NEW!! Our Tero Family by Tracey Newby: 2020

Our Tero Family

by Tracey Newby

How We Fell Out Of Love With The Game In England

Having being raised on football it was clear that I would end up with a partner who shared my interest. He played football when I met him and this continued once our children arrived and we then introduced them to the Beautiful Game.We regularly attended Premiership and Internationals games in England, and both the children have a life long love affair with the game.  However things certainly changed with the progression of the Premiership, the extortionate pricing, the pandering to the demands of Sky. Our love for the professional game began to dip.  It was no longer an affordable pastime and other pressures in life meant that football was no longer a priority.  We still followed all the news and occasionally watched local football, but nowhere near at the level that we previously had.

How We Came To Support Tero

In October, 2015, we moved to Thailand. Minburi, to be precise, and went to our first game to watch Tero as a chance encounter.  Some friends were in town from New Zealand, they wanted to see a game and Tero were at home. Just a short fifteen minute car journey away from us.  And that was it.  The atmosphere was like back in England before all the money became involved. The freedom to sit where you wanted.  The mixing of the fans.  The family atmosphere with Mum, Dad and the children there.  The affordability.  The respect that the club showed towards the supporters.  It was damn near perfect and we felt at home.

Tero has so few foreign supporters, and the ones that have been at games have been fleeting visitors. We are the only ones that have been there week in and week out and the supporters welcomed us into their club and their hearts.

Who We Now Call Our Football Family

The supporters are a massive reason behind us following Tero.  We got to know one of the Fire Dragons through a mutual friend and, as time went on, and we attended more games, more and more of the fans would speak to us.  In the early days it felt a bit like we were a novelty item, but it soon became clear that this was a genuine mutual respect for each other.  Very few of the Tero fans speak English and our Thai is at its very best limited, but the joint passion for football, Tero, and lots of smiles soon meant that we became part of this great football family.

By the second season of following Tero we were managing to have a few more 'conversations' with the fans and this led them to being more confident in speaking to us.  They always offered us drinks and food and asked us to sit with them. Then, one day, they asked us if we would like to attend an away game with them.  Why not? The day started with an 8am meet at the home ground.  Our first stop was at a museum, our second stop at a floating market, our third stop at a temple and then eventually on to the ground.  The raffles held on the bus, numerous additional stops for food and a whole lot of laughs made us feel so so welcome. 

Now I don't know about you, but I kind of get the feeling that Chelsea supporters on an away day don't stop off at The Lowry, visit a traditional market, nor stop at the local church to offer up prayers for a good outcome for the game! However, it is all part of what has made us feel welcome into this family so enjoyable.

On many home game days the Tero supporters will have a fans game on a pitch at the side of the stadium against the opposition fans. Again not something that you're ever likely to witness in England, more is the pity.

The feeling of family was made all the more real when recently one of the supporters was tragically killed in an accident. Training had just finished for the fan club team, and one of the players, on the way home, stopped to buy some noodles for his pregnant wife.  While he was stood buying them, a truck, driven by a 16 year old smashed into him and killed him instantly.  The supporters, and Tero as a club, immediately banded together to help raise money for his wife, who was due to give birth in little over a month.  Tero may not be the richest club, and their fans might not be the wealthiest, but they raised an enormous amount of money to at least ease the financial pain of the wife of one of their brothers.

The Difference Between Supporters Here And England, Plus The Ultras

It is about so much more than football. The social side, the banding together, the supporting of each other's additional interests outside of football, make for a family feel so much more than football. The amount of women attending is notable, when you compare it to England. Regardless of the result on the day, the fans will always support the players when they approach them at the end of the game.  However this is not something that you will witness on a regular basis in England.  I have yet to attend a Tero game where the players haven't gone over to the supporters at the end of the game to a show their appreciation. Alas supporters can also be fickle.  We have witnessed many a supporters who will stop following the club when their favourite player leaves and will follow them to their new club.

Ultras!!! Now when you hear that term in England, you think of hooligans and trouble makers.  I don't know how it stands with other clubs in Thailand, but at Tero you couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people, guys and girls.  Always dressed in black, often with no shirts on, always loud, but always a pleasure to be around. They are loud, brash, dressed in black and very, very passionate. They always sit opposite the other fans, apart from at away games, when we all sit together, and we have yet to witness any animosity between the two factions of supporters. The Tero fans might not love the Ultras but they at least tolerate them.

The Adventures We Have Had

Visiting temples, feeding monkeys, paddling in the sea, 24 hour away days, lost in translation mix ups, 8am drinking on the bus, visiting tourist attractions (where the other supporters could really not understand why we foreigners have to pay so much more), falling into klongs, being escorted to a VIP toilet and upon arriving there to be met with a line of urinals, being invited onto the pitch at half time for the flag presentation, have all been part of a standard away game day with our Tero Football Family.

Finally, a special mention has to go to a guy who we call Father.  He is part of the backroom staff and is here, there and everywhere when jobs need to be done at the club.  He always, without fail, greets us with a smile, a warm handshake and a bottle of water.  What a guy.