Fan Culture and Masculinity: Identity Construction of Persib Supporters

Linking the local practices that are used to build an apparently shared identity and generate personal and group attachment towards ʽPersibʼ, a local football club in West Java Indonesia, we examine ʽbobotohʼ that use football and football fan clubs as means of creating an in-group–out-group identity. We examine concepts of fandom, identity construction and masculinity to demonstrate how the bias becomes a unifying element that can provoke conflicts. We argue that ʽbobotohʼ and ʽPersibʼ become one of the most central sites of masculine performance in West Java and socialize Sundanese boys into values, attitudes, and skills valorised as masculine to help facilitate their acceptance into social groups.