“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach
down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” -Muhammad Ali

The ANZ Jakarta Bintangs made their way towards Singapore on their personally chartered Valu-Air Jet for the Asian Championships of 2008. Travelling with a strong squad and the irrepressible Lofty, the mood was buoyant and the odour of success was permeating our nostrils-either that or it was the clean Singapore air. This allied force would be something to be reckoned with, something ‘Dubya’ would be proud of, unfortunately our result mirrored that of Iraq. Good signs for the future but overall an indifferent result.

After checking in at the palatial M-Hotel in the heart of Singapore’s financial district and a short stroll from China Town, the Bintangs’ team meeting was held on the side of the road, drinking jugs of Tiger and eating some of Singapore’s finest street fare. With game plans understood and in place, most of the team retired to their rooms where most beds were pushed together to allow optimal spooning time. Matt ‘Fester’ Pettig was overjoyed at the concept, his room-mate Chris ‘Tetleys’ Elliot, not so.

Boarding the team bus the next day at 7am meant an early start for most people, Damien ‘Smouch’ Smith, not known for his early morning attitude was clearly thrilled, ‘The Diggler’ looked in great form on his first ever Bintangs tour, having arrived home at 6am and Jason ‘Guru’ Moynihan’s choice of Sinatra for fire up music had some of us concerned. However, our mission was to recapture the Asian Champs, something that has eluded us since 2002.

Would today be our day? In short, no, however Men at Work explained it better.

(Lyrics to the tune of Land Down Under)

Playing China and not sure what they’d done,

Lead the first half and kicked 4 goals to 1
Then they kicked 3, they made us nervous
Kicked another one, had Jakarta for breakfast,
and game one says;

Do you come from the land Jakarta?
To win games gotta string 2 halves together,
did you hear, Kris was our best player?
He sure run, plenty of ground he did cover!

Next up Bali in one of our epic tussles,

Too much surfing gives them muscles,
first half, they barely touched it,
Then we stopped running and they won it,
And game 2 says;

Do you come from the land Jakarta?

Smouch and Shirvo were amongst it,

Alex the traitor, he copped another,

We’d wanna win, don’t want donuts in java.

Next our hardest match of the day,

Singapore is the benchmark, they say
we kicked 1 goal, then they kicked nine-three
 unfortunately their team has an average of twenty
and game 3 says;

1 more game before we go back Jakarta,
where women, Sick Mick will plunder
did you hear, our best was Reece Ordner,
playing back, the forwards he did smother.

Game 4 we drew Malaysia,
We kicked 12 goals and they went under,
did you hear, Chris Elstoft took a hanger?
They kicked 2 but didn’t kick another!
Going home to the land of Jakarta,
Won 1 from 4 and the night was funnier,
did you hear, we smashed tequila?
Singapore Girls, you better take cover!

So our day of misery was ended on a high with the Bintangs kicking the highest score of the preliminary rounds and begs the question of how far we could’ve gone had we played to our potential. Better players for the day included Kris Thompson, Matt ‘TimTam’ Jolly, Chris ‘Figjam’ Bandy, Damien Smith, Craig ‘Emo’ Thrupp and Reece ‘Gila’ Ordner.

Dubai flogged Singapore in one of the most one-sided finals of the past few years and our very own ambassador for Gay biscuits, Matt Jolly, was named player of the champs and was our only representative in the All-Asian tem.

The after party was at the far too classy Oosh bar where majority of Bintangs ended wet and miserable and looking for somewhere suitably drier and warmer. The well worn path to Orchard towers was trod and pole dancing, tequila shots, karaoke and pocket pissing punctuated a great night for the club.

The Jakarta Bulldogs, Indonesia’s junior team, went through the Asian Junior Championships undefeated and have become the inaugural champions in this division. Congratulations to all the boys involved and we’re hoping that over time, some of these guys will make their way into the senior team and help Jakarta to their first Asian Championships since 2002.

As we plan for our next tilt at Asian Championship glory, we need everyone in the club to get together and turn the ANZ Jakarta Bintangs back into the Asian football powerhouse we once were, both on and off the field. It can’t be left to a few and next season promises to be one of our best yet with the influx of new and talented players. Everyone’s favourite cigar smoking, womanising and dinner party speaking former president said it best;

“When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old”- Former U.S President Bill Clinton

Results

Jakarta Bintangs;

Jak – 3-4 China 4-2
MJ 2, Butcher 1
Best. MJ, Kris,Bandy,Butcher, Reece, Craig

Jak – 2-3 Bali 7-2
Toby 1, Butcher 1
Best Kris, MJ, Bandy,Smouch, Josh, Shervo

Jak 1-1 Sing 9-3
Tetleys 1
Best Reece, Bandy,Boy, Butcher, Kris, Wally

Jak 11-2 Malaysia 2
Elstoft 4, Butcher2, Kris1, Wally1, MJ 1, Tetley 1, Fester1
Best Kris, MJ,Bandy,Smouch,Elstoft,Butcher

Jakarta Bulldogs;

Match 1
Bulldogs 10.11(71) def. Singapore Gaelic 0.1(1)
Max, Michael, Eddy 2, Tuomas, Richard, Conor

Match 2
Bulldogs 4.2(26) def. Singapore Wombats 1.2(8)
Alf, Michael 2

Match 3
Bulldogs 10.3(63) def. Hong Kong Dragons 0.0(0)
James 4, Max 2, Mitchell, Lewis, Alf, Patrick 1

Grand Final
Bulldogs 5.4(34) def. Singapore Wombats 2.1(13)
James, Mitchell, Richard, Lewis, Max 1