by Matt Riley
October, 2014
Driving past the SCG Stadium late on Saturday night felt like being in the middle of a war zone. We approached the stadium by a side road and, as we looked left at the main thoroughfare the air was thick with flair smoke, the road filled with broken glass and debris whilst half a dozen ambulances ferried the wounded away. This was at 11 PM when the game had finished hours earlier, so goodness knows what the scene was like before.
At the junction we stopped, wound down the window and asked one of the many policemen what had happened. Laughing, he told us it was a big Muay Thai matchup between the clubs. We were stunned that the authorities cordoned off a large area and stood passively by, whilst the violence convulsed unrestricted. They had indeed created an ugly, jagged Muay Thai ring where mindless thugs were left to wreak havoc unmolested by the rule of law. Many fans from both the home team SCG Muang Thong United and visitors Singhtarua are women and children, which made this callous impassiveness even harder to understand.
Finger pointing and blame only fans tribal tensions in the complicated Thai mindset. To prevent losing face, highly intoxicated fans invading the pitch will be gently escorted back to their seats, punishments handed to teams for their fans' behaviour will be heavily skewed based on which side of the pro and anti Worawi Makudi divide they inhabit and wrist-slapping punishments are rarely followed through effectively or consistently. The inept Football Association and a growing number of politically powerful clubs means the tail wags the dog as clubs simply write off fines and ignore recommendations.
For Westerners living in Thailand, the match day experience is full of contradictions. Encouraged by major sponsor Singha to drink their lower- grade Leo heavily, Chang are banned from advertising using the green beer font but allowed to use the white of their water even when Leo, who only make beer, can plaster their brand on shirts. Going back five years, the drunkenness seemed devoid of edge and malice as small groups of fans came together like a Liberal Democrat Convention: deeply unfashionable but harmless. With the increased crowds and injected with the bile of politics, "third hand" figures sitting on substitute benches have acted as catalysts for a brewing anger and resentment.
Sunday night's SCG scene is a sponsor's worst nightmare. Thai football has had years to put in place tough sanctions but chosen not to. Now they are no longer in control of the story and they can't change the result. Ineptitude and self-serving corruption has resulted in a miserable FIFA rank but that is nothing compared to the way violence has been incubated in a sceptic environment of denial. This poisonous sore is about to burst and the blame for its destructive power lies squarely at the squabbling door of those who use football as leverage and point scoring.
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