three meeting in Jakarta. The third meeting, on Copa Indonesia last December, ended up 3-2 for Persipura; and as you might guess, there were riot after that match.

Hmm… Can I be a Persija fan without being associated to “The Jak” !?