How long have you been a fan of Chonburi FC?
I first started going in 2002 – the year in which the club was formed. I managed to get to a few matches in 2002 and 2003 but became a regular in 2004. In fact, I have only missed one home match since 2004. I also go to most of the away games as well.
What attracted/inspired you to become a fan in the first place?
I have always been a football fan and am a lifelong supporter of my hometown team Oldham Athletic. When I first moved to Thailand in 1997 I looked around for a local team to support. However, most of the clubs were based in Bangkok and affiliated to companies or branches of the armed forces. This didn’t particularly appeal to me so I started following the Thailand national team instead. I attended all the home games at the national stadium(s) in Bangkok. In 2002 I became aware of Chonburi Code Red FC when I read an article in the Football Siam magazine. I set off to find more about the club and went to my first match in May of that year – a 3-1 home win against Nakhon Pathom at the old Municiapl Stadium.
As a supporter, what do you personally associate with when it comes to Chonburi FC?
As someone who has been following the club since the beginning, it has been a great honour to have been involved in some way and watched as the club has grown and influenced the local football scene. There’s no doubt in my mind that the current domestic game owes a great deal to Chonburi FC and all the hard work that has been done by the management, the staff, the players and the fans. The club is definitely a huge part of the local community and plays an important part in many people’s lives – including my own.
How would you describe yourself as a fan?
I am very loyal and I certainly care a great deal about the club. I am also very passionate – not just about Chonburi FC but about Thai football as a whole. I often get frustrated at the amateurish way the game is run in this country and would love to see the FAT, SAT and TPL get a big shake up and people who actually know what they’re doing put in positions where they can influence things to benefit everyone. I am also not afraid to criticize the way certain things are done at our club. Over the years I truly believe that the management has got most things right and we are a model for others to follow. However, there have been a few decisions made lately that I felt shouldn’t go unquestioned; the rise in price of the season tickets, the food and drink ban at the stadium (ludicrous and totally unnecessary), the cost of the shirts. I will challenge these things – via my website – not because I’m awkward but because I care and I know that others do to.
What comes to mind when you think of the 'identity' of Chonburi FC fans?
This is an interesting question because the identity of the Chonburi FC fans has really changed over the past couple of seasons. In the early days, there was a small group of fans who would travel everywhere to support the team. We were passionate and we all knew each other and formed a tight-knit little group. These people became my friends away from football and we would often socialize together. There was a strong bond due to the Chonburi FC connection. However, for one reason or another, a lot of these people no longer go to the match or will attend only occasionally. They have been replaced by a new breed of supporter who doesn’t have an understanding of the history of the fan club. This is not a criticism but it is interesting for me to see a completely different group of fans who now lead the cheering at matches. Having said that, I still feel that we are a family (cliché, I know!) and it is always nice when I do bump into somebody from the “old days” at a match. But overall, I feel that the atmosphere is now very different at games and we have lost a bit of that special “something” that set us apart from fans of other clubs.
I am also aware that there is is quite a bit of disillusionment amongst the more long standing fans at the moment and I often hear the criticism that “it’s not as much fun as it used to be”. It will be interesting to see what happens to our attendances should we have a bad run of results or fail to win anything in the next couple of years.
What activities (during matchdays or in everyday life) do you do which relate to the Club?
Well, obviously there’s my website. I spend an awful lot of time on this. Probably more than is healthy!! It is totally unofficial but I know that certain people at the club read it. I genuinely enjoy doing it and I have made a lot of new friends from all over the world as a result of my posts. It gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to promote the club in this way and it is certainly interesting for me now there are a lot more English speaking fans following Chonburi FC. I also have a Twitter account and have recently started a Facebook page. Other than this, I will also try and encourage friends and colleagues to go to the match. I have had varying degrees of success with this over the years but currently there is a small group of people from work who go regularly thanks to my constant badgering. I have also spent a small fortune at the club shop on replica shirts, t-shirts, scarves, cuddly toys etc Naturally, on matchdays I am usually travelling to the game or, on the very rare occasion I can’t make it, sitting in front of the TV with a couple of bottles of beer.
In which ways do you think Chonburi FC has succeeded in creating a 'sense of belonging' for its fans?
As I mentioned earlier, we created our own sense of belonging at the beginning. It was so easy to have access to the players and the management – just walk on to the pitch after the final whistle! - that it felt as if we were all a part of the club. In recent times, as the club has grown, the management have had to “create” a sense of belonging through the official website, Sharks TV, Shark Radio, the Shark Café and the club shops etc. There are also the fan club parties and the fan club football team. All these things continue to be very successful and the club should take a lot of the credit for this. The club also taps into the local pride of the fans. Chonburi FC isn’t just a football club but the flagship for the city and, in some cases, the whole province. Just count the number of car stickers you see on an average day driving around the province.
What makes Chonburi different to other provincial-based clubs in Thailand? (i.e. Buriram United, Chiang Rai United, Samutsongkram, etc)
I think our history sets us apart from most of the clubs in the Thai leagues. We are certainly responsible for the surge of provincial clubs that have appeared in recent years. We were the trail blazers in so many ways – including attracting a local fan base – and it is satisfying to now that whatever happens in the future, no-one can ever take this away from us. We are also very loyal. A lot of the current first team squad and coaching staff have an association with Assumption College in SriRacha and have been with Chonburi FC for a very long time. We are still bringing youth players up through the ranks and it looks like we have some promising talent emerging.
To what extent do you think local politics (i.e. Provincial Administration Organization, MPs, Palangchon Party, etc) plays a role in Chonburi FC?
To a very large extent. Our chairman is the governor of the province and his family are very influential politically in this regional. The players’ images have been used on election material for the Palangchon Party and many fans display car stickers promoting the party. I am also aware that fan club members go out campaigning during the run up to elections. However, for the most part the chairman keeps a low profile and lets the coaches, players and club management get on with it. I think that this is a very sensible approach and certain other politicians who are now involved at other clubs should take note!
Do you support the use of sports a tool for maintaining political popularity and legitimacy?
No. I believe that sport and politics should be kept separate whenever possible. There are obviously times when it may be justified for sport to be used as a tool to instigate political change or exert pressure on certain regimes – ie Apartheid in South Africa – but, by and large, I’d like to the two things to be kept apart. However, I do understand why Thai football and politics are so closely linked. Football is also a great leveler and brings people from all different backgrounds together. There are fans of Chonburi who hold differing political views and come from different income brackets but, on a Saturday or Sunday evening are all united in thir support for their team.
What are your views on football and the involvement of local politicians in Thailand?
How long have you got?! Seriously, this is a very thorny issue. A lot of politicians have jumped on the football bandwagon in order to increase their popularity and raise their profiles. What they have failed to realize is that there are only a few clubs who can actually win things. If you are a local politician attached to the club near the bottom of the Regional League it doesn’t really do your image much good. There have already been a number of instances when clubs have “run out of money” or not paid players’ salaries, as the local politicians have lost interest or discovered things aren’t going entirely to plan, and this is not healthy for Thai football. When things go right – ie Buriram – it will do your standing within the community a lot of good. And for all the criticism Kn Newin and Kn Karuna get, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they have achieved something quite remarkable in such a small province and should be applauded for trying to raise the bar.
I understand that they don’t have to jump the hurdles that others might have to but it is still admirable. However, I still wish that they’d wind their necks in a bit and stay in the background. “We all know what you’ve done you don’t have to be centre of attention all the time!” For me there should be a “Fit and Proper” test for people wanting to own football clubs, like they have in England. It’s not perfect by any means but it might just sort out the truly serious from those who just want to boost their popularity with the voters.
In which ways do you think Chonburi FC has created or ignited a sense of ‘local pride’?
I think the fact that we were the first to do a lot of the things that many other clubs are now doing is one of the reasons we feel proud to be Chonburi fans. We were certainly the first fans to attach ourselves to our local provincial side with such enthusiasm. I think it helps that Chonburi is also the name of the province. We get fans from all over the region and that certainly helps our local identity. There is also the fact that many of our current squad are home grown. This has always been the case at Chonburi – due to our links with Assumption College in SriRacha – and this looks like continuing now we have our own youth academy. Fans always like to see local lads doing well.
How are you different from the rest of Thai football fans?
If you mean personally, I don’t think that I am. We all follow the game because we love the sport and want our teams to do well, the same as football fans the world over. However, if you want me to highlight a couple of differences, the obvious ones are: I grew up watching football in England and I have been going to the match all my life. My parents met at Boundary Park (home of Oldham Athletic) so I have known nothing else. Fan culture in England is very different to what it is in Thailand – some things I prefer, some I don’t. This background means I react in certain ways to incidents on and off the pitch that the majority of Thai fans probably find strange. I remember taking my wife to her first game in England. She thought that everyone was mad but it did help her understand the way I behave when I’m at the football.
The second one is probably the fact that when I first started going to Thai football league matches, I would rarely see any other non-Thais. And if I did, it was usually a coach or a scout. It’s very different nowadays because a lot more foreigners are interested in the domestic leagues and many more are going to games. So I’m no longer different in that sense, other than the fact that I’ve witnessed the growth of the local game first hand and have experienced going to matches when the stadiums have been virtually empty.
How would you describe the importance of technology in developing or maintaining the identity of a Chonburi FC fan?
The internet, TV, mobile phones etc have all made a huge difference for fans of all Thai clubs. Not just Chonburi. Information is so freely available these days (although it’s not always correct!) and websites like Facebook and the official club messageboard make it so much easier for fans to keep in touch. This means that supporters can exchange views 24/7 with people who they probably don’t even meet on matchdays because they sit in different parts of the stadium or have a different group of friends. I personally have met a lot of fellow Chonburi fans via the internet – and my website - and I’m still to meet them in person!
With technology changing rapidly, do you see an impact it could have on the identity of fans in the near future?
I think that the biggest impact might be on attendances. Games now are widely covered on TV and on the internet so some people might choose to follow the matches this way rather than go to the stadium, especially as prices are going up. In England we have an expression: Armchair Fan. This basically means someone who claims to support a club but only ever watches them on TV. I’m not aware of any here in Thailand but one day it could become as common as it is in my home country. On the plus side, the information superhighway means that Chonburi have “fans” all over the world. And I’m often contacted by people in such places as Holland, Australia, USA etc, who have never seen the Sharks play “live”, asking for information about the team.
In the past, football fans used to mainly identify themselves as a fan simply because they are from that particular place. In the present day, we see ChonburiFC fans in Bangkok (e.g. Bangkok Sharks), so what are you views on how these forms of attachment or identities are created?
I think in Chonburi’s case, we initially attracted a lot of fans from elsewhere because we were the first provincial club to break the monopoly of the company and force’s teams who were mainly based in Bangkok. We also started the fan culture in Thailand and this also drew people from other towns and cities, who couldn’t experience anything similar in their home provinces. I remember when we played our AFC Champions League fixtures at Supachalasai in 2008,there were fans from all over Thailand in Chonburi colours. I guess the Bangkok Sharks, and a few others, are a legacy of this. Also, people do tend to be attracted by success. Things have changed in recent years as more provincial clubs have sprung up. However, I still see former Chonburi fans who now go and cheer for Muang Thong Utd, Bangkok Glass, Rayong because they live locally to those clubs.
Fans come from all over the country, some from outside of Thailand, so what are your views on the identities of Chonburi FC fans that live elsewhere? Are their identities different to the ones living in the geographic space of Chonburi?
I don’t really have a problem with it if they’ve been supporting us for a few years (see question 5) but I find it strange that someone in KhonKaen – for example – would choose to support Chonburi over his or her local team, unless they have a family connection. As I said earlier, my local team is Oldham Athletic and I couldn’t imagine supporting anybody else. I was born about a mile from the ground and, although I haven’t actually lived in the town for 37 years, they are still my team. Unfortunately, a lot of my fellow Oldhamers have taken the easy option and “support” either Manchester United or Manchester City – Manchester is about 5 miles from Oldham.
I know that a lot of our overseas fans – certainly the ones who have contacted me via the website – have reasons for being Chonburi fans: they saw us playing while they in Thailand on holiday; they are fans of Therdsak or Sinthaweechai from their spells abroad or appearances for the national team; they started following us when we had a good run in the 2008 AFC Champions League; they saw us featured on ESPN during our Singapore Cup run or during the 2007 season. I believe that these people can still be passionate about the club regardless of where they live. I guess the true test of their loyalty will come if ever we are in a position when we are no longer challenging for honours on a regular basis. This is also true of our local fans.
Lastly, can you describe how ChonburiFC has impacted your everyday life? Are there any socio-cultural- recreational activities alongside going to the games you take part in?
The most obvious way is my website. I spend far too much time adding articles and photos on there!! Otherwise, a lot of my friends are people I’ve met through the football. There was a small group of us who used to go to all the games before the recent boom and we forged friendships then that are still strong today. I’ve been invited to weddings, birthdays and other get togethers. We used to have regular fan club parties until it all got too big. I’ve also been involved in numerous football matches with mates who are fellow Chonburi supporters. My wife too has made lots of friends from going to the match. We usually travel to away games on the Fan Club bus so we see many of the same faces each time. The social side is a huge part of the Chonburi experience and one of the reasons I’m unhappy with the club for banning drinks & food inside the stadium. Sharing our provisions used to be such fun and engendered a real sense of togetherness. It’s a shame that it all had to change.
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