FAN’S VIEW: 2025/26 – No.2: AREMA FC by MARK GELDER

Our second match was against Arema FC, who finished 10^th of 18 in the league last season, and were in the President’s Cup as defending champions.   After a couple of days in Jakarta, I headed across to Bandung on the Tuesday, some 80 miles south-west, and the third largest city in Indonesia. 

Like most other fans, media, and the club, I chose Indonesia’s first and so far, only high-speed train for the journey, known as Whoosh.  This cuts a three-hour train or car journey down to 45 minutes with top speeds of 350 kph.  Well, it sort of does.   From the hotel in Jakarta, it was a 40-minute taxi to the Halim starting terminal.  Whoosh is built, paid for and operated in a joint venture with China, which is perhaps why construction started in 2015 and was operating commercially by 2023 at a cost of $7.2 billion.   No chance for a tinny on the train as none of the many shops and food outlets at the station served alcohol so made do with a java breakfast tea.  As promised, the train soon reached its 215-mph top speed, although it was barely noticeable as the ride was so smooth.  Racing past mountains and paddy-fields, through tunnels and across viaducts, after just half an hour we stopped at the penultimate station Padalarang for a feeder train to Bandung itself.  This has a well-designed timetable whereby the feeder train departs about ten minutes after Whoosh arrives, and then takes 20 minutes into Bandung. Similarly on the return journey the feeder train arrives 20 minutes before the Whoosh leaves.  So overall it was probably some two hours door to door. 

My first mistake was to then not take a taxi from the station to my hotel which was 500 yards away and across one road.  “I can walk that” I thought.  The pavements were full of potholes and crumbling away, with many local businesses open to the road such as food stalls, mopeds parked up, repair shops and the like and spilling out onto the pavement making it an obstacle course in 30-degree humid heat.  The final step was crossing the road to the hotel which was busy with traffic and no crossings.  Luckily the hotel employ a man with an LED lollypop stick who waves it to the traffic who obligingly pause.  I later found that I probably saved £1 by not taking a taxi. 

Wednesday evening, I met up with other fans who were staying in a different hotel about 20 minutes ride away for a meal out nearby where a band was playing a mixture of Indonesian and English covers.   Again, no alcohol on sale, so after our meal, we found another hotel to get a beer.  I then asked reception to order a taxi back to where I was staying.   A guy on a moped turned up and handed me a crash helmet.    Somewhat apprehensively, I got on the back and we went about ten minutes round the block before arriving back where we had started for the night porter to translate the hotel address where I was staying, even though I had printed off my booking with the full name and address. Luckily the rider wasn’t in quite such a hurry as the rush hour traffic but got me back OK for IDR 30,000. I gave him 40,000 as I was so relieved to get back in one piece.  About £2 all in.

Thursday was match-day, and the ground was some ten miles out of the city centre.   Due to the notorious traffic, we had planned on leaving by taxi around 5:30 for the 7:30 kick-off.   However, at 4:30 I was forwarded a message stating that the Indonesian security were demanding that fans get a wrist band from a military base some ten minutes’ drive away, but that the head of security (“HOS”) was letting him through.  This panicked me a bit, having read of European style policing, whereby you may be kettled, tear-gassed, or held back and miss kick-off.  

So, the eight of us got our taxis sorted, through rush hour traffic, where the jams were so bad that beggars could walk up and down the queued cars, and even a guitar player wandered in the traffic hoping for a tip.  An hour later at the stadium, we were all gathered together by the main entrance, and HOS and several other police escorted us all the way round to the far side of the ground near the dugouts.  There were a LOT of police vehicles and armoured police which looked more like riot police than our normal match-day experience of stewards and a few cops on horses. For a handful of English fans I thought they were overestimating us for potential trouble.  We were given wristbands to enter the stadium, without even checking if we had match tickets.   Before going in I went to buy a bottle of water, and in a move surpassing removing the lid like they do at home, it was poured out into a plastic bag, tied securely, and given a straw.  It looked like you’d won a goldfish at the fair but no fish. 

Stadium Si Jalak Harupat Stadium is a 40,000-capacity ground with a running track, and with separate covered stands along the pitch and open to the elements stands behind the goals. SJH is home to Persib Bandung, who had won back-to-back league titles for the last two seasons.  They were in the other half of the draw and had already been eliminated following a loss to Port FC (the invited Thai team) and a draw to Dewa United.

Once inside the ground, we were behind and to the right of the dugouts, two other Oxford fans who had travelled from Adelaide joined us as well as a few others who had made their way independently, and some who had to take last minute taxis after flight delays. Opposite us was a decent sized fan base with lots of flags and banners, which I assume were Arema fans.  We had the traditional match build-up with a pop singer blasting out a couple of songs before the teams came out and the count-down to kick-off.

The match had barely started before most of the flood-lights went out.  In scenes similar to a stadium pop-concert, the locals waved their phone torches to try and help.  (Forest Green away in 2009 anyone?).  After about twenty minutes of false starts, the lights came back on and after a warm-up the match resumed.  

This game was more “competitive”, perhaps with Arema FC trying to prove a point that either this should have been an Indonesian team tournament, or that they weren’t here for a friendly. 

Within the first 15 minutes, one of their players had taken out Ole Romeny who had just scored. From where we were sat we couldn’t see the detail and the big screens didn’t replay the incident.  We were though alerted to a VAR review, and after several minutes during which Romeny was stretchered off, VAR finally decided not a sending off. 

At two nil-down, the fans opposite had started to move towards the back, then top of their stand, and then down towards the seats where there was a gap between the pitch-side stands, and goal-end stands. Other fans from behind the goal also moved up to their seats on the other side of the gap.  I couldn’t work out if it was the same fans joining in with a ‘left side/right side’ chant, or opposite fans goading each other from the safety of separate stands.  Three nil down at half time, it looked like around half of the Arema fans had had enough and left the ground when the game restarted.  

The match finished 4-0 to United and we were safely through to the final with goals from Placheta, Romeny, Leo Snowden and Gatlin O’Donkor.  Including the forced sub of Romeny, we made nine substitutions.  

HOS and police then met us again on the way out of the stands and escorted us back to the main entrance.  Booking a taxi via the Bluebird taxis app meant four of us were hanging around for half an hour for one to accept our ride request, whilst a few local fans were still hanging around.   HOS waited and chatted until every Oxford fan was safely on their way.  

POST SCRIPT

Arema FC from East Java had been involved in a pitch invasion at home to local rivals Persebaya Surabaya in 2022.  Police fired tear gas, resulting in a crush and the deaths of 135 people and 600 injuries, resulting in prison sentences for senior officials at the club and police, the second worst football disaster in history.   Indonesian club football also has an ultras scene similar to Italy with “commanders” for each set of fans, requiring riot police and vans at most games.  So, the apparently over-zealous security was actually for our own safety and to make sure we were in a neutral stand and that we got away OK, rather than shepherding us around just to inconvenience us.