World Cup runneth over with beer and T-shirts

World Cup runneth over with beer and T-shirts

By Samsudin Berlian

JAKARTA (JP): The banker shouted, waved his hands, and jumped
up and down on his chair when Roberto Baggio scored for the
Italian squad in the semifinal against Bulgaria in a way that one
usually sees only at the stadium.

But he was not in crowded Giants Stadium or in any arena at
all for that matter. He was among nearly 200 spectators in the
conveniently located, air conditioned -- albeit thick with
cigarette smoke -- ballroom of the Shangri-La hotel, watching the
seven-meter-wide, 6.9-meter-high screen showing the live
broadcast from New Jersey. In the back of the room, a buffet of
salad, meats, bread, soup, cake and nasi goreng awaited them.

Sony Parengkuan, a Lippobank chapter manager, liked the place
because of the big screen and the enthusiastic small crowd.

"In my home I feel sleepy," he said.

And, to compensate for the energy he expended all night long,
he promised to sleep through Thursday until evening, trusting his
staff to handle the work in the office.

Hotels and restaurants throughout Jakarta are now moving to
cash in on the huge interest generated by the sport of soccer.
There is no word yet what affect this might have on the banking
industry, robbed of its high level management who come to work
exhausted on the days of the early morning games. However, it
seems to be a godsend for the providers of food and
accommodations who want to stay up, watch the game and make a
profit all at the same time.

Interest, and therefore marketing, in the World Cup has grown
substantially in Jakarta in recent years. A Cup ago, watching the
World Cup in a restaurant or hotel was almost unheard of. Then,
the most popular place to watch the soccer championship was with
the throngs of people gathered in front of small television sets
in warung (local food stalls).

Now, many venues are competing for World Cup fans and they
have to be creative if they want to bring in the crowds.

Shirts and beer

Another soccer fanatic present at the semifinal matches was
Poltak Sirait, owner of Medan, a North Sumatra-based Palansaa bus
company. He has 10 sons and gave them names like Maradona, Van
Basten, Rudi Voeller.

He and his family are taking a month-long vacation touring
Sumatra and Java by car and are now staying at the Shangri-La. He
also found the arrangements at the ballroom enticing.

There, spectators paid Rp 75,000 (US$36) to enter the
ballroom, where they received food, crystal clear reception for
whatever World Cup games were on, two glasses of beer, plus a T-
shirt that vaguely resembled the uniform of their favorite team.

The Shangri-La has turned out to be one of the more successful
Cup-viewing venues in the capital. There were even pre-game
festivities, where an early crowd -- the majority of whom were
young people -- sat on rows of chairs reminiscent of a movie
theater while they were entertained by a band.

Among the semifinal spectators were a dozen former Indonesian
national players having a good time enjoying the games and each
others' company.

Risdianto, who played with the national team from 1970 to
1981, cherished the nostalgia and the enthusiastic crowds. He has
been a regular customer during the month-long World Cup and
enjoys everything the hotel offers although, being of the old
school, he still prefers watching a game in a stadium.

Of course, the gatherings inevitably attract young couples who
have more than just soccer in mind. At first, Monita did not
really care about soccer. However, after she received free
tickets from her father she decided to go with her boyfriend
Bobby. To her surprise, and probably to Bobby's as well, she
found that when the game was taken off the living room couch,
soccer was indeed appealing.

But, as all responsible parents could have already guessed, at
that early hour Monita and Bobby were accompanied by her younger
brother and sister.

The Shangri-La is not the only establishment to offer such a
service in the city. Several other hotels and restaurants are
offering much the same, albeit at a smaller scale.

Le Meridien, also in Central Jakarta, provided about 20 seats
for customers at Le Rendevouz bar. The four-square-meter screen
showed a slightly blurred projection of the live broadcasts.
There, the cup was free and viewers only paid for what they ate
and drank. It is also worth noting that Il Punto, which produces
what is easily the best thin-crust pizza in the archipelago, has
been offering heavily discounted pizza and beer for all of
Italy's games.

Exuberance

The Mandarin Oriental erected a makeshift tent containing six
tables, a dozen extra seats and several fans to cool the
customers beside the swimming pool at its Pelangi Terrace. The
screen was as big as the one at Le Meridien and the viewing was
also free.

Paolo Randone, manager of the Zigolini restaurant to be opened
in the hotel next month, and a couple of his Italian friends
jumped fully clothed into the swimming pool after the Italians
won. This, he said, was a ritual to show solidarity with the
celebrating Romans who jumped into the Baroque fountain in Piazza
del Popolo after the Italy-Bulgaria match.

They had a party afterward and vowed to have another one early
Monday morning when Italy will face Brazil in the grand finale,
which Randone rates a 50-50 proposition.

Randone explained that to Italians, soccer is like religion,
with the most important thing being a nice match, not winning.