Chonburi 2-2 PEA - Match Report: 2010

TPL

Chonburi 2-2 PEA

Chonburi Sports College Stadium

Sunday 17th Oct, 2010

Attendance: 12,000

Match Report 

It's hard to imagine two more diametrically opposite footballing entities than Chonburi and Buriram PEA. On the one hand you have Chonburi FC, a club with its roots firmly in the local community. A club that grew out of a local college - which continues to produce players for the first team squad on a regular basis - and one that boasts a passionate local fan base, which has grown organically along with the football team. A club that is more like a family than anything else, where people come together for a common cause and are made to feel a part of something special. Where friendships have been made and have continued to flourish. Where you can come and have a laugh and a few drinks with your mates.

There are no barriers between players, management and fans, and a strong bond, that has developed over the years, exists between everyone connected to the club. The fact that a lot of the players and staff have links that stretch back a number of years means that there is a sense of loyalty and brotherhood. A sense of belonging. And, whatever happens out on the pitch, we, as fans, know that whoever pulls on the blue striped shirts will do the best they possibly can. In return, the players know that the fans will get behind the team unconditionally. It's something that I've always been proud to be a part of.

Then you have "Buriram" PEA. A club that has no history and tradition in the city they now call home. In fact the owners recently denied that PEA have a past at all. Quoted in an article on Thai League online they said that their "first" season was a great success. "The original aim was to be in the top 4, but now we're looking at being runners-up, and we're confident we can do it. Next season's aim is to win the Thai Premier League title for the first time."

"First season"? "Win the Thai Premier League for the first time"?

Obviously the first thirty nine years of the club's existence and the TPL title win in 2008 have been overlooked in this Orwellian Year Zero approach. As has the fact that they were keen to promote themselves, rather vigorously, as PEA Ayutthya, and pledge their undying loyalty to that particular city and its people as recently as last season, until someone waved a big fat cheque under their noses.

Coming from England, I find this franchise football business very alien and a little unsavoury. Buriram already had a team when PEA moved in. Why didn't the locals, and the money men, get behind them in the same way the people in our province got behind our club when we were bobbing around in the Thai football basement? Just think how proud they would have felt on the day that Buriram FC won promotion to the TPL. Or how satisfying it would be to see a full stadium on a regular basis after years of playing in front of a few hundred die-hards. No. It's far easier just to buy a place at the top table without having to actually put in any of the hard work involved to reach the summit.

There has been a lot of talk elsewhere about the "Buriram" PEA fans. And most of it has been quite cynical. There are rumours that the supporters are paid to attend and are also offered other "incentives". I don't really wish to get into that discussion but I do find their method of support quite odd. In the first place, 95% of them are dressed exactly the same. And the orchestrated chanting and synchronised movements are most bizarre, to say the least. I know that this is not unique to this group of people, and they genuinely seem to be enjoying themselves, but it's not really my cup of tea. I prefer spontaneity and genuine heartfelt reaction to what is happening during a match. And I've never really liked being told what to do.

I had a friend with me at the game on Sunday. He was transfixed by the goings-on in the away end. Afterwards he concluded that what he saw was something of a cross between Black Lace's annoying 1980's hit "Agadoo" and the "He's not the Messiah" scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian, when Brian tells the crowd, "You are all individuals." And their response is a collective cry of, "Yes, we are all individuals."

So, there you have it. Two very different clubs and two very different approaches. I know which one I prefer. But you've probably worked that one out already.