Bandung Mixed 6-a-side Mini Tournament, Saturday 8 November 2008

A slow start to a great weekend with people leaving in cars from different places and running straight into Jakarta’s Friday night traffic. But 3.5 hours and a couple of piss-stops later we were all in Bandung (by 11pm) and ready to hit the high spots, after some food of course.

The ‘girls room’ [Leong, Koplak, Markus] was in instant disarray. With three mirror-watchers styling their hair at the same time, there would obviously be some bottlenecks and we had to wait a while for Leong, Koplak and Markus, for what would be a disturbing but familiar trend through out the weekend.

Markus had consumed one beer so was almost permanently ensconced in the ‘Gents’ (every 5minutes anyway). A visit to North Sea revived spirits and memories and the serious part of the trip had started. A late night ensured, for some, although Lillian piked it after one beer in the car and was not seen again by the nightbirds of Bandung, raising serious questions over her touring pedigree.

The scheduling of a ‘team breakfast’ was overly optimistic with the ‘girls room’ again making us all wait. Even Paul and Phil, who drove up on Saturday morning, made the team breakfast, but not the ‘girls room’. Deny had called them at 8.30am to ensure they were up and aware that we were leaving at 9.15am. I guess it was with some sense of purpose and urgency that they turned up in the breakfast lounge at 9.14am and started to load up plates. So we waited !

Phil cannot be faulted for commitment. Even though his parents were still in town he bade them farewell on Friday evening and jumped in Paul’s car at 6am on Saturday morning for the journey to Bandung. Whether Mum and Dad actually made it safely to the airport for their lunchtime Saturday flight is still not known.

Contrary to weather expectations circulated by Ken, the day was bright, sunny and warm. Questions were asked of the organizers (Otong/Susi) when it was revealed that the sponsors money designated for kambing guling had been re-allocated to a 4^th barrel of beer, and instead ISCI would be dining on sausage and chips. You can’t fault the motive and endeavour, but the lack of solid fuel for the ISCI crew raised an eyebrow or two.

The ISCI donation of a new sit down toilet with hand basin and mirror was warmly welcomed and at least leaves Bandung Hockey with something to remember us for other than a mountain of plastic beer cups and a few aluminium cans.

The Reds kicked off ISCI’s day with an enterprising first seven minutes (2-0) but a couple of well executed short corners by Rudi saw the game end in a loss.

The Purple’s fared much better with a 4-0 first up win but the difference in discipline and structure with that of the Reds was evident in the confusion that reigned at the start of the game as to who was on, and where, and who was off, and why.

First beers were opened at about 11.30 (cans) while waiting for the Bintang Man to come to grips with a tangle of equipment. Sausage and chips were downed when available but with ISCI having 2 out of the 6 teams we were pretty much due on the pitch every other game (15 minute games).

The rain did fall, as predicted, but only on the Purples with Deny directing traffic from the relative comfort of the ISCI tent, and only going on for 2 minutes at the end when the rain stopped.

Game 3 saw the two ISCI’s pitted against each other and it was the well schooled Reds that emerged victorious. Ijan had so many misses we thought he was a polygamist, Ichang also had chances but Ebo kept them out with some fine saves and Nigel (and Markus when he came on) and Phil ran hard to limit the Purple’s opportunities. Paul and Phil missed a couple of chances but finally a quick free hit tipped into the D by Ken to Yeni who executed perfectly towards goal and a well taken flick by Phil off the rebound from the keepers pads saw the game winner put away.

Deny’s return – G1, shot wide of the goal; G2, shot straight at the keeper; G3, shot kicked away by Ebo; G4, diving save by the Keeper (but getting closer !); G5 – he finally scored ! G6, awarded a consolation ‘gift’ by the ref for perseverance.

Our ‘play of the day’ was probably Lillian’s tackle on a guy in game 5, which took him by complete surprise and she rounded him then raced into the D and calmly pushed the ball around the lunging male keeper for an excellent individual goal.

Red Team – Ken, Nigel, Phil, Paul, Markus, Lillian, Yeni, Ebo

Game 1 v Mandala 2-3 (Paul 2)

Game 2 v Unpad Green 3-1 (Paul, Phil, Lillian)

Game 3 v ISCI Purple 1-0 (Phil)

Game 4 v IHTB 1-0 (Lillian)

Game 5 v Unpad Blue 5-0 (Paul 2, Ken, Lillian, Phil)

Final v ISCI Purple 2-1 (Ken 2/Deny 1)

Goals for : 14; against : 5 = goal difference 9

Goals : Paul 5,Lillian 3, Ken 3, Phil 3

Purple Team – Deny, Ichang, Ijan, Koplak, Leong, Iwet, Susi, Ebo

Game 1 v Unpad Blue 4-0 (Ijan 2, Susi, Ichang)

Game 2 v IHTB 3-0 (Ichang 2, Ijan)

Game 3 v ISCI Red 0-1

Game 4 v Mandala 0-1

Game 5 v Unpad Green 3-1 (Deny, Iwet, Otong)

Goals for : 11;against 4 = goal difference 7

Goals : Ichang 3, Ijan, 3,Deny, Otong, Iwet, Susi

The final event of the day should have seen ISCI Reds play Mandala in the final but it appears the organisers erroneously credited ISCI Purple with a 1-0 win over Mandala when it was clearly a 0-1 loss. We suspect this was deliberate as some of the Mandala players had to leave early to play for Alumni in a league game in Jakarta on Saturday evening.

But this left the way clear to the best quality game of the day with the Reds (structured, disciplined, drilled) playing the unruly rabble that was the Purples on the day. The Reds pressed forward but could not score and both Phil and Paul missed shots. The deadlock was broken about 7minutes in with an unusually straight and hard hit at goal by Ken from the top of the D that banged into the back of the goal after careening of the keepers pads. A few forays forward by the Purples were quickly repulsed by Nigel/Markus and Phil and without Ijan (who left for band practice !) Ichang had to find the goals on his own. One particular back stick from the top of the D was indeed close and drew admiring ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’, most notably from Ichang himself.

The Reds were pretty much in control with many good moves forward and finally a short corner saw Phil slip a ball back to Ken on the post who slotted it between the ‘borrowed from Mandala’ keeper’s legs. The Purples suddenly got busy and a flurry of forward moves resulted in a short corner which Deny hit into the back of the net, which then rebounded on to the top of the back board, but was still awarded by the ‘local’ referee. A few tense moments ensued but the Reds stood firm and took the day.

Paul ran hard all day and was the top scorer in the tournament. Yeni from Bandung was excellent up front for the Reds and gave a focal point from which we built many attacks. Ichang worked harder than most in each game and covered a lot of territory. Phil ran and tackled back a lot and had many missed attempts at scoring goals. Ijan was his usual imperious self crafting goals around hyperactive keepers. Iwet was very solid in midfield and defence, skinning guys who underestimated her many times. Otong was virtually impassable on his home grass. Everyone did their bit with positions and time on the pitch well shared around.

On Saturday night we gathered in Dago and proceeded to restructure the restaurant’s seating layout as 13 ISCI and 5 locals sat down to dinner. Phil seemed a little lack luster for a time but a couple of double vodka Red Bulls lifted his game considerably. Another visit to North Sea and its next door neighbour (which had a better band) laid the foundation for a big night out. How surprised were we to run into the Last Mohican (Thomas) who had dropped in after work in Jakarta just to help us celebrate our victory. Doubtless the haircut was ‘refined’ for work on Monday morning.

Embassy proved a good choice of late night venue, with Thomas and Phil rubber-necking and bouncing around like 3 year olds (Phil because of the Red Bulls). The eye-candy and dance music kept everyone interested for a while and people drifted off when tired or beered-out to catch some zeds.

Sunday was a slow day with Deny taking the ‘girls’ on a shopping trip to factory outlets (Lina, Lillian, Iwet, Ebo, Leong). With Otong a ‘no show’ we reassessed the strategy and decided to dine at a Sundanese restaurant nearby rather than drive to Paris van Java and fight the notorious (and for good reason) Bandung traffic. Washed down only with Teh Botol and warm teh, the interesting concept of selecting your food (a loose term given much of the fare was previously important inner working parts of a four legged animal) at a sort of buffet, then having them cook it up and deliver it, was lost on most people as they couldn’t remember what their food looked like, so it became a free for all). A well nourished tribe headed back to Jakarta ignoring Nigel’s pleas to visit the Ciater hot springs on the way back.

All in all a great weekend, everybody got lots of hockey, those that wanted had lots of beer, and fun was had by all. Many thanks to all who came along, those that did the driving and especially to Ardi, Otong and Susi for organizing the mini tournament.