SEMIOTICS OF THE INDONESIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM’S JERSEY

• Main Author: Nararya Wicaksana, Adhika
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/76324
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

In its purest form, football is a social movement with the purpose of achieving one objective. Then, football evolved into an industry until the present day, when every activity and product can be turned into a commodity for financial gain. Football jerseys are one of the five products that help football organisations earn revenue. They utilised to just serve as a way to identify players on the pitch, teams, and fans. Now, they serve crucial marketing and financial purposes as well as serving as an instrument for identity and self-expression. This also occurred in the Indonesian football business, specifically having an effect on the Indonesian national football team, which used the Garuda Pancasila insignia and the colours of the Red and White flag as part of their uniforms. The goal of this study is to analyse the sign structure of the jersey worn by the Indonesian National Football Team and to determine how non-player users are affected by the sign elements. The 2022–2024 version of the Indonesian National Football Team's red home and non-goalkeeper jerseys are the subject of this study. This thesis draws on Kuryel's national symbol fetishism, Louis Althusser's ideology, and Roland Barthes' semiotic method. Although there have been a number of previous studies discussing football jerseys, there has been no research that focuses on national team jerseys, particularly the Indonesian national team jersey. The research methodology utilised a qualitative approach employing Roland Barthes's text analysis method, conducted observations at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium during the Indonesian National Team's match in the AFF Cup competition in December 2022, and interviewed Indonesia's citizens who own and wear the Indonesian National Team jersey. This research is able to reveal, in terms of the sign structure aspect, that the narrative of solidarity, togetherness, and diversity that has been deliberately reverberated by President Soekarno since the early days of independence is a myth that is revealed in the jersey of the Indonesian football national team. As a result, the ideology that is present in this jersey of the Indonesian national team is the ideology of Indonesian nationalism, and it is able to be embedded today. However, the phenomenon of the football industry as a whole, which turns the Indonesian National Team jersey into a commodity product that can be used by consumers and society, plays a significant role in the creation of capitalist-oriented and commodification-oriented myths and ideologies, giving rise to layered and overlapping meanings. Because the predominance of each ideology will be impacted by the circumstances of space and time, the ideologies of nationalism and capitalism that appear on the jersey of the Indonesian national team will not be able to be distinguished from one another or confined in any way. In the meantime, the Indonesian National Football Team jersey can have a variety of effects on its wearers, from the aspect of forming a self-image that can give a sense of bravery and pride from the embedded sign elements, to the creation of business networks caused by the image of the Indonesian National Team brand itself, to being a means of historical knowledge and treatment, as well as being a means of forming social networks to form a community. The meaning of the Indonesian national team jersey can therefore go beyond its outward appearance and be more than just a piece of clothing worn on the field. It can also play a role in expressing and demonstrating what the individual is in society. Nevertheless, the jersey of the Indonesian National Team is deemed to have extended the scope of its purpose without sacrificing its fundamental essence and significance. It is believed that the results of this study would improve the field of design and semiotics through football by drawing attention to the intricate interactions between national identity, financial and commercial interests, and sign elements in the context of football and brands.