The emergence of a football club in Surabaya was initiated by a Dutch youth (HBS student) named John Edgar in 1895. He founded a football club named Victoria. and affiliated with the Dutch people (Beretty 1934, 161) . The clubs in Surabaya at that time were Victoria which was founded in 1895, Sparta in 1896, SIOD (Scoren Is Ons Doel), Rapiditas, ECA, THOR (Tot Heil Onzer Ribben), HBS (Houd Braef Standt), Exelcior. The development of football at that time (Dutch, Chinese and native) could not be separated from the division of society into three classes in the Dutch East Indies in 1855, namely the Dutch or European upper class, the Vreemde Oosterlingen middle class or Foreign East, Chinese, Arab , and the lower class of inlanders or natives ( Kompas Jatim 2008).

The football association in Surabaya which had grown and developed had been playing matches internally (competitions in Surabaya) starting in February 1897 (Berretty 1934, 162). The sport that became a trend setter in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) at the beginning of the 20th century was football and spread quickly ( Indische Verslag 1932). In the following years, bonds in big cities such as Surabaya, Batavia, Bandung and Semarang had local parent organizations. Competitions in every city in the 1910s were held. Locally the club was appreciated by the Dutch people who then concentrated their spread on the city level. Surabaya had a football club named Soerabaasche Voetbal Bond (SVB), Batavia had WJVB and then changed to Voetbalbond Batavia en Omstreken (VBO), Bandung had BVB, and Semarang had Semarang Voetbal Bond. The four associations were incorporated into the Nederlands Indische Voetbal Bond (NIVB) in 1919 (Agustina 2004, 26-27). The competition system in the colonial era was steden wedstrijden (intercity matches).