by Jonathan Fairfield
July, 2012
Admittedly, I’m somewhat of a newcomer to Thai football, despite being a huge fan of all things to do with the beautiful game.
Coming from England, I couldn’t think of many better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than watching my local team, Stockport County. You might well ask, “Who are Stockport County”? It’s a fair question and one that I hear often in Thailand, especially where the English Premier League is king.
County currently plies their trade in the Blue Square Premier League – English football’s 5th tier. Located in the sunnier, more appealing area of greater Manchester, we are just a stone’s throw from the two more famous Manchester teams who play in red and blue, respectively.
Having recently moved to Phetchaburi and suffering from serious football withdrawal symptoms, I was eager to take in a Thai football game. In fact, I was eager to watch any football game but when I found out that Phetchaburi had a local team then I figured that this was a good as place as any to get my live football fix.
After taking in my first Phetchaburi game the week before, a friend informed me that their next game would be in the League Cup, against Chonburi (nicknamed The Sharks), who are one of the biggest and most successful teams in Thailand.
Phetchaburi are semi professional and currently play in the Thai Regional League Division 2, where as Chonburi currently lie 2nd in the Thai Premier League, 8 points off leaders Muang Thong Utd. To put it into English terms – it would kind of be like my team, Stockport County playing Manchester United in the Carling Cup.
With this in mind, I reckoned that this was one Phethcaburi game I should probably go and watch. So after rushing straight from work to the Phetchaburi’s Donkhan Stadium, I arrived just in time for kick off.
As I approached the stadium, the first thing I noticed was how busier it was compared the previous weeks Division 2 game. The car park and areas surrounding the stadium were packed with cars, motorbikes and a number of large coaches. Before entering the stadium, I passed what I assumed was the Chonburi team bus, complete with its large Nike swoosh emblazoned on the side. It was clear that big boys were in town!
In fact, outside the ground there was even a stall selling Chonburi replica shirts and other merchandise, which was, it has to be said, much busier than the Phetchaburi club shop!
Before anyone could try to sell me a Chonburi shirt, I made a dash for the stadium entrance and handed over my 30Baht admission fee. Before I could take another step the woman behind the counter pointed to a sign in Thai (which I didn’t understand!) that had ‘100’ written in big bold letters, underneath the Thai script. With Chonburi being in town, the owners of Phetchaburi were obviously looking for a big pay day and instead of the usual 30 Baht, the price of a ticket for this game was now 100 Baht (about £2!)
Upon entering the stadium, I soon spotted my friend and took my place in the stand shortly after kick off. The stadium was busy; I dare say it was probably the busiest it has been for a number of years, with both sides of the ground looking at least three quarters full, mainly due to the large away contingent, who were very vocal right from the kick off. The match report here sums the game up pretty well.
As for the two teams, the gulf in class between them was fairly evident within the first few minutes of the game, with Chonburi putting together a string of nice passing, one and two touch moves, which is no mean feat on Phetchaburi’s truly awful playing surface. Highbury circa 2003/2004, it certainly isn’t!
Now, one of the good things about watching football in Thailand, or at Petchaburi at least, is that you can enjoy a nice cold beer whilst watching the game. And not long after finishing my first Chang Phetchaburi found themselves already two goals down. The first of which was a neat turn and finish, with the second coming from The Sharks big centre forward Thomas Dossevi, who headed in a cross from the right hand side.
I have since been told that Chonburi played a weakened team, with many of their regular starters sitting this one out. Not that it really mattered as there was very little chance of Phetchaburi coming back from 2 goals down at half time, such was Chonburi’s dominance.
The second half started much in the same way as the first, the only exception being that Phetchabri actually managed an effort on goal. However, despite a bit of good pressure, the home side were unable to take advantage and before too long Chonburi had scored another making it 3-0, putting the game out of sight for Phetchaburi.
Soon after Chonburi were able to bring on some fresh legs by the way of a double substitution.
Now, like I said I am a definite new comer to Thai football and know virtually nothing about any of the players who play in the Thai Premier League. I know Robbie Fowler played here for a while (fairly unsuccessfully) and that Michael Byrne (ex Stockport) plays for Chainat but apart from that I would struggle to name another player, although this is beginning to change!
However, one player that I am now familiar with and who immediately caught my eye in the Chonburi game was Therdsak Chaiman, who came on as a second half substitute. I have to admit that I’d never heard of Chaiman before (excuse my ignorance!) and to my knowledge, had never seen him play but for the 30 or so minutes that he was on the pitch against Petchaburi he was head and shoulders above every other player out there.
Actually, that’s not strictly true as he can’t be much taller than about 5ft 5 but in terms of ability, it is now obvious to me why Chaiman is a fans favorite and has more than 70 international caps to his name.
Not long after he came on, Chaiman was at the heart of a pretty much relentless onslaught from Chonburi. His good first touch and obvious eye for a pass, helped to create chance after chance for his teammates. In particular, one diagonal pass that left a Phetchaburi defender on his backside. Chaiman even managed to get himself on the score sheet, scoring the 4th and final goal in a comfortable away victory.
A Thai friend of mine described Chaiman as Thailand’s Paul Scholes and I can sort of see what he means. Now, I’m not saying that Chaiman is as good as Scholes, of course not, but there are some similarities there. Both players are of a similar age, play in the same position, good technique, great passing ability, have an eye for goal and above all else, they both make the game look so easy to play. Something that is often said about Scholes is that he always looks like he has so much time on the ball. This was the same with Chaiman and is always the sign of a good player, whatever level they happen to playing their football at.
So, the final score in an otherwise mediocre game was Phetchaburi 0 – Chonburi 4. The game itself probably won’t live too long in the memory but the 30 minute cameo from Therdsak Chaiman certainly will.
Good luck with the rest of your season Chonburi!
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