Indonesian Arsenal Fans Look Forward To Visit

The Arsenal Indonesian Supporters Club celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year in the best way imaginable. They will welcome Arsenal as they come to the country for the first time since 1983 when they played games in Medan, Jakarta and Surabaya.

This year Arsenal will play just the one friendly as part of an Asian jaunt that is also reported to take in Japan and Vietnam so there time in country will be limited and strictly controlled; fans hoping to bump into players like Theo Walcott and Per Mertesacker in Plasa Senayan are likely to be disappointed.

But that is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the passionate Arsenal fans desperate for a chance to see their heroes in the flesh.

Rawindraditya is the head of the Indonesian Supporters Club and like the other fans he is excited about July’s visit. As we sat in a bar in CITOS he proudly boasted of the Supporters Club, their numbers and their achievements.

‘We had about 200 go to Malaysia in 2011,’ he said, ‘for Arsenal’s first friendly there. We had the largest banner and there were many more fans that travelled over from Indonesia.’

That number of 200 was just those that travelled on the official tour. Many, many more made their own way, not just from Jakarta but Bandung, Semarang, Medan, Pekanbaru and other points of the Indonesian compass.

The support that night from the Indonesian Arsenal fans was perhaps the first indication the country was an untapped gold mine. In recent years Manchester United and Everton have pulled out of high profile friendlies in the country, the first because of a bombing directed at the team’s hotel, but while the likes of LA Galaxy, Bayern Munchen and Inter have visited no English club has bothered.

This July potentially sees three with Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea looking at games in Jakarta.

Out of a national membership of 6,000 Rawaindraditya anticipates about 1,500 will come to Jakarta for the weekend from around the country, staying in a hall specially booked for the visit and the club leader has been racking his brain as to how to keep the visitors busy during their short stay in the capital.

‘We are waiting for details from Arsenal what events they will hold,’ he explains. Typically the club would have a meet and greet session where fans could line up for an opportunity to have their photograph taken with a player and perhaps have their replica shirt autographed while a training session open to the public is also a common event but nothing has been confirmed by the club.

In the vacuum Rawindraditya is thinking about hiring 30 buses to take the supporters on a city tour round Jakarta! The normal options, a futsal competition for example, would be difficult to organize as Arsenal’s visit coincides with the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Given the holy month the supporters club are also asking members to bring books which will then be distributed to local orphanages.

It’s not just Indonesians looking forward to the game. Rawindraditya has been in contact with supporters from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Australia who are looking forward to enjoying the spectacle of a near full house at the cavernous Bung Karno Stadium.

After me asking several questions Rawindraditya decided to turn the tables and ask me one. He leaned forward, eyes burning, ‘why is our membership increasing? We have eight years without a trophy yet still more people want to join. We have problems keeping up with membership packs, so many want to join us.’

It’s obvious he is strung by criticisms from football fans in England who blame Asian fans for the direction the game is taken. They are, it is perceived, the ones who willingly pay the prices for replica shirts and other merchandise and are happy to pay the high ticket prices the club demands and receive.

‘If we are glory hunters why don’t we stop supporting Arsenal and all support MU (the Indonesian way of saying Manchester United)? Why do our numbers go up every year?’

‘We have more members than Liverpool and Chelsea. Only MU have more than us.’ He laughed when I asked about Manchester City. ‘Forget them’.

Answering his own question he feels people are attracted to the Arsenal by the football philosophy of Arsene Wenger. They are happy to see the beautiful football even if the team doesn’t win. Something that is certainly at odds with an older generation of fan who recall the success of the George Graham years built on a solid defence. He, like many others, doesn’t understand the debate among Arsenal fans in England whether Wenger should stay or go. ‘Look what he’s done’ is his reply to that.

Indonesia is a long way from London N5 and it is fair to say despite the dreams the vast majority of the Supporters Club will never get to see a game in England. For them the Arsenal coming to Indonesia is a dream come true, a tale they will never tire of repeating to their mates and family for years to come. For them an Arsenal without Wenger is unthinkable. They are just looking forward to a memorable visit.

SOURCE - an edited version of this appeared in Jakarta Globe 22/3/13

Steaming In

I always used to read the letters page in the programme back in my day. Not because there was anything interesting in them, there usually wasn't, but because you soon got to recognise the names of frequent contributers and one day when I have a whole day free I will track down the thoughts of Max Kester, an absolute legend who kept his local post office busy for many a year.

For now though I will use a letter from a gentleman named Colin Ward. No idea who he was, never knowingly met or saw him though undoubtedly we were at the same games for several years.

Thug lit is quite the thing these days with one time hooligans hanging up their sneakers and tapping out their life story with tales of 'never run, never done' monotony. Fair play to them, if there is a market there then why not? I'm only jealous I have done nothing in my miserable existance to write about.

Back to Mr Ward. He wrote one of the earliest thug lit books, called Steaming In, which I read many years back. From what I recall he seemed to spend more time writing about Chelsea than the Arsenal which would have been quite appropriate given my limited understanding of that era and culture when we had no firm anyway.

The book came out in 1989 and according to this blurb is to be reissued later this year.

His letter was very well received by the programme editor obviously as can be seen by his reply. I wonder how much this letter influenced him to take up writing full time?!

Arsenal Celebrate Contract Extensions

There was cause for much merriment, so the club had us believe at least, last December when it was announced Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshire, Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Ramsey were reported to have signed extended contracts to keep them at the Arsenal for the foreseeable future.

Given that players like Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas had moved on as well others whose contracts had been inexplicably allowed to run down this multi extension signing was supposed to show the future of the club was in good hands.

Add Theo Walcott into the mix and there was a core of six British players who, it is hoped, would be at the heart of the Arsenal for years to come.

For a saddo like me the date of the announcement was interesting. OK young men signing a bit of paper before Christmas is unlikely to have me racing to the advent calender in glee at my age but the announcement on 19 December mirrored a similar event back in 1987. Which was announced in the programme for the Everton game of that season on the same date.

George Graham was manager back then and he was proper chuffed 'absolutely delighted' in fact to announce a similar contract signing bonanza.

To put in context memories are long among football fans and we at the Arsenal are no different. We still recalled how Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton were allowed to leave years earlier and were never adequately replaced.

Italian football then was the place to be. It was the biggest and most glamourous league in the world with the most cash and players like Brady, Trevor Francis, Mark Hateley and Ian Rush were among those tempted by the bucket fulls of lira on offer.

Hence the thrill when Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Paul Merson and Perry Groves signed new, improved contracts while Paul Davis signed an extension.

And it's fair to say that lot turned out alright in the main. I say in the main. You could argue Rocastle and Thomas were sold when they still had much to offer but certainly Adams went on for another 15 years while Merson had the best part of a decade before moving on and Davis, after a shaky start in the first team developed into a very tidy player indeed who should have won caps for England and would have if he hadn't decked Glenn Cockerill a year later.

Of half dozen who signed contracts recently it remains to be seen who of them goes on to have an Adams type impact on the club. It could be argued the likes of Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain have regressed this season through being played out of position or not getting enough games. And Theo Walcott surely has to be on Crimestoppers some time soon as a missing person; he has done nothing since signing.

Only time will tell if the current crop of young, promising types have the same impact as the earlier vintage.

Players' Christmas Party 1982

Little Mac

Brian McDermott got sacked yesterday by Reading so I thought now would be as good a opportunity as any to recall his Arsenal career.

He made his debut against Bristol City in 1979 coming on as a substitute for young winger Mark Heeley and made one further appearance that season a couple of weeks later against Manchester City which would have been the first time I saw him play.

The following season he only managed a further appearance from the bench against Norwich City and, this being the campaign when we played 70 competitive games, he must have been wondering whether he had a future at the club.

It wasn't until November 1980 that he finally started a game, at home to Brighton which we won 2-0 with Little Mac scoring the second of the game.It was also his second in consecutive home games after coming off the bench to score against Norwich City 10 days earlier.

All told McDermott managed 26 appearances that season, including off the bench, and scored five goals. Only Frank Stapleton (14), Brian Talbot and Alan Sunderland (7 each) netted for league goals.

One though did come in the 2-0 over Aston Villa on the day they were crowned champions, Pele did a lap of honour and 57,000 + filled our Highbury.

He started the 1981/82 as a first choice wearing the number 9 in the first half dozen league games but this was a team struggling; they managed just four in those games and Little Mac scored none of them. He was to start just three more league games, scoring one goal against Everton but he fell off the radar as the season progressed and made just a single sub appearance in the last two thirds of the season; that in the 1-3 home reverse against that lot from up the road.

He did better in the UEFA Cup campaign, starting three of the four games, coming on as sub in the disaster in Winterslag. He scored a crucial goal as well, away to Panathinaikos, to set us on the way to a 2-0 win in Athens.

1982/83 saw Terry Neill spend big on Lee Chapman and Tony Woodcock which saw McDermott slip further down the pecking list. In the first half of the season he made just two appearances off the bench in the league and scored both times. He didn't return to the first team until the middle of April, after a short spell on loan at Fulham, when he began a run of seven consecutive games, scoring another two goals in a team that was struggling for consistency.

Those seven games saw us LWLWLWL but with the big money signings injured, as was Alan Sunderland, McDemott was left to partner the likes of John Hawley and Vladimir Petrovic as we struggled big time. Crowds dropped, the Manchester United game attracted 23,602, and it was left to the experienced Brain Talbot to shoulder the goal scoring burden with five in that mini run.

The following season saw Charlie Nicholas arrive meaning we had four strong strikers (Woodcock, Sunderland, Chapman (ha ha) and Charlie) and McDermott must have been wondering just what he needed to do to get a game. yet he started the season in fine form, scoring on the first day of the season against Luton but after just four games was dropped to facilitate the return of Alan Sunderland and he was back to his usual role of bit part player.

He managed just one more goal that season at Villa Park when we won 6-2 on the day Woodcock got five but Neill was sacked in December and under Don Howe made just three more appearances, his last against Notts County at Highbury.

During his five years on the fringes of the Arsenal team he managed 44 starts coming on as a sub 28 times. He scored 13 goals in that time.

Never the best player in the world but possessing some skill and pace McDermott perhaps suffered from his light build but he always gave 100% during difficult days for the club and I for one was happy to see him do a good job with Reading.

History was always against him. He was too late to be part of the Brady/Stapleton/O'Leary/Rix generation that came up through the ranks and coloured our expectations of Arsenal youngsters. He was part of the Davis/Meade/Whyte/Vaeseen group who all struggled to make an impact at the Arsenal; it took Paul Davis five or six years before he could really feel he belonged to the club

Wembley International Tournament 1988

Back in the late 1980s, early 1990s AC Milan were without doubt the biggest club in Europe and Italian football the most popular league.

Milan boasted a Dutch holy trinity of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard but the local lads weren't bad either. Consider Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Alessandro Costacurta and Carlos Ancelotti. Yep, the bloke who managed Chelsea for a while.

Back then European teams would often stage mini tournaments, usually featuring four clubs, but as ever England was behind the curve. Until, that is, 1988 when Wembley Stadium decided to get in on the act.

They invited Milan as well as Arsenal, Bayern Munchen (sorry, calling them Bayern Munich is naff; Bayern is the German spelling of Bavaria, Munich the English spelling of Munchen) and that lot from up the Seven Sisters Road who had just signed Paul Gascoigne.

Also featuring in the Milan squad, under Arrigo Sacchi, was goalkeeper Giovanni Galli. I have no idea whether he played or not but that is not relevant. His son, Niccolo, was to later sign for Arsenal as a defender just over a decade later and was highly rated by the club until, tragically, his life was taken from him in a car crash.

The Bayern squad is not without interest either. Their keeper, Raimond Aumann, went on to play for the club for many, many years and is still involved as a Fan Co ordinator while new signing Johnny Ekstrom was tall, blond and Swedish. Another Scandinavian was Erland Johnsen who was to sign for Chelsea within 24 months of this competition.

Bayern's coach that year, his first of three stints, was Jupp Heynckes who of course steps down at the end of this season to be replaced by Pep Guardiola.

Arsenal won the trophy defeating Bayern 3-0 and Tottenham the following day 4-0. For several years I had the video and it got pretty well worn I can say! At least we won this trophy emphatically. At the end of the season we went to Anfield needing to win 2-0 to lift the title and we managed it in the last minute thanks to Mickey Thomas.

A long season, a long journey and one that began at Wembley against Bayern.

The programme for the two day tournament was a typical oversized Wembley affair priced at 2 quid and featured a couple of pieces by the eternal Brian Glanville reflecting on his Milan memories.

All Smiles In The Dressing Room