Indonesian rugby players have their own field of dreams

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An Islamic boarding school in sweltering, teeming Jakarta is about as far removed as you can get from the English private school where rugby was first played in the 19th century.

For Ade Waryo, a second year student at Asshidiqiyah Aliyah Islamic school, learning to play this full-contact sport has been an enjoyable albeit eventful process.

"It's quite difficult to play rugby at the beginning as the ball is oval and there is so much body contact and tackling, but later we learned to play it quite well," he said during the ISCI Jakarta Rugby Tens Tournament 2005 at Ciputat, South Jakarta, last Saturday.

"My motivation is getting to play in a tournament against foreigners, practicing with them, and we want our school to be the first Islamic school to play rugby."

His teacher Muhammad Syahadat said playing the sport provided better skills in teamwork and communication, as well as building confidence.

"I think the impact of rugby for us is good."

Indonesian Development Rugby (IDR), a group established in May last year to promote the sport in the country, hopes there will be more Ades who will take up the sport, grow to love it and eventually wear an Indonesian jersey on their backs.

"We are still in an early stage of rugby development, but we want to build a national team like our neighbors Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand," IDR chief Andrew Nugroho said..

While the assumption is that men must be heavyweights to play the game, Andrew, who first played the game while at high school in Australia, said speed and agility were also important in avoiding being tackled to score.

Players in Japan and Thailand, where rugby is now played in schools, universities and by the armed forces after receiving the patronage of a prominent general in the 1980s, are renowned for their quickness about the field.

"I watched the Thai team compete last year at the Asian Rugby Union they played well. On average, they were the same size as Indonesians," he said.

With Indonesia lacking the historical connection to the sport of former British colonies in Asia, such as Singapore and Malaysia, junior development in schools and universities is essential to develop a future national squad, Andrew said.

At present, students from Pelita Harapan University, Bina Nusantara University, Budi Luhur University and Asshidiqiyah Islamic School are learning to play rugby.

They play every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at ABC Soccer Field, Senayan, South Jakarta for free, under the sponsorship of Thiess Indonesia. All are welcome to play.

The students made their debut as the Jakarta Bantengs at the tournament last weekend.

Outside of Jakarta, there are four teams -- the Kotekas of Papua, Total Balikpapan, Sangatta of East Kalimantan and Gosowong of Halmahera.

The Kotekas and Gosowong, like the Bantengs, are all- Indonesian squads, originally set up and assisted by expatriates working in their areas.

"We have some 60 players in Jakarta and 350 players from the other teams," he said.

"Right now we play more for fun, but we plan to play more professionally."

In the future, IDR would like to have its own well-tended rugby field in Central Jakarta, more tournaments than its two at present and, eventually, a foreign coach.

The IDR holds observer status in the Asian Rugby Football Union, which is the Asian division of the International Rugby Board.

"Probably, in the next two years when the number of our players and coaches increase, we could become a full member of the Asian Rugby Football Union."

ISCI Rugby Club captain David Stenberg said that the quality of local players was improving, with Gosowong and Kotekas able to compete against teams of foreigners.

"We support the idea to build the national team," he said.

"We do hope that the Indonesia rugby national team will consist of Indonesian people rather than expatriates living here."