A FOOTBALL VIRIGIN IN THAILAND
By Bangsaen Tim
This is my mini review of my first season based in Thailand and supporting Chonburi FC and the enjoyment and trials and tribulations encountered.
As a “Thai football virgin” I had difficulties understanding the official club website with my poor Thai but eventually located, via various search engines, the wikipedia site and this thankfully led me to the website : www.clubwebsite.co.uk/chonburifc
At last I could begin to plan ahead as information was readily available in English. I began to read up on the club and its history and felt there were like minded ex-pats out there and I was definitely not alone. All the information was not only up to date but these Thai football followers had been there and got the T shirt, so to speak.
I began to plan my first venture, a trip to the home game against Bangkok Glass in May. I had ascertained that tickets were on sale at the IPE on match days from 1:00pm. This led to my first big mistake, as arriving at the stadium at 2:00pm all the B100 and B150 tickets were sold out and all that remained were the B80 tickets opposite the covered grandstand, on the open concrete.
It was not being uncomfortable that was any great concern but the 90+ degree heat. Being a fairly big bloke, to say I sweated away what felt like between 7-10kg is an understatement and whereas the Thai fans alongside me just could not have been friendlier (as we shared food and drinks throughout the match) the heat was tremendous. I looked longingly at those positioned in the shade of the grandstand opposite and vowed to reserve my seat at all times in future.
The match was exciting and the crowd were really committed and passionate. I guess there was an attendance of in the region of 10,000+ , which included a large travelling support. I thoroughly enjoyed the match and the standard of football pleasantly surprised me. I left committed to return regularly, although I would ensure I did not end up feeling like a “well done steak”.
Subsequently on locating the Club shop in the centre of Chonburi I ensured that prior to each home game I would secure a grandstand seat as early as possible but this was my first experience of the “Thai calendar and the knowing smile”.
Through trial and error I soon interpreted that tomorrow meant some time soon, although I have no idea really when but it is likely to be before the end of the week and hopefully before the match!!!
After a few abortive and time consuming attempts to purchase tickets, the shop, seeing my frustrations, kindly took pity on me and began ringing to advise me on confirmed delivery.
I continued to attend home matches when ever I could and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. However, the overall “match day operation” had to be seen to be believed, as the words communication, organisation and management are primarily absent from the TPL and their constituent clubs. Whilst this does not dilute from the overall enjoyment, you just have to understand the “ethos” and go with it, or it would drive you to distraction. Kick Off times appeared just an indication of a rough start time and the half time interval sometimes stretched for twenty to twenty five minutes. The ninety minute UK experience seemed to stretch for two and a half hours in Thailand.
But Chonburi F.C. slowly began to get into my blood and two thirds of the way through the season it was still all to play for in the league. Having either watched regularly at home or the away games via television, Chonburi seemed to be hanging on in there but were certainly not firing on all cylinders. We were surely due to hit our early campaign form again soon and thereafter be in a position to pull away from Muang Thong United, who had AFC Cup distractions and were hardly setting the world alight either.
Well the opposite occurred and the wheels well and truly came off. We struggled to maintain even our mid season form and a lack of squad depth, and the absence of a clinical striker, meant that we slowly descended toward mediocrity. We were eventually pipped by PEA for the runners up spot, with Muang Thong retaining their title.
The belated arrival of the Toyota Cup and its two legged matches, suddenly announced in mid season, added to the overall total of fixtures played and as season’s-end approached all the players seemed to be “running on empty”, especially the internationals. However, Chonburi managed to at least fight through their fatigue into the FA Cup Final to meet the newly crowned TPL champions.
During the run up to the final, the club website announced that as Muang Thong had already secured their AFC Champions League place then Chonburi would automatically qualify for the AFC Cup, no matter what the result of the final. Thoughts of guaranteed exciting AFC nights in Chonburi soon turned to disappointment, when the Thai FA announced that PEA would be allocated the AFC place should Muang Thong win the final. (Could politics have reared their ugly head as others searched for the rule book that had mysteriously disappeared?) All that remained was for the club to actually win the cup and claim their rightful place in the AFC Cup. In a pulsating Cup Final in late November we duly did.
In the background throughout the season was the clubs “on and off” move to the recently massively renovated OBD Stadium in the south of the city. Rumours were rife and one week after the announcement that the club would definitely be staying put at the IPE for the foreseeable future it was subsequently confirmed the club would be moving to the “newly named” Chonburi Stadium after all! “Never say Never” especially in Thai football.
During the off season I monitored www.clubwebsite.co.uk/chonburifc and also the official site for news on season tickets for 2011, as I had made up my mind to commit to the club and buy one. Also the new Stadium, with its large double-decker main grandstand being no more than 10 minutes from home, helped me to make my decision..
After a few e mails and phone calls I am now in a group of 20 season ticket holders on the front row of the main stand’s upper tier. And I am hugely relieved.
I am also aware that this season could be the longest in FIFA history, as we do not complete our league fixtures until Sunday January 29th 2012. We are already on amendment Number 4 of the fixture list, since the first draft, and bets are now being taken as regards the final number of amendments that will be undertaken during the season
However, do we love it? Of course, and we could not do without it. To be fair it is in its formative years and has come a million miles from our first top flight season in 2006. But I will close with one piece of advice, it certainly is as well to be prepared for the inevitable frustrations related to being a dedicated Thai football follower here in the “Land of Smiles”
“Enjoy the season and remember to have fun, remain patient and smile”
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