Indonesia Super League Clubs' Acronyms (For Twitter Hashtags)

The 2014 Indonesia Super League (ISL) has already started. 22 clubs divided into 2 zones (West and East) compete against each other (in their respective zones, of course) to be the best in Indonesia.

All right, I’m cutting to the chase, here.

You know, nowadays, when you watch the English Premier League (EPL), there’s a twitter hashtag consists of 6-letter acronym of the 2 clubs signifying the match they are in for your tweets. For example, #ARSMUN (Arsenal v Manchester United), #TOTCHE (Tottenham v Chelsea), #STOAST (Stoke City v Aston Villa), and so on. I don’t know who started this, but I guess the EPL official twitter account did.

twitter search results for "#LIVARS"
twitter.com

So, for the same reason, I’ve been trying to use the system on my tweets for the 2014 ISL. But before I write down the hashtag on my tweet, I always got confused of what is the acronym going to be? For instance, when I watched Persib v Persita, I took some times before I decided to write “#PRSBPSTA.” Why? I have 2 reasons.
 

First, is because ISL club names are using the same naming system (See: Acronyms and Abbreviations in Indonesian Football). I caught in the middle of confusion because “PRSB” could've been guessed as either Persib or Persiba, and “PSTA” could've been guessed as either Persita or Persikota. Second, is because we don’t have the standardized “acronymization” system for this particular use. No one, even the ISL official twitter account (I doubt it exists, though) has ever released the system, or even cared about it.
 

So, in this blogpost, I’d like to share my “acronymization” system, which I henceforth will use on my tweets.
 

Using the same 6-letter (3 for each club) system for Indonesian clubs will be confusing. EPL club names are individually unique and distinguished. Meanwhile, Indonesian club names are “unique” and very similar with each other. Hell, we have 2 Persibas now, and both are playing in the same zone!

2 Persibas
ligaindonesia.co.id

I prefer to use the acronym of the city or the regency of the club, especially for club names that start with P. It’s going to be easier to recognize. For example, instead of “PRSB” for Persib, I’m going to use “BDG” which stands for “Bandung”, the city where Persib is. Instead of “PRSB” or “PSBA” for Persiba, I’ll go with “BPN” and “BTL” for Balikpapan’s Persiba and Bantul’s Persiba respectively. Just in case, I’m setting the acronym with 3 to 4 letters for a club. It’s because some cities such as Tangerang have 2 clubs (Persita and Persikota), making it impossible to use “TNG” for both clubs.

Here’s the list

2014 ISL Clubs

East
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Persebaya	Surabaya	SBY
Persepam MU	Madura	MDRU
Persela	Lamongan	LAM
Persiba (Bantul)	Bantul	BTL
Persiba (Balikpapan)	Balikpapan	BPN
Mitra Kukar	Kutai Kartanegara	MTKR
Persisam	Samarinda	SAM
PSM	Makassar	MKS
Perseru	Serui	SRU
Persiram	Raja Ampat	RJAM
Persipura	Jayapura	JYP

West
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Semen Padang	Padang	SPDG
Sriwijaya FC	Palembang	SFC
Persija	Jakarta	JKT
Pelita Bandung Raya	Bandung	PBR
Persib	Bandung	BDG
Persita	Tangerang	TNG
Gresik United	Gresik	GRSU
Persijap	Jepara	JEP
Persik	Kediri	KED
Arema	Malang	ARE
Barito Putera	Banjarmasin	BRTP

Other Clubs

Sumatera
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
PSPS	Pekanbaru	PKU
PSMS	Medan	MDN
Persiraja	Banda Aceh	ACH
PSAP	Aceh Pidie/ Sigli	SGLI
PSDS	Deli Serdang	DLSD
PSBL	Bandar Lampung	LMPG
PS Bangka	Bangka	BGKA
Persih	Tembilahan	TBLN
PS Bengkulu	Bengkulu	BKLU
Persisko Tanjabbar	West Tanjung Jabung	TJBR

Java-Madura-Sumbawa
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Perserang	Serang	SRNG
Persikabo	Kab. Bogor	BGR
Persipasi	Bekasi	BKS
PSIS	Semarang	SMG
Persis	Solo	SOLO
Persema	Malang	MLG
Persekabpas	Kab. Pasuruan	PAS
PSIM	Yogyakarta	YOG
Persipro	Probolinggo	PRO
Persipur	Purwodadi	PUR
Pesik	Kuningan	KUN
Persiku	Kudus	KUD
PSCS	Cilacap	CLCP
Persekam	Kab. Malang	KMLG
Deltras	Sidoarjo	DLTS
Persikad	Depok City	KDPK
Persip	Pekalongan	PKLN
Persitara	North Jakarta	JKTU
PSBK	Blitar	BLT
Persitema	Temanggung	TMG
Perseba Super	Bangkalan	BKLN
PSMP	Mojokerto	MOJ
PPSM	Magelang	MGL
Madiun Putra FC	Madiun	MPFC
Persebo	Bondowoso	BDWS
Perseta	Tulungagung	TLG
Persewangi	Banyuwangi	BWGI
Persibo	Bojonegoro	BORO
Persid	Jember	JMBR
Persikota	Tangerang City	KTNG
Persibat	Batang	BTG
PS Sumbawa Barat	West Sumbawa	SMBW

Kalimantan
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Persepar	Palangkaraya	PLKR
Persipon	Pontianak	PON
PKT Bontang	Bontang	BON

 

Sulawesi
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Persebul	Buol	BUOL
Perssin	Sinjai	SIN
Persma	Manado	MND
Persigo	Gorontalo	GOR

West Papua and Papua
Club	City/ Regency/ District	Acronym
Persiwa	Wamena	WMN
Persidafon	Dafonsoro	DFSR
Perseman	Manokwari	MKWR
Persiss	Sorong	SOR
Perseka	Kaimana	KMN
Yahukimo FC	Yahukimo	YFC
PSBS	Biak	BIAK

Feel free to share your thoughts!

And we have #KEDBDG tonight!

Thank you  :) 

Acronyms and Abbreviations in Indonesian Football

For those who follow Indonesian football, you may already are familiar with Indonesian club names. Yup, almost all of Indonesian club names are acronyms and/or abbreviations. I once accompanied a guy from Switzerland to watch Persija vs Arema at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium. He asked, “What does ‘Pers’ in ‘Persija’ mean? I see most of Indonesian clubs have ‘Pers’ in its name..” He seemed to be aware of this kind of regularity in Indonesian football. I answered the question just like what I’m about to explain further on this blogpost.

source: soccer.sindonews.com

So, for those who don’t know the setting of the acronyms and abbreviations in Indonesian club names, here’s the explanation:

The acronym “Per” and the abbreviation “P” are short for “Persatuan” (Eng: Association). Then, followed by the acronym “s” and/or “se”, as well as the abbreviation “S”, which stand for “Sepak Bola” (Eng: Football). Some names included the acronym “i” or abbreviation “I”, which are short for “Indonesia.” Not all clubs do this, though. After all that, the names end with the acronym and/or the abbreviation of each club’s hometown. It can be the name of a city or municipality, or even the regency where the club is based. In some cases, it can also be the name of the city along with its adjacent districts. For instance, the acronym “ja” in “Persija” is short for “Jakarta”, and the abbreviation “M” in “PSM” stands for “Makassar.” While "MS" in "PSMS" stands for "Medan dan Sekitarnya."

source: ligaindonesia.co.id

source: ligaindonesia.co.id

So, there you have it. “Persija” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Jakarta” (Eng: Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta), “Persela” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Lamongan” (Eng: Lamongan Football Association), and “PSM” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Makassar” (Eng: Makassar Football Association). By now, I believe you can find out what “PSIS” and “Persib” stand for.

Nowadays, Indonesian football fans see the names as “name” and/or brand. Some of them (commonly the young ones) aren’t even aware that those names are actually acronyms or abbreviations. Although, they are aware of the regularity.

This naming system can be traced back since the dawn of Indonesian football. Before the declaration of independence, clubs with this naming system are established as an opposing gesture towards clubs formed by Dutch colonial authorities. The names stay through the Perserikatan and Indonesian League competition eras, up to the current Indonesia Super League (ISL). Some names had gone through changes, but most of them keep on going.
 

Side note: Club names which are not using this naming system, are usually clubs from the Galatama (Liga Sepak Bola Utama). Unlike the government-funded Perserikatan league clubs, which was focused on National Team building and “entertainment for the public,” the Galatama applied professionalism on running the competition. That’s where such names as Arema, Pelita Bandung Raya (formerly: Pelita Jaya and MasTrans Bandung Raya), and Mitra Kukar (formerly: Mitra Surabaya) came from.