Among The Leaving - The Thai Premier League's Fading Pulling Power by Matt Riley: 2014

Matt Riley's article on falling TPL attendances from July, 2014.

Among the Leaving: The Thai Premier League's Fading Pulling Power

by Matt Riley

After the boom years of exponential attendance growth the data, expertly provided by Klaus, suggests a punter plateau has extended into the second half of this season. Assuming (and in Thailand it is a pretty big assumption) that the data passed to Klaus is accurate, despite the saturation television coverage (or partly because of it) only nine of the twenty Thai Premier League teams attract increased crowds and the league average has dropped by a shade under five hundred fans compared to last season. The numbers aren't startling for a mature league, but for one supposedly booming it is a cause for concern. Last season's average crowd of six thousand and eighty seven was a healthy launch pad, despite the seventeen thousand difference between the best (Buriram United) and worst (TOT) figures. But, it appears, we are experiencing a failure to launch.

PTT Rayong and Air Force are in danger of relegation this year, but their increase is down to last season's promotion. Singhtarua are riding high in their return to the top flight, but  The Port Lions' increase is also down to last season's rise. TOT are green flagged as improving after attracting an average of seven (point eight, no less) more fans this season from the smallest of bases.  Three of the remaining clubs have understandable reasons for their increased average and are also helped by being provincial, an aspect of Thai football that experiences healthy growth (and will describe an even steeper trajectory with the expected arrival of Nakhon Ratchasima, who can attract North of twenty five thousand Division One fans).

Buriram, after a sticky start to the season, are now in second, whilst Ratchaburi have enjoyed a new lease of life under their much-admired Spanish coach Ricardo Rodriguez. Currently in seventh place, their crowd increase is the highest of any clubs who were in the TPL last year, with over one thousand five hundred new fans filling The Dragon Arena. Third of the four provincial clubs is another team massively outperforming from last season. Chiang Rai United have more than five hundred extra fans to support a team riding high in fifth place. The final increase shows that provincial clubs can improve attendances, even when they experience a troubling season on the pitch. Chainat Hornbills not only wear the most repulsive kit known to man, but sit in the relegation zone. However, they attract an average of three hundred more fans to each game compared to last season.

For the teams suffering lower attendances, when they are broken down into the five Bangkok and six provincial clubs, there is an interesting narrative. It is hard to fathom why Chonburi, riding high in the league, are attracting less fans and their average is below that of the league as a whole. The second highest placed club suffering lower attendances is Suphanburi, coming off last season's high of  promotion to the top flight and riding on a wave of emotion to fourth place. The other four provincial clubs with falling numbers are Osotspa, experiencing a frustrating season in twelfth, and dead last Samut Songkhram.

But, for the six Bangkok-based teams in the attendance red, four of them are in the top ten (including leaders SCG Muang Thong United,) one of them is just outside it in eleventh and there is only high spending and low achieving Police United in relegation trouble down in fourteenth. If the overwhelmingly Bangkok-based makeup of the 2000 Thai Premier League had not been radically changed, the attendance troughs would now be critical. That season, only newly promoted Royal Thai Navy and Saraburi based Osotspa represented the regions. Today's table features twelve out of the twenty teams from outside the Big Mango, an increase of forty six percent.

Police United's lack of attraction is understandable. Despite their beautiful Thammasat Stadium with its nominal capacity of twenty five thousand (averaging twenty thousand empty seats) how many Thai fans would pay to enter and chant the name of a service who, until fired up by the latest military coup, were a byword for bribes, corruption and ineptitude?

Army United, despite a convenient location for many, also struggle to attract the kind of crowds that a location-based name would interest. The soldiers are flavour of the month for mopping up the mess created by pernicious politicians, but it is an uneasy feeling to drape yourself in army colours in the ever changing mood of democracy, Thai style.

After five wins on the spin since the arrival of German/ Brazilian coach Mano Polking, serial underachievers Bangkok United are likely to leave negative crowd numbers soon, leaving Bangkok Glass who annually believe their own hype without delivering any silverware. The decreasing attendances of leaders SCG Muang Thong United is surprising, considering their huge influence over the league and FAT. But, they are the only Bangkok-based team in the top four average attendances, despite attracting a stunning nine thousand less fans than Buriram. Considering their highly decorated history, this must be a concern for a team whose worst year in the Thai Premier League (thanks Robbie Fowler) saw them finish third;  their lowest position in any league over their seven year history.

Some of the reasons why TPL crowds are thinning can be addressed, but others have more painful solutions. The perceived control of the Thai FA and, by extension, the Thai Premier League of SCG Muang Thong owners Siam Sport leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of many fans. They point to refereeing appointments and decisions, asset stripping of smaller clubs for a team established by FAT Head Worawi Makudi and, by extension, little variety in champions to create interest for fans. The arrival of Buriram United on the scene has spiced things up, but three TPL titles for Muang Thong United and two for Buriram in the past five years hardly keep fans on the edge of their seats. Also, in the last three seasons, the champions have lost a grand total of one game.

Another driver of lower attendances is the Actual Playing Time at Thai games. The average AFC game includes fifty two minutes of actual football, whilst Italy's Serie A has a whopping (if not always exciting) sixty five. Analysing the games of Thai Premier League Suphanburi FC with the help of their video analyst Fabio Eidelwein, one of the highest numbers was for a recent game against BEC Tero, but forty five minutes from ninety is not only fifteen below the AFC target of sixty, but is a depressingly stark image for Thai football fans. Half of what you see on a Thai pitch is not football. Benches packed with politicians is also a big turnoff for fans. Whether it is former banned politician Newin Chidchop  passing scraps of paper to a merry go round of coaches or brylcremed would-be Tony Soprano boss of Chiang Mai Udonpan Jantaraviroj, the message for fans is not one of level playing fields and an anything-could-happen environment.

As Germany realised so astutely in 2000 when their Euros campaign was such a disaster that they even lost to England, the health of the national team needs to harness all the teams in the league and must show success, so that fans want to support their local team. Thailand's pitiful national team nosedive suggests to fans that the end result of Thai league football is consistent failure: hardly an incentive to attend. And fans need good incentives. Battling through the infamous gridlocked Bangkok traffic (especially to watch SCG Muang Thong United situated next to one of the world's biggest exhibition centres, but without the sense to coordinate home games to avoid traffic carnage) needs to be rewarded with much more at the end of it.

Otherwise, the wall to wall Thai Premier League on satellite television can be the starter for a banquet of German, Spanish and English leagues later in the evening from the comfort of a sofa. This global view from the front room would help Thai football more if any players made meaningful progress in foreign leagues. The Teerasil publicity stunt aside, successful leagues underscore a perception that Thai football does not travel well. The excuse that the TPL is a new creation no longer holds. Fans can see a home league that is older, but not wiser: and they have Choice.

Analysing crowd numbers is one important way to assess the health of a league. The Bundesliga may be the bridesmaid to the EPL for now, but their eye popping league average of forty three and a half thousand wipes the floor with the English average seven thousand less and, as Bundesliga executive Christian Seifert said in a sentiment that could easily apply to Thailand:

"We do not think the fans are like cows to be milked. Football has got to be for everybody."