If Ifs And Buts Were Candy And Nuts by Tommie Duncan: 2016

 

Tommie Duncan on the cultural differences experienced by foreign fans of Thai football.

If Ifs And Buts Were Candy And Nuts 

by Tommie Duncan

6th January, 2016

 

If If’s and Buts were Candy and Nuts. We’d all have a great Christmas.

 

As foreigners in Thailand we all arrive with our own cultural conceptions of how things should be. We see things in Thailand that don’t gel with our ideas and many of us think, well that needs to change. I’ve seen it in the Bangkok music scene where the lone foreigner thinks he will revolutionize and popularize Indie music in Thailand and see Thais and foreigners playing music side by side like old chums. I’ve never seen these efforts come to fruition. Frustrated the foreigner often sours on the “scene” and withdraws himself.  

 

T.I.T. is a phrase we all use. THIS IS THAILAND, although at times we all forget, thinking that at some point they will “learn” and things will change and get better, forgetting both the literal and figurative meaning of that phrase.

 

Our view of sports is really no different. We bring our European, American, or Australian sporting values to Thailand and are shocked and upset when things just don’t pan out that way. We scoff and scowl over the success of teams like Burriram and MTU because their owners are wealthy and wield influence over the powers that be. We are shocked and dismayed at decisions that are reversed to favor these moneyed teams at the expense of the underlings. We expect as supporters to get some sort of acknowledgement from the club. We are puzzled when decisions are made that seem 180 degrees from being good for football in Thailand.

 

People with money are venerated in Thailand in a very different way then they are in the West. The underlings often view them as “deserving” of their status. They are rarely if ever challenged. Just walk into a bank in BKK and watch the big-haired older Thai ladies in silk dresses walk in and cut the line in front of everyone. The underlings won’t make a peep. However, in turn those who have achieved money and status gain even more favor by giving a bit back to the underlings. Which brings us back to football. Newin, M Pang, etc.; see the connection?

My friends, the way football works here is no different from the way most everything else works in Thailand. And that isn’t going to change, nor should we have the least expectation that it will.

 

Today we will get the ruling on 18 or 20 teams in the TPL. The Westerner in me that pains for fairness wants the league to stick at 18, but hey, we are not in the West. Personally I am hoping the league goes to 20 and my team, Port, gets to stay in the top flight. I want my team to win and winning in Thailand requires a different set of norms than winning in the West. So be it. We can “if” and “but” till the cows come home, but it isn’t going to change a thing here. 

Eventually if we continue with these expectations we will sour and stop supporting, and really, where is the fun in that? I for one am thankful that M Pang bought the team. Without her Port would be mired in D1 or worse. So I’m leaving those ifs and buts back home where they belong. Might as well join the ranks of the wealthy and influential teams. Sign me up boys; it’s just more fun to support a winner. And we know what it takes to win in this league. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.