by Klaus Liedecke
2nd September, 2009
Today I`m going to explain the meaning of groundhopping and give you a report of a particular example. First and foremost, groundhopping is about exploring the unknown. Groundhoppers travel all around the world to visit stadiums they haven’t visited before. These trips are documented and recorded in a journal.
For each ground you visit you receive one point. To earn this point you have to watch at least 45 minutes of a football match in this new stadium. This must be a scheduled match which has been sanctioned by the football association of the country concerned. The ultimate aim is to claim a country point. You receive this point when you do the described procedure in a country in which you`ve never watched a football match before.
The top aim is to achieve a continental point (these are very hard to obtain ). Myself, I`ve got 22 country points and 2 continental points.
So those are the basic rules of this sport (or is it a bad habit?!).
The motivation for participating is simple. It is fun to meet different people (fans) and to learn about other cultures and stadiums. You just have to be crazy about football to have this hobby.
Last week, Juergen and I went on a groundhoppingtrip to Surat Thani. We had an old pick up truck for the week and we had nothing else to do, so we hit the road. It’s only 780kms by road! Since Juergen hasn`t driven a car for years it was my job to take the wheel.
We stopped at different places along the road to buy and enjoy the delicacies of the region. On our way to Surat Thani we ate sugar - or honey cookies (we`re not sure what it was exactly) , bananas (all different forms) and many more exotic dishes. In fact, the sugar cookies gave me the power to drive the whole distance easily. We decided to leave on a Monday so we could visit and admire the empty stadium on the day of our arrival without being disturbed.
The stadium has 3 stands and is reported to have a 10,000 capacity.However, I would put the figure at slightly less than this. I’d guess there were about 7,000 seats. After checking in at the hotel (“The One”) we went to the pool bar, which is a very nice place with live music and many female students.
On match day, equipped with our banners and jerseys we set off to the stadium. On our way we stopped at a nice little restaurant were they asked us about our Chonburi outfit. We explained the reason for our trip.
When we arrived at the stadium, it was very quiet.
There was no-one around, except for two people cutting the grass on the playing field. Well, Thai people are known for usually being a little late, but it was very quiet indeed. After a couple of minutes waiting and wondering we asked one of the workers where everybody was. We were told to come back the next day. Yes, we were one day early. That`s groundhopping!!!
In the evening we had a few drinks and the following day I slept until noon. I avoided everyone we’d met the day before so as to avoid being asked why I was still wearing the jersey. Also we didn` t go back to the little restaurant. How embarassing.
However, the match and the cheerfulness of the friendly people more than helped us forget our mistake and embarrassment.
As for the match itself, Surat Thani beat Khon Kaen 1-0, in front of about 2,000 spectators .
I feel that I must give particular prause to one Khon Kaen fan who had travelled by plane to support his team with drums and sun glasses.
Generally, I am against all those cheerleaders and popcorn at a football match, but the bunnies there were really good. There were a group of girls who danced on the stage to the rhythm of drums and wooden sticks - very nice to watch.
Our last evening in Surat Thani was very quiet and non-alcoholic and we left at 10 o’clock, as intended. We said goodbye to the manager of the hotel and thanked him personally. I would recommend The One Hotel to anyone who may visit the region.
On our way back we made another shopping trip. One thing in particular caught our attention. A box. We couldn`t make out what was inside, but we were very curious and so we bought one. When we opened it we found black eggs. We don`t know what to do with it. So if anyone is interested in becoming the proud owner of some black eggs, please let me know!
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