The Jakarta Bintangs hosted their historical Australia Day Event on the weekend, which celebrated their first-ever women’s domestic match and a local junior game as curtain raisers, as well as their annual Bintangs vs. Indonesian Garudas clash.
The historical Australian Day Event was a proud celebration for the Jakarta Bintangs and AFL Indonesia in general, and is perfectly summarized by the Bintangs faithful and their post-event statement;
“On Saturday we had our annual Australia Day event, one of the biggest and best days in Jakarta footy. Traditionally this is a match between the Bintangs expats and Indonesians, but this year we had two additional curtain raiser matches as well – the women’s and Indonesian juniors matches.
History was made as the first ever women’s domestic match was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The women’s Bintangs had an amazing day with 24 women playing with many playing their first games including our 8 new recruits from Halim School. The Red team was able to come away with a 2 goal win in the end. We look forward to continuing the women’s improvement and hopefully getting some more games in.
The junior game was fiercely fought between Depok and Pinang Ranti. Pinang Ranti looked like masters of the game already, having been practicing since elementary school, while Depok did very well to hold their own despite most of them being new players. Pinang Ranti won the match, but both teams played with heart.
The juniors were hard at the ball in the match between Depok and Pinang Ranti.
The men’s senior match followed both of these great opening games, and saw the Bintangs expats trying to stop the Indonesian Garudas from claiming their third straight Australia Day victory. Both sides were looking strong, with the expats bolstered by a host of first-gamers, and the Indonesians having their veteran players ready for action.
The game itself was a close battle, with both teams giving their all until the end off the match. A contentious last-minute kick at goal caused a bit of a stir, but in the end the Bintangs ended up taking the victory, 33-30.
We’re looking forward to our next match against the Garudas for Indonesian Independance Day.
Thanks to the Borneo Bears players who came along to Jakarta to play, we appreciate the effort. And the Bintangs look forward to making a trip over to Balik Papan sometime around Anzac Day to perhaps play another game and do some training.”
