East Javanese students find fire football hot event

Antariksawan Jusuf, Contributor, Banyuwangi

Football is hot in Java's most eastern region of Banyuwangi. Not because fans are eagerly waiting the upcoming 2002 FIFA World Cup, but because the game is played here with a ball that is literally on fire.

Bare-footed, the mostly elementary students of Muslim boarding school Hidayatul Muhtadiin of Grogol west of Banyuwangi, play regular fire football matches on a concrete court normally used to dry rice.

It is just like the sport of football played anywhere in the world, with kicking, heading, penalties, a referee, a commentator, the spectators, only in this version it is held at night with a burning ball and played for a shorter period of time.

The ball is made from a coconut, which has been soaked for a couple of hours in kerosene. During each match the referee's assistant has to stop play a couple of times in order to pour more kerosene when the fire fades.

According to the school's owner cum teacher, H. Nursalim, there is no magic involved in the match.

Among people from other regencies, especially in East Java, Banyuwangi is identified as a hotbed for magic. In the late 1990s, dozens of alleged black magic practitioners were murdered. Some of them, however, turned out to be religious teachers, peasants and shamans, and they became victims of prejudice and hatred. The perpetrators of the killing spree remain a mystery to this day.

"What I have told them to do is to perform wudhu before playing and pray Bismillahirrohmanirrohim (In the name of Allah, the compassionate and the merciful)," Nursalim said. Wudhu is a ritual of cleansing performed by every Muslim before daily worship. Its ritual includes washing five parts of the body: the face, two hands, the head, two ears and two feet.

"In the act of prostration while we pray, seven parts of our body touch the earth. So, we decided seven should be the number of players in a team," Nursalim said.

The idea of fire football was raised in 1986 when the government launched an nationwide campaign to promote sports.

Nursalim, who is a fan of football legend Diego Maradona, came to the idea of fire football and fire basketball to make it a bit different to other sports.

The popularity of the school's fire football team has extended to other neighboring regencies of Situbondo, Besuki and Panarukan.

The school's team has often been invited to the regencies to play at charity events. All of the proceeds are normally used to build mosques, Nursalim said.

To make the game more interesting, organizers of the charity matches often claim the school teams come from opposite parts of Banyuwangi and that they are in competition. And for this purpose, the school has prepared several colored jerseys. In the event of playing in other regions, they entertain the spectators by holding the match on a real football field.

So far, none of the students have been injured. Intensive training normally takes place in the Islamic month of Sya'ban before the students end their academic calendar at the school, which hosts some 100 students, 25 of whom are girls.

"What is most important to us is that the students are having fun," Nursalim said.