Local U.S. graduates favor American football

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While most Indonesians cannot seem to keep their feet off of soccer balls, a group of graduates from the United States would rather play a game where their feet hardly ever touch the ball.

"We played American football instead of soccer when we were studying or working there (in the U.S.)," said Kaman, a professional in his 30s who organizes a weekly game for 15 to 20 other American football fans.

"Most of our members are already familiar with the game and want to sweat a little and have some fun," he said.

The Indonesian flag football group, which has over 100 members, was initiated in 2002 by a group of graduates from colleges and universities in Los Angeles, San Francisco and several other U.S. cities.

American football, known in the United States simply as football, grew out of the English game of rugby and since the 1990s has been America's most popular spectator sport with nearly half of U.S. households with televisions watching the National Football League's Superbowl.

The full-contact sport is played on a field measuring 100 yards long and features 11 players on each side of the ball.

Instead of playing with a full 22 people, the Jakartan club usually plays 7-on-7 or 6-on-6 noncontact flag football every Friday night at the Senayan hockey field.

Last Friday night, there were only 10 people on the field. "We usually play for four quarters, but if there are not that many people we do not set a time," Kaman said, adding that most of the members were male professionals in their early 30s.

"Although we have lots of members we are often short on people," Kaman said. "We had several expatriates until a year ago. There are only two of them now."

Open to anyone over the age of 15 who enjoys and is interested in the game, the club is beginning to see more younger participants. "They are usually students coming home for holidays."

The club has an annual championship every January. "We played during the weekend with four to five teams the last time," Kaman said.

"For next year, we are trying to put together a regional championship, but that depends on how many people want to join in.

"We actually came close to holding one in Bali, but the bombings happened and we have to call it off," said the graduate of a university in Los Angeles.

Kaman said similar flag football clubs could be found in Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. "Their members are similar to ours, except for the Philippines, where most of the members are expatriates."

"In our case, we are basically open to anyone," he said.

Anyone who gets bored kicking around a soccer ball, American flag football might be worth a try.(003)