Working in this wonderful industry means that I seem to have spent most of the last few years sitting in football stadiums dotted around this beautiful country … but for some unknown reason this was my first visit to Chonburi Stadium, although, with my GPS first taking me to the Futsal centre and then to what looked like a ground from Mad Max, we almost still didn’t make it!
For me Chonburi epitomises everything that is good about Thai football, it’s a club with strong roots in its community, it’s fans are passionate and loyal (the amount of ‘retro’ Chonburi shirts in the stands pays testament to this … unless there is a vintage Chonburi football shirt store hiding away somewhere) and it has a great logo! Seriously, from a graphic design point of view it’s a masterpiece!
First up the negatives of the experience … come on Chonburi, we are in Thailand, the greatest culinary country in the world, where tasty morsels of food fill up every nook and cranny of this great nation … except at Chonburi Stadium! I have managed for 6 years to avoid deep fried bright red ‘sausages’ on sticks and pasty white balls of fish/pork (never good when you can’t decide which one it is) dipped in sickly sweet chilli sauce … but that run had to end here, where these were my only option. It was as bad as I imagined. (note to Chonburi … take a look at what Police Tero has on offer … especially their baked goods!)
But this isn’t a food blog so the street options can be forgiven, I was here for the football and that wasn’t going to disappoint. The stadium, a concrete jungle highlighted by the brilliant aforementioned graphics and the wonderful club shop which wouldn’t look out of place at a newly promoted EPL club, set the tone for what I think is almost a unique experience in Thailand.
Chonburi although relatively small in size, takes me back to my days growing up in England watching football with my dad. The club feels like something that the local people are proud of and that supporting Chonburi is something that is passed along generations. It was nice to see fathers and mothers with their children in the stands, all genuinely getting excited and emotional about what was happening on the pitch.
All too often these days I see parents dragging their kids to games, ipad in tow to keep the youngster occupied during the game. Not in Chonburi though … here the kids seemed to be fixed on what was happening out on the pitch and I think that is testament to what a good job the club does around the ground of marketing the players as heroes, with large well put together billboards of the current team.
The game itself was not the greatest spectacle, but nonetheless entertaining. The visitors Ratchaburi, coming off the back of a 3-0 win versus Nakhon Ratchasima and without a head coach, came out looking like they wanted to carry on where they had left off and dominated the first half, going into the break a goal up through DR Congolese international defender Joel Sami. Truth be known Chonburi were lucky not to be 2 or 3 down with the team struggling for creativity in the centre of the park and relying on rare counter attacks to try and get back in the game.
Half time went by like a flash with me day dreaming about Pukka Pies and Bovril whilst in reality hastily downing a bottle of water before re-entering the stadium (why are we not allowed to take refreshments inside??).
With the second half approaching the fans were bizarrely in a jubilant mood considering the awful performance they had just witnessed from their heroes … maybe they could sense something special was about to happen …
The Sharks (can anyone explain the nickname to me … should I be more worried than I normally am when out on my morning paddle board) looked like a totally different team in the second half, completely dominating Ratchaburi who looked shell-shocked by this sudden onslaught. The pressure paid dividends in the 58th minute with Philip Roller knocking the ball into his own net after defending that was more reminiscent of pinball than the beautiful game I had become accustomed to watching at West Ham (ahem) as a youngster.
The goal had been coming and was thoroughly deserved, but the travelling fans, who had been in fine voice all game despite their limited numbers, would not have been happy with how their team responded to conceding. From kick-off you could see Ratchaburi’s heads had gone down and with Chonburi sensing this the onslaught continued.
Within 2 minutes of the restart The home team were in-front with a goal from Thailand U23 International Worachit Kanitsribampen. The home fans’ went understandably crazy and the air of nervous energy that had enveloped the ground dispersed. A broken Ratchaburi played out the rest of the game as a team already defeated and Chonburi secured 3 points that only 45 minutes earlier seemed unlikely if not impossible!
I love Thai football but must admit to missing the authenticity of the game I grew up with in England. Nothing quite beats walking down Green Street on the way to Upton Park (something I’ll unfortunately never be lucky enough to experience again) before a game, dodging the police horses, begging your dad to get you pie and mash and getting lost in the fumes of thick cigarette smoke … but for some reason Chonburi feels like the closest thing to it in Thailand.
It might not have the fan base of Port or the expat football culture of Pattaya, but Chonburi feels real … it feels like the fans really care about the club and it feels that they are proud. I have to stay impartial because I work in the industry … but if I could choose a team to support I think it would be Chonburi.
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