Sandwiched in between recent trips to Khon Kaen and Korat, to visit family and friends, was an excursion to Buriram to see my team, Chonburi FC, play the newly relocated PEA FC. I had been given a taste of what to expect at the i-Mobile Stadium by Andy, a Bangkok Glass fan, who had made the same journey a couple of weeks previously. However, his account only scratched the surface.
Being unsure of how long the drive from Khon Kaen to Buriram would take, the good lady wife and I made an early start on the Saturday morning. And, thanks to the scarcity of traffic and the quality of the roads, we arrived a good five hours before kick off. "Not to worry," we thought. "We can get something to eat, have a few drinks and just relax." Unfortunately, it wasn't to be that simple. The stadium is a fair way out of the town, but we didn't think that would matter. Getting food and refreshments at Thai football grounds is as easy as...well, finding food and refreshments anywhere in Thailand. But, for starters, a visit to the toilet was in order. As we were among the first fans to arrive, we weren't that surprised to find everything was still locked up. Nevertheless, there were a fair few staff around, all on the other side of the locked gates.
My other half asked politely if she could pop in to use the lavatory. "No!" was the abrupt reply. Slightly taken aback we did what every quick thinking child does when given a negative response by one person, we went to ask someone else. "No!" said someone else, equally abruptly. Crikey! We headed for the bushes. Fortunately, whilst on our way to the wooded area, we chanced upon some security guards. Rather a lot of security guards actually. And some of them were carrying bloomin' great big rifles. Undeterred, and desperate, 'er indoors asked if she could go inside the stadium to use the toilet. A great deal of discussion followed. Finally, the gate was slid open and the missus walked, rather hurriedly, to find relief. I stood around sheepishly and waited for her return.
Our next task was to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat and I was gasping for a nice cold Chang. There were no food stalls within the stadium compound but two rather enterprising vendors had set up shop, tellingly outside the gates, on the main road. The food was excellent and the beer, with the help of some free ice cubes, was lovely and cold. We found a place to sit down and enjoy our lunch. There were still very few fans about but I counted three truck loads of security guards and police pass during the hour we were enjoying our picnic.
Appetite sated and after a brief burst of heavy rain, the stadium threw open its doors and we joined the rather large contingent of Chonburi fans who had arrived by bus, car and, in one case, motorbike, in entering the ground. Once inside, it was rather pleasant; the facilities, which had been declared off limits to us only a couple of hours earlier, were clean, modern and plentiful and the whole thing had a very professional feel about it. The concourse was getting busy so I managed to buy a beer (yes, a beer!!), find a relatively quiet spot and spent the hour or so before kick off chatting to friends and soaking up the atmosphere. This wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
As the start of the match approached, we tried to make our way on to the terraces. There was a lengthy hold up as the army of unsmiling and, in some cases, downright rude security guards confiscated all manner of things from the visiting fans. Umbrellas, water bottles, straws, snacks and a roll on deodorant(!) were among the items that were now being piled up on the table next to the entrance. I hadn’t seen anything like it since the late seventies, when Punk Rock left the sweaty clubs and nervy managers of large halls decided that these undesirables should have anything that could remotely be considered dangerous taken off them at the door. At least the bouncers at the Birmingham Odeon had a sense of humour, unlike their Buriram counterparts.
Once we’d been stripped of anything that wasn’t actually part of our anatomies, we were allowed in to the stand. The next shock was just how far away from the pitch we were. “It’s a good job I’ve brought my binoculars,” I thought, before remembering they were now sitting on a table under someone’s newspaper and next to a half eaten packet of crisps. In the event, I was rather relieved not to have been able to see the action, as we were terrible!
After the match, we were kept behind for a few minutes whilst the home fans dispersed. Common enough during my time growing up on the terraces in England but I’d never experienced this in Thailand before. Nor had I ever expected to. There had been a slightly heated exchange of words between a dozen or so opposing fans just before the final whistle, but it was hardly West Ham v Millwall and didn’t really warrant such a heavy handed response. Throughout our detention, the security staff, and a few police officers, remained unsmiling and would not be drawn into conversation. Most odd.
Once the gates were opened, we headed back to our car, fought our way off the car park and headed for Korat. It rained the whole way!
No comments:
Post a Comment