How It Should Be Done
(If Division One Korat (and the ref) can do it, why can't Samut Songkhram?)
by Brian Enever
17th August, 2013
Nakhon Ratchasima v Trat: 10/8/13
About half hour before the kick off the sky went black and the heavens opened. Even by Thai standards it was a deluge. Within minutes the pitch was completely flooded.
My first visit to 'His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, 5th December 2007 Stadium' and all I could think of was Samut Songkhram v Chonburi mark two.
The players duly appeared on time and stood in the puddles and downpour for the anthem before lining up to start. The referee did blow his whistle, but then almost immediately stopped the game, threw the ball into a couple of large puddles to show it wouldn't roll and called all the players off. At last, an intelligent referee.
The rain stopped as quickly as it started ten minutes later and I thought 'now for the man with the plastic cup'.
But I couldn't have been more wrong. Out came the groundstaff with large 'squeegees', and everybody, and that includes the ball boys and stretcher bearers, then spent the next half hour removing (almost) all of the surface water. A BRILLIANT JOB!
The game restarted some forty five minutes late, but on a perfectly playable pitch, and with two teams showing, what must have been a 10,000+ crowd, they can play a bit, even when conditions aren't ideal.
And the game itself. It was over as a contest after about fifty minutes when a Trat defender was sent off for handling the ball on the goal line, Korat eventually running out deserved 3-0 winners.
The Korat numbers fourteen, six and seven controlled the game from midfield and were particularly impressive but the thing that impressed me most, from both teams, was the commitment, desire and effort that seems to be lacking at Chonburi at the moment (of course Korat have just got a new coach).
The surprises didn't end with the efforts of the groundstaff either. Throughout the match there was no diving, no playacting, no theatrics and no stoppages while a player writhed around in apparent agony, even though there were some hefty challenges at times. When the Korat number 14 was elbowed in the face he simply walked to the touchline, received treatment, then came back onto the pitch.
I came away from a thoroughly enjoyable evening thinking 'well done to Nahkon Ratchasima FC and their groundstaff'. Can they please send a video of their efforts to Samut Songkhram to show them how a Division One club deals with the weather.
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