The government, patrons, the press and the public should be involved in the effort to create a football subculture in fan groups. Especially for Arema, the Kanjuruhan tragedy seems to serve as a very valuable lesson.
By
Sindhunata
·7 minutes read
FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO
Sindhunata
War or football, which one is more terrifying? The Ukraine war or Kanjuruhan? Pep Guardiola said the Kanjuruhan tragedy in Malang, East Java, was indeed insane. In fact, the Kanjuruhan tragedy made the world suddenly wide-eyed in alarm; as it turns out, football could be meaner than war.
In a war, victims can be anticipated and evacuated; violence can be brought to the negotiating table. However, in the Kanjuruhan incident, in the blink of an eye, violence exploded beyond control, followed by falling victims and loss of lives. In Kanjuruhan, violence manifested itself as a blind and irrational force. It was like a devil or dark force that only sought destruction and fatality.
Football is actually double-faced. It may be like numen (numinous) in the sense as intended by philosopher Rudolp Otto. On the one hand, football is fascinans, a kind of interesting and pleasurable mystery that offers the feelings of benevolence, beauty, happiness and wholeness. On the other, football is tremendum, a kind of frightening and violence-laden mystery that is threatening, oppressive and deadly.
At many stadiums, including Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru (1964); Heysel Stadium, Belgium (1985); Kathmandu, Nepal (1988); and Sheffield, England (1989), violence arose as a part of football. Therefore, the government, security personnel, football institutions, referees, coaches, players and fans must realize that an escalation of violence may strike at any time in the arena of the most popular sport. It means that the Kanjuruhan tragedy is a sign of an era in which they were all negligent, careless and reckless in dealing with the danger of violence inherent in football.
Football is actually not the mere business of building a stadium, buying players, promoting professional referees and presenting entertainment. Apart from all this, football culture should really devote its attention to the fostering of supporters or fans as well as the maintenance and guarantee of their security and safety.
If the factor of supporters is neglected, and their fostering and security are recklessly handled, football will be a wild domain, where violence is constantly escalating. Understandably, it is these supporters or fans that form the group most inclined to be provoked by violence if their emotions are triggered.
Violence easily serves as their way to give vent to their dissatisfaction due to the lack in fulfillment of basic needs.
Football supporters are also humans. As indicated by sports psychologist Steffen Kirchner, they have basic necessities like other fellow humans. The basic needs are, among others, security, success, recognition, sense of worth and self-esteem, group cohesion and the desire to help their fellows or circles.
A lot of football fans, also in Indonesia, come from the lower-income brackets. Generally, these people are unable to meet their basic needs -- in particular, self-esteem, success and recognition. Violence easily serves as their way to give vent to their dissatisfaction due to the lack in fulfillment of basic needs. Stadiums have become their stage, where they feel free to gain what they fail to obtain in society, whose legal and formal rules have marginalized them.
ISTIMEWA
Riot inside Kanjuruhan stadium, Malang, after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya, Saturday (1/10/2022).
Forming subculture
However, stadiums do not, in essence, merely function as a wild arena for violence. In many countries, stadiums are an arena where violence can be cultivated into a creative, peaceful, entertaining and friendly culture. So, in the football sphere, there is the term “hooligan domestication”. It means that hooligans come from “the outside of stadiums”. Within stadiums they turn out to be cultivable and their wildness domesticable. Stadiums give them an atmosphere in which their spontaneity in escalating violence comes to an abrupt halt.
So, if we are football lovers, we can think with optimism that stadiums are not just an arena for football matches, but rather, also a field where people can form their subculture. In stadiums, people can discover who they are, feel their identity and self-esteem, the value and typical characteristic of their group, which is different from other groups. Thus, even if they both are in East Java, Persebaya differs from Arema. Symbolically, Persebaya is Bajul Ijo (green crocodile) and Arema Singo Edan (mad lion).
Singo Edan is a subcultural name. It is supposed to show that arek (natives of) Malang differ from bonek (Persebaya fans). In East Java, football must not be under the hegemony of Surabaya. Malang is capable of rivaling.
It is not easy to form a peaceful subculture. Yet after a long journey, Arema has proven their capability to do so. It is known to have a fans club that is inspiring and entertaining. It can be likened to the successful domestication of the mad lion to become a friendly and attractive circus lion. The lion is no longer fierce, but it is strong and courageous. It has the spirit of Ken Arok, the commoner who dared to revolt, but was responsible for his power. Sadly, in the match against Persebaya in Kanjuruhan, the lion got ferocious again. It might be that they could not accept their defeat.
In fact, inculcating the awareness of how to accept defeat gracefully is a basic element in the fostering of football supporters. In this case, victory is not one of the key categories to be fostered as a value. More important than victory is loyalty. Let us take an example from supporters of low-level clubs in European leagues.
Their fate is not the same as that of Bayern Muenchen, Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and other top-level clubs. Still, in spite of frequent defeats, their supporters remain loyal. Being saddened by losses is part of their life from one season to another. But they continue to be loyal, and cherish their hopes every time their clubs compete. They have quietly been fostered in the subculture of loyalty, merely by withstanding the defeats suffered by their favorite clubs.
Clubs become some kind of motherlands or birthplaces. There they stand, and remain faithful despite losses. With such loyalty, it is impossible to ruin or tarnish the image of their clubs. It is interesting to note the words of Felix Dachsel, a loyal fan of Eintracht Frankfurt. “Being a fan of Eintracht, one ultimately has to become a realistic person. It seemed victorious in the beginning, but it had to suffer losses eventually,” said Dachsel.
Football without supporters is nothing. But it seems that we still have a long way to go in fostering football supporters in our country.
As fans of mediocre clubs, they are trained in many things. When falling to the second division, they have to learn the patience to rise again. What patience means becomes clear in losses. They stay faithful in spite of being left by players, coaches and managers, one after another.
As fans, they are trained to suffer. They suffer more than their players do. It is because they have to stay amid defeats while the players leave to seek victories from other clubs. But suffering is not the final word. As soon as they win, such as when they emerged as European League 2022 champion after beating Glasgow Rangers, 5-4, their joy was beyond description. They seemed to enjoy irreplaceable happiness.
Football without supporters is nothing. But it seems that we still have a long way to go in fostering football supporters in our country. The government, patrons, the press and the public should be involved in the effort to create a football subculture in fan groups. Especially for Arema, the Kanjuruhan tragedy seems to serve as a very valuable lesson.
