Many things you can dig out about the eastern province in Indonesia, West Papua. Besides nature, multicultural ethnic groups and tribes, and cultures, this province also amazes you with many talented soccer players. Some legendary Papuan soccer players, such as Barnabas Youwe, Boaz Solossa, and Feri Pahabol used to play street soccer, Patah Kaleng when they were kids.
This street soccer enables the players to have good skill, stamina, perseverance, and teamwork. This game is also flexible to play as the players can play it on a small field. To get to know about this soccer from West Papua, let’s take a look at the explanation below.
Patah Kaleng, the Local Game
Some of the kids nowadays probably are not familiar with the traditional game, named Patah Kaleng (broken cans). Yet, the children in West Papua know much about this soccer street.
They often gather with their friends to make two teams to play this sport. This local game has similar yet different rules from soccer. Therefore, this game is often called street soccer. As it has no specific rules, the players can play soccer on a small field. They also place the pile of cans in the center of the field.
The kicking skill develops significantly as the players snatch the ball from the opponent. When they pass another team players, they kick down the cans. What is more fun about this game, there is no limit to playing time and they can kick from all directions.
This soccer street also uses a small ball (it has a tennis ball size). The purpose of using this ball is to ease the strikers to get through the gaps of the opponents’ legs. This ball can hit the cans easily.
How to Play
Playing this street soccer, Patah Kaleng is easy. This game has no rules as soccer does. Street soccer doesn’t apply the rules, such as eleven players in each team and two 45 minutes halves in the match. As long as all players deal with the time, they can keep on playing. The exception rule the players use in this game is no handball. Here are some following instructions to play this traditional game from West Papua.
- Find out an empty field.
- Prepare the pile of aluminum cans and a small ball (like a tennis ball).
- Divide the players into two teams. The players may consist of 5 players or more.
- Kick the ball to break the pile of cans. If the player can kick or knock down the cans, the team earns the score.
The fun thing about playing this game is the players need to defend and strike as well. Defending, snatching, and kicking the ball to hit the cans. Besides that, this game requires both individual player skill and teamwork to make the game successful. As the players are the strikers, each team doesn’t need a keeper. All the players can kick and snatch the ball.
The Values of Patah Kaleng, Street Soccer from West Papua
Each tradition and culture from West Papua have meaningful values. The local people implement the values, habits, and cultures in their daily life. These values show their real identity as Papuan people. Street soccer, Patah Kaleng carries out some values, too. Here are good values that you can get from this game.
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Perseverance
One of the values that children may get from this game is perseverance. The children will be able to develop the ability to be perseverant to make it through the challenges they face during the playing. They can learn how to make a good strategy till they can reach the goal, that is, kicking the cans and making a score.
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Sportsmanship
When it comes to a match, the players will face either winning or losing. When the children lose, they need to accept reality. No hard feelings. They still can make another game to compete and try to win.
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Social
The children will try to socialize and make friends during the game. They will share a close bond to promote friendship and unity. Some of them may have a long friendship.
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Teamwork
When they make a team in playing Patah Kaleng, they have the same goal, that is, kicking the cans. To make it happen they need to work together and find out the best strategy to win.
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Self-control
Getting injured during the game may happen. It will lead to fighting if the children can’t control the anger. The value of playing this game is that the children need to control their anger and emotion. By controlling them, they can have a happy feeling while playing soccer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Patah Kaleng is a street soccer team from West Papua. Many great soccer players were born because of this game. Therefore, the government, stakeholders, and local people need to promote and expose this traditional game to the children. So, keep playing it and let this game become one of the identities of Papuan children.
