An upcoming film follows the struggles of a boy from western Sumatra as he works to build an online bridge between English soccer club Manchester City and its Indonesian fan base.

On the surface, Payakumbuh native Hanif Thamrin might not hold a position that is as prestigious as a soccer player or manager. His job is mainly to elevate the club’s online presence and act as its direct messenger to the online public.

However, his story was apparently considered inspirational enough to be made into a feature film titled Pemburu di Manchester Biru (The Hunter of Blue Manchester), which is currently in production by Oreima Films — and for good reason.

Because of his Indonesian background and his organic understanding of how Indonesians think and consume, the former NET TV, Trans TV and RCTI employee has played a key role in bridging the gap between the club and Indonesia, a country that few European minds are deeply familiar with.

“After the United Kingdom, Indonesia is the country with the second-largest number of tweets about the English Premier League. I figured that it was crucial for a vital English Premier League club like Manchester City to reach out to the Indonesian market,” Hanif said.

“It took a while to convince the club of the Indonesian fan base’s sheer scale but, ultimately, the club has come to appreciate Indonesia.”

Hanif joined Manchester City in 2015 as an international content producer, months before he was due to graduate from his television-journalism master’s program at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since then, he has been responsible for forming viral online campaigns revolving around the club and its players.

As a passionate fan of soccer, specifically Manchester City and Italian club Juventus, his knowledge of both soccer and of Indonesia has served well in boosting the club’s online presence, but his greatest success is what he has done to heighten Indonesia’s image in Manchester.

Some of his previous campaigns include his tying in of the recent Dilan 1990 hit film into a video that features City player Fabian Delph humorously assuming the role of the film’s bland female character Milea. The campaign succeeded in its viral mission and presented the club as being aware of Indonesian pop culture in the process.  

“The club’s board at first struggled really hard to understand why the Dilan phenomenon was so big in Indonesia. I understood though because on the surface it seems like a shallow thing and they had concerns over whether they wanted their brand to be associated with something like this,” Hanif explained.

“But I was so sure of it that I vowed to resign from my position with the club if the video did not become a viral hit in Indonesia. Sure enough, it did. I think after that, they really trusted both my intuition over the Indonesian market as well as understanding on how the Indonesian market works.”

Hanif has been working for the club from Indonesia ever since Brexit-related revisions to immigration rules made it hard for him to stay in the UK. For a short while, he was also involved with the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) after he returned in 2017.

The film itself will be released sometime at the end of the year, in what director Rako Prijanto feels is timely, as it takes advantage of 2018 as the year of sports: the Asian Games, the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League, of which Manchester City made the quarterfinals, all take place this year.

Rising star Adipati Dolkien was cast to play Hanif in the film, while Ganindra Bimo will star as Hanif’s best friend in London who provides him with much-needed support.

Commenting on the film, which itself is based on his autobiographical book of the same name, Hanif elaborated that his success at the club, which he is still working for, has come with struggles of being a foreigner working in a distant land.

“The greatest struggles that I faced during my journey in Manchester City were mainly overcoming racial adversity. Typically, journalists and writers who are Asian tend to be highly underestimated and are not taken seriously by anyone,” he explained.  

Rako added that Hanif’s journey would be able to provide others in Indonesia with inspiration and the dream of working for their favorite sports teams.

“He is living the dream of every Indonesian sports fan wishing to work for their favorite sports team,” Rako said.

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