Everything for the love of soccer

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

For Tamara Geraldine, staying in the RCTI studio every day for 11 hours during World Cup 2002 is more than just fulfilling her job duties.

The 28-year-old host of the program which is broadcast by the TV station gleefully admitted to be a big fan of the sport.

"I could turn down a job offer somewhere if an important football game would be on at the same time with the job," Tamara told The Jakarta Post while waiting for a game between Argentina and Sweden on Wednesday.

She said that her love for the game came after spending years of her childhood in small towns where there was not much entertainment.

Her father, who worked for the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, also served as the manager of the Balikpapan Football Club during the years of their stay in the East Kalimantan.

Since she had little else to do, her father always took her to see football practices.

Young Tamara became more and more addicted to the sport and she even chose soccer as an extracurricular activity at schools after she returned to her hometown in Jakarta.

Today, she plays video game soccer quite often.

However, it seems that her love for the game is not the only thing which impelled the studio to hire her as one of the hosts for the worldwide celebrated event.

The refreshingly open and opinionated woman got the natural charm which rarely can be found in most local figures on TV today.

The successes of sports program Boom Basket aired by RCTI and infotainment program the Gossip Show aired by TPI owe a lot to her natural likability and good sense of humor.

Many people also find her Batak accent, which she uses every now and then, charming.

Being aware of her comedic talent, Tamara said that she would consider a role in a sitcom series.

"But it must be a smart one," she said mentioning the U.S. TV series Friends.

However, she vowed not to take part in any sinetron (local drama series) ever again since she did not like her experience in the starring role in a series titled Kerinduan (The Longing) a few years ago.

"Even though the studio said that my acting was good, I know what I'm capable of and not capable of. If I kept doing what I couldn't do well, I'd be a nuisance," Tamara said, chuckling.

Tamara's statement certainly sounded very refreshing since there are so many non-talents and so-called celebrities who appear in countless TV series today, but still come off as arrogant and egotistic.

Tamara is the kind of girl you would like to be your next door neighbor. She would be glad to talk to you about almost anything which probably comes from her hobby of reading a wide range of books.

"It's such an amazing feeling to read the works of great minds," Tamara said, mentioning names from local writer Sapardi Djoko Damono to world-famous poet Khalil Gibran. "I find intellect sexier than physical aspects."

She also considers reading books as an investment for her mind.

"Before we got married, I told my husband that I wouldn't be able to compete with pretty women out there since I didn't have the perfect body, but if he was willing to look deeper in me, I have other qualities I could offer," Tamara said.

She married two years ago to Tien Thinh Pham, a Vietnamese- born German citizen, who works as a marketing official at Indosat.

However, Tamara admitted that there were a lot of things she was not into and one of them was fashion.

"Oh, I don't know anything about fashion," Tamara said.

She also said that she did not have passion for music which was strange since her first job on TV was to be a presenter for a music program for Indosiar.

The TV station was looking for a woman with good English and a bit of a tomboy look, so they went and looked for talent at all- girls school Tarakanita where Tamara went.

"My principal told the TV people to hire me, probably because the school was fed up with me," Tamara said, giggling. "I was such a troublemaker at school."

Tamara said that spending seven years in an all-girls school during junior high, high school and a vocational school in Tarakanita, made her a very independent woman.

That was also the reason why she was not too worried if her husband did not have time for them together due to his work.

"I can amuse myself even when I feel pain," she said admitting that she was a very happy person.

Tamara said that she was very pleased with her life.

"I think there are many people who would want the life I'm leading now. So far, my life has never been shaken by gossip, I got my career going very well and have a good husband," Tamara said.

However, she admitted that her life would be fulfilled if one day she would be blessed with having kids, too.

"That's something beyond my control," Tamara said in a slightly sad tone.

"But hey, it also means that I'm extraordinary, too, right? It takes a lot to have been married for two years without having kids and still be happy," Tamara said, cheering herself up.

Any principles you have in life, Tamara?

"I don't want to be rich because then I'd be arrogant but I don't want to be poor otherwise I'd steal," she said. "But that (wisdom) is not mine. I stole it from (Indian guru) Rabindranath Tagore," Tamara said smiling.