18th August, 2012
Stadium
Nong Prue Stadium
Transport
Car from SriRacha
Cost
Free! I got a lift.
Travelling Time (total journey)
1 hour and 23 minutes
Total Distance Travelled
79kms
Match Ticket
B120.
Programme
An A5 glossy full colour magazine, which was free. The programme is filled with photos and articles. It includes an updated league table and a fixture list for Leg 2. However, the four articles in English have obviously been translated by on online translator and make no sense at all. I can't believe that it's that difficult to find someone in Pattaya who can speak English.
Club Shop
I didn't make it to the club shop.
Away End
We were allocated half of the new main stand, which had a roof and concrete terracing but no seats. Tickets for this area cost B120. We were also given the uncovered wood and scaffolding section behind one of the goals. Tickets for this part of the ground were priced at B100.
Staff
Very friendly ticket sellers, who spoke both Thai and English (maybe they should write articles for the programme?). On the other hand, the security guards were less than hopeless. On entry to the stadium they checked our tickets and insisted that my wife removed the sticks from her barbecued meat but allowed me to walk in carrying two large bags without even a glance. There were no stamps, as is usually the case at Thai football grounds. Twenty minutes after kick off, the guards had disappeared completely and left the entrance to the stand un-manned. Also, there must have been nearly a hundred people standing in the corner inside the stadium, with a perfect view of the pitch, who clearly hadn't paid. There was no effort made to remove them.
Food
A couple of small shops outside the away end, which were doing a roaring trade. And, as this is Pattaya, you could have been tucking into fish and chips, meat pies, sausage rolls, maybe even Bovril at numerous ex-pat restaurants within a five minute drive from the ground.
Beer
The aforementioned small shops were selling three cans of Leo for B110, which they poured into plastic glasses so we could take it into the stadium. However, due to the absence of any security, most people were taking cans inside. A small cup of Coke was B30.
Overall Experience
Very strange. They don't appear to have any sort of organisation at all and people were just just wandering around as if the match was taking place on a public park. I've no real objections to this but I'm surprised that the authorities allow them to get away with such a slack approach. I'd love to know what an AFC inspector would make of it all.
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