Chonburi FC Fan Club
by Dale Farrington
It has been a great honour to be a part of the Chonburi Fan Club for the past seven years. I have seen it grow from only a few people to a few thousand. In the early days we would attract less than two hundred people for home games and the atmosphere was a lot different then. It was much quieter and goals were greeted by polite applause.
For away trips we would usually have less than twenty people travelling. Of course it was harder to get to some games - Chiang Mai and Satun are a long way from Chonburi! On the day we won the Pro League title - 26th June 2005 - there were only 15 of us in the stadium in Korat. However, we celebrated as if we'd won the World Cup and made more noise than 1500!
The following season, our first in the Thailand Premier League, the home attendances grew to just over a thousand. We also started taking a few more fans to away games. The lone bus (not always full) would leave every other Saturday from a Jet petrol station in Ban Beung. I made many friends on those trips. And I still see a lot of those people at the matches today.
It was also during our first TPL campaign that the Fan Club football team started. We played our first match at Ban Beung Stadium against a local side and had a big party afterwards. Unfortunately, those who were there that night have probably never forgotten my attempts at singing karaoke. It was awful! But it was my revenge for being made to wear a Manchester United shirt during the game. We were also invited to play in a Pro League Fan Club Meeting match on 26th August 2006 at the SAT ground next to Rajamangala Stadium. It was a great afternoon and more new friendships were formed.
Over the years I have met so many wonderful people through Chonburi FC. They are now like a family to me and we have shared some special times together. Obviously there have been many great occasions on the field: winning the Pro League, the Singapore Cup semi-final and final, winning the Premier League and our AFC Champions League and AFC Cup adventures. But there have also been good times away from the stadium : the New Year's Eve party in Bang Saen, the football and futsal tournaments, people's weddings and of course our legendary fan club parties.
Chonburi are now probably the best supported club in the country and I am really proud of that fact. But I'm also proud to be able to say that I've been there right from the start and have enjoyed this wonderful period in my life with some very special people. Some of them I still see every week and others have moved on to do different things but I will always remember them. It doesn't matter how big or successful the club gets we will always have each other. Thank you, Chonburi FC Fan Club. Let's hope that we have many more good times in the future.
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