ISCI Goes On Tour to Semarang 2013 - Mixed 9-a-side Festival, Saturday 29 June 2013

With a few people being last minute cancellations, ISCI went to Semarang with 7 men players, 1 lady player and 1 lady supporter. Matt, Tia, Susi, Kieran and RJ left Jakarta on Friday afternoon/evening to meet Koplak, PJ and Eduard who were already in Semarang for work. Although Ibis had been designated as the Official Tour Hotel, RJ and Susi decided to go for higher class digs (THEY said Ibis was fully booked !). A night out organized by RJ saw him, Matt, Koplak, Susi and Kieran stuck in E-Plaza with 2 bottles of Vodka to be finished on that night - and they did it ! (although it was rumoured they get some assistance from local “friends”). They trooped back to the hotel at 4am. The perfect preparation for a hockey tour !

Deny arrived at 7am on Saturday morning and had the luxury of getting picked-up by Raesar (Kendal player) and taken straight to the Novotel to fetch Susi and Koplak (with all the beers, soft drinks, and snacks they bought on Friday night). The journey continued to the Ibis, which was the meeting point for everyone. Although the schedule was for an 8am departure, Kieran, Matt, Tia, Deny, Susi, Koplak gathered at 8.20am, followed by PJ and Eduard at 8.30am. We were not sure whether RJ was already in his ‘Ciputra Hotel’ or still in E-Plaza ! Then Otong rang saying the bus he took was having problems and would only arrive at 2pm. We decided to leave without RJ as he couldn’t be contacted !

The hockey festival was arranged by Semarang State University (UNNES) and played at the FIK Ground. The trip from the hotel to the pitch (which was not in the centre of town as we were lead to believe) took 25 minutes (24 minutes longer than planned !).

Raesar, a GK (Yasser) and 2 ladies (Apta and Tyas) from Kendal joined the ISCI team for the festival.

Game 1 v Temanggung Juniors 2 – 0 (PJ, Deny)
The first game and everyone thought they would have problems stopping the ball on grass, but the team did ok and controlled the whole game, scoring 2 goals. Yasser in goals, Koplak and Kieran in defense, Deny, PJ, Matt, Eduard at half, Susi and Apta up forward, with Raesar and Tyas on the bench.

Game 2 v Semarang 1-0 (PJ)
RJ finally arrived, so he promptly decided to start, and be a forward (that dropped Susi to the half line and Deny to the bench to start his Bintang drinks !). A tough game against a team consisting of ex-Central Java players, but another game where we played well and scored 1 goal after brilliant team play. Deny ended up with a bruised right hand after being hit by a lifted superpower ball from the Semarang players (thankfully he can drink with both hands).

Game 3 v SMA 1 Boja 4- 0 (Apta, RJ, PJ)
We won the game easily and Apta scored the tournament’s first “girl’s goal”.

As we had qualified for the semi-finals, the rest of the team decided to join Deny in polishing off the Bintang, except for RJ with his “No Bintang beer” philosophy.

Semi’s v Unnes 4-1 (Apta, Susi)
Against the home team, and we know we will have difficulty with their speed and vocal supporters. They scored a very early goal that shocked ISCI. ISCI fought back and instructions were given to Apta by Deny to stay near the goal post and never go out of the opponent’s D. And it worked. A goal scored by Apta and we lead 2-1. Feeling confident Deny gave another instruction to PJ, to be more of a defender. A confused face on PJ did little to disguise his thoughts and he keep on his “attacking” mode, which eventually saw Susi score another goal not long after. A final score of 4-1 to ISCI and the question was asked “we scored only 2 goals, so how come the final score is 4?” A Captains anguish, argggghhh - most of the team didn’t know that a girl’s goal counts as 2 (no one had read the emails). No wonder PJ was so eager to attack, even though the instruction was to defend, as he thought the score was 1-1 instead of 2-1….hahaha!

Final v Kendal 2-0 (Apta)
Another good game for the festival where both teams had their own supporters. Yea ! - the Bantul team from Yogyakarta shouted and screamed for ISCI. A goal scored by Apta again, the only player that never walked out of the opponent’s D, saw ISCI emerge out as Tournament Champion. Raesar had decided to play for Kendal in the final, instead of ISCI, and he clearly made the wrong decision ?.

A closing and prize-giving ceremony (and a speech from Deny) concluded the fun day of this hockey festival. Oops, not to forget the locals demanding a photo session with “bule2 ganteng” (so they said anyway). Appreciation also goes to Susi who donated few kid’s sticks to Kendal, Temanggung and Bantul.

Saturday night saw us dine together at a restaurant near the Ibis hotel and then to On On Pub for beers, pool and darts.

Many thanks to all who played and supported.
Team – Deny, Susi, RJ, Koplak, PJ, Eduard, Matt, Kieran, Raesar, Yasser, Apta and Tyas
Supporters – Tia and Bantul team….ops and Otong

It was a great weekend, everybody got lots of hockey, and those that wanted had lots of beers. Many thanks to all who came along.