We've all seen. Dickensian villains dressed in orange T-shirts, scarves and hats joker dangerously hanging on the roof of a mini metro or kopaja game day. They are fans of Persija, the biggest football club in the capital of Indonesia. Persija is an acronym for Persatuan Sepakbola Jakarta and their passionate supporters are known as Jakmania. Despite the elusive victory find over the last decade Persija remains one of the biggest clubs in the country but they are the people of the club love to hate.
middle class Jakartans hate match day when traveling to their favorite mall can be taken in a procession of small and large vehicles carrying fans to a home game. At least they would have been happy in recent seasons as incidents in and around their home stadium at Bung Karno Senayan forced the club to play their home games as far as Malang, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Solo. There was even a match played last season PTIK Stadium near Blok M without the fans in attendance.
Although it is convenient to label all Persija fans Jakmania that not everyone is a card carrying member fully paid, official supporters club. The Jakmania itself is one of the best managed supporters clubs in the country with a structure on a par with any organization and holding of elections every two years to decide on a new leader to represent interests of the fans.
The day of the game sees the Jakmania try to put their organizational muscles to bear. There are district coordinators who hire transport to supporters of the shuttle in their region while other volunteers take care of security issues in and around the field.
It does not always work of course. Witness the volatile game with Persib Bandung last season that ended with a number of fans attacked and killed, allegedly to wear the blue; color Persib.
As Jakmania, the largest group of fans, there are other groups who are trying to carve out their own identity. The Casuals for example, are a group of young people who take their inspiration from the movement of Casual early 1980s in England which took over the football terraces for a while. Like their British background, they avoid the club's colors, preferring to wear designer clothes such as Lacoste, Fred Perry and Adidas.
Another distinctive group are the Ultras whose inspiration comes from the Italian Ultras. Loud and brash, they favor large banners and flares and occupy their own section of Bung Karno Stadium, adding to the color and atmosphere of match day.
visiting fans have their own section of the stadium, but some clubs are traveling with a large number of fans and those who are treated with respect by most of the home support; when arranging for visiting supporters two fan clubs will liaise between them and certainly in the Bung Karno Stadium, it is a common sight to see a handful of Persija fans in the enclosure away providing an additional layer security.
The PSIS fans willing basic rudimentary snacks and toiletries before Persija fans carried on their journey across the country in trucks and buses. Talk to anyone involved in the Indonesian football and they all say the highlight is the fans. Just the atmosphere is incredible. I remember a game in Lebak Bulus, who used Persija before moving to the Bung Karno. Lebak Bulus is a much more compact stadium that held 12,500.
In this particular game the stadium was full well before the kickoff and the noise was deafening. I went to games in England, Italy and Germany over the years, but have never seen much that could rival that night. It was non-stop song and dance from all sides and corners of the stadium. For once the cliché that a stadium was rocking was true.
Just to complicate matters, there are two leagues in Indonesia and the two leagues each boast a Persija and Persitara. The other league is known as Indonesia Premier League and is the one set up under the auspices of the local football association. Both ISL and IPL are due to the merger by the end of 2014.
Persija, the version IPL, were told by a court of law, they can not use the name Persija. The fans were told they can not use the same name and Persija IPL last season played their home games in Madiun distant past some people puzzled.
Persija currently preparing for the new Super League Indonesia which will begin in January and if you find that you can take in a home game, I invite you to get off the stage and enjoy yourself for one of large Indonesian experiences.
Be warned. Know the games can be difficult if you do not have access to local media. The best resource is probably the fan club site www.jakmania.org