NEW!! New Boots: 2008

New Boots

by Dale Farrington

 

On Wednesday 19th March, 2008, I, along with a few thousand other Chonburians - many of whom, like me, were playing hooky from work or school - joined the late afternoon procession of buses, mini-buses, cars and pick-ups that left the city to head up to Supachalasai Stadium, for our historic first “home” match in the AFC Champions League. We’d caused a major ripple the week before, by coming within 30 seconds of beating eventual champions, Gamba Osaka, in their own backyard, so expectations were high, even though we were up against the formidable Australian side, Melbourne Victory.

 

On arrival at the ground, we discovered the party in full swing, as many of the early birds had already started on the Chang and had been joined by a number of visiting supporters. It was clear that this was going to be a very special night indeed. After grabbing a couple of beers for myself, I decided to wander across the road to the numerous cheap and cheerful sports shops that were housed there, to look for the latest Thailand national team shirt. These establishments - that have now sadly been demolished - were always a highlight of any visit to the area and I've purchased a lot items from them over the years. However, on the this particular occasion, the first couple of stores turned up nothing, but what I saw in the third, stopped me dead in my tracks.

 

With less than an hour to kick off, in what was undoubtedly the biggest game in our club’s short history, three of our star players were dressed in full kit and trying on new boots. Not only that, but they were behaving like they had all the time in the world. Now, I’m not going to name them, but one of the men in question was a high profile foreign striker, who got himself on the score sheet later that evening and the other two were local lads. As we won the match comfortably, the last minute shopping trip didn’t turn out too badly. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, members of the Buriram Utd squad or even our current roster in a similar situation.

In many ways this story does sum up the Chonburi attitude during that era and highlights our cavalier approach to mixing with the "big boys" of the AFC. I'm actually very proud of how we did things at the time. That said, I also appreciate we have to be more "professional" now as an inevitable consequence of how domestic football has progressed, and if Thai clubs want to compete on the continental stage. Maybe it's for the best, but I do really miss the old spirit that existed back then. At least I still have my memories and a few stories to tell.