For Queen And Country: 2008

In 2008, Stephen Ackroyd was on a round the world trip. In this article he relates the tale of his Thailand adventures, which included a trip to a football match and how he nearly got shot!

For Queen And Country 
by Stephen Ackroyd 
There are two experiences I’ll never forget about my time in Thailand. I arrived in the country in May 2008, just over 4 weeks into an amazing ten month trip around the world, from Hong Kong. China had been an immense culture shock, I’d never travelled before and with so few people speaking English it was an amazing feeling to be so magnificently detached from the world I knew. The food was at times unusual and at times horrific (lamb spine on the bone, ladies and gentlemen!). Thailand, on the other hand, seemed to be packed full of friendly (that’s not to say the Chinese were not friendly – far from it), English speaking people and so immediately felt more accessible. 

After a few days of getting to know Bangkok, doing the usual touristy things like pottering about the Khaosan Road and eating my own body weight in Massaman curry, we were privileged and honoured to see Her Majesty Queen Regent Sirikit. It was a surreal experience, returning to our hotel completely unaware that Her Majesty had been attending the temple at the end of the Khaosan Road for a religious festival. 

At the time I wasn’t fully aware of just how revered the Royal family in Thailand were and when I attempted to photograph Her Majesty, as she left the temple, I was abruptly told - in Thai - to stop being such an idiot. My cheeky second attempt didn’t go unnoticed either and it took a student who spoke English to turn to me and warn that the military would shoot me, without hesitation, if I didn’t stop, it to make me think better of it and give up. 

But, seeing the Queen wasn’t to be the only excitement of my time in the Thai capital, on May 25th I ventured out of the tourist trap centre to reach the Rajamangala Stadium to watch a friendly between Thailand and Iraq. The entire idea came courtesy of ThaiLatic, who I’d met at OWTB.co.uk whilst gibbering on about Oldham Athletic and our life in League One (where we currently reside under the stewardship of Paul Dickov). 

Getting to the stadium was not as hard as I'd expected, and once there Dale was easy to find, as he was the only white guy at the place! He introduced me to his wife Nui and she kindly gave me an official supporters club shirt for Chonburi (which is in my cherished pile of souvenirs of my trip), who at the time were the current Thai champions, and her and Dale’s favourite team. 

The Rajamangala stadium is decent, if somewhat basic, and holds an impressive 65,000 people. Not that it really mattered for this game, as there couldn't have been more than about 5,000 fans there - although they were certainly vocal! After a while sat at a small stall outside the stadium, observing those passing into the ground and drinking a couple of very welcome ice cold beers we headed towards the entrance. 

There I discovered a very strange rule. You are welcome to take your own beer in to the game, but not the cans or bottles (presumably to prevent them being used as a missile). So you have to put it in small plastic bags and drink it with a straw. By plastic bags that’s exactly what I mean. A plastic bag akin to those you keep your packed lunch in back home. Very strange but it kind of added to the experience really. And certainly made the guards laugh as we tried to pour out all our beers. 

So, my indoctrination into Thai football was well underway. My beer was cold and bagged and we were ready for kick off. The game itself was not as bad as I'd feared. After a goalless first half in which there were only a couple of chances, Thailand took the lead early in the second with a nicely worked goal from Theeratep Winothai. Shortly after a scrappier goal, this time from Teerasil Dangda, made it two nil before Iraq scored a consolation with 10 minutes left to play. 

Having been on the road for so long it was great to see some live football again, and more so to meet Dale and his lovely wife. We chatted about everything under the sun, as you do and were literally under the sun at the time which only added to the enjoyment. Leaving Dale and Nui I took a taxi ride home, which was great fun when the taxi driver saw my shirt and proclaimed himself to also be a Chonburi fan. He spoke pretty decent English (far better than my ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ in Thai, that’s for sure!) and we were able to get across enough for a fun conversation about Alan Shearer and Chonburi’s chances for the season. 

And that was that. A curry for dinner and a bus ride out of town was all that was left for us in the Capital, as we headed out towards the islands of Koh Tao and Koh Samui in the morning. I loved my time at the football in Thailand, where there’s such an obvious passion for the game even if it comes from a somewhat minority following, and I hope dearly to return there someday to see another match (or ten!).