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| History |
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| BC | AD | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | Cibubur | Whither to Hither? | Club Song |
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| BC |
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Stories of football being played in other South East Asian countries trickled in via carrier pigeon but it wasn't until BC (Bruce's Coming) that the Bintangs moved from being a post 20 beer discussion point to a morning after "Did you mean what you said last night about training ?" reality. Bruce Morgan arrived in Jakarta in mid 1995 from Singapore where he had been a part of the administration of the Wombats and within a few short days had amazed everyone with his ability to talk a lot about setting up a football club. Bruce certainly had help in setting up the Bintangs, but will be remembered as the founding father and the energy behind that first structure. He is more fondly remember by opposition teams as being able to kick at right angles with either foot, but mostly when standing 20 metres from goal, dead in front.
Bruce's first mistake was handing out questionnaires in an attempt to obtain market statistics about interest and available footballing talent. Given that he mostly handed out and received back these well thought out surveys in bars, clubs and discos, he invariably got back - Favourite position - 'Missionary'; Favourite colour - 'Brown'; Preferred training night - 'Friday'; Preferred training venue - 'Sportsman's/Oscars'. Even his 'Please circle preferred contact points' beneath the personal details section elicited a few anatomical drawings with preferences marked. The responses as regards age and weight seemed mostly only for comedic effect as reality was evident in the size of the love-handles of the respondents and receding hairlines were stark testimony to the ability of expatriates to make economical use of the truth in any good story.
Learning slowly from experience, Bruce scheduled our first training sessions so as not to break the umbilical cord - the Police soccer pitch about 40 metres from the Sportsman's Bar. This proved reasonably successful and many rehydration sessions and Sunday lunches were enjoyed after training, in the comfort of familiar surroundings. |
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