PERSIB Lovers

A mother is trying to fit a Persib merchandise hat to her son in front of Jalak Harupat Stadium prior to a football match between Persib and Persija sometime ago.

Persib is Bandung, and Bandung is Persib. I think that much can be said about the relationship of Persib and Bandung.

Persib the acronym of 'Persatuan Sepakbola Bandung' or Bandung Football Union is the apple of the heart of Bandung's football lovers or the people of Bandung for that matter. It was established on 14 March 1933 as a result of a merger of three previously existing football clubs, namely Bandoeng Inlandsche Voetbal Bond (BIVB), Persatuan Sepak bola Indonesia Bandung (PSIB) and National Voetball Bond (NVB). These clubs were formed partly because the Dutch (the Indonesian colonial ruler at that time) would not allow the 'inlander' (the Indonesian indigenous people) to play football with them and because football played by the Indonesian indigenous people were considered as second class games. Considering its history, Persib is considered to be an important means of struggle for a national identity and independence.

Photo by Aries Rachmandy, a Bandung Daily Photo contributor, a journalism student and freelance photographer. More of his photo stream can be found here.

A Post Note:
As soon as I published this post, I was alerted by some friends that today was the 18th anniversary of Viking Persip Fans Club. What a coincidence.

Persib's fan club is called Viking. I don't know why they call themselves by that name. Perhaps the name can explain to you why the merchandise hat that the mother is trying to fit on her son's head has some sort of horns and spikes like the head gear worn by the Scandinavian Viking.

HAPPY 18th ANNIVERSARY, VIKING!

The World Cup Fever

Children playing football at the parking lot of Stasiun Bandung.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup currently being held in South Africa seems to have got everybody infected with the football fever. A lot of people would watch the live broadcast matches on television even late into the night.

Football aside, playing on a busy parking lot like this is of course dangerous. Unfortunately, Bandung doesn't have enough open spaces and parks even for children to play, and the goverment doesn't seem to really care about it. All they care is about building malls, hotels, and shops. Sighs.

Blame it on the referee!

The fans of a football or soccer team (or any sport teams for that matter) sometimes can't bear the fact that their team loses a game to its opponent every now and then. Whenever that happens, they need to find somebody or something they can blame so that they don't have to lose their collective ego or pride. It's almost always a convenient excuse to blame it on the wheather, the stadium, the coach, the management, a lousy player, or whatever, but never the team itself as a body, even if they believe teamwork is of utmost importance in a team sport.

For this PERSIB (Bandung Indonesian Football Association) fanatic and many others like him who call themselves "bobotoh" (a Sundanese word meaning keen supporter or fan), it's the referee. Hence the writing on the back of this helmet "Wasit Goblog!" (stupid referee!). Not very sportsman/woman-like, but hey ... that takes the burn away from their beloved team when it loses a game.