by Matt Riley
8th June, 2014
Supporting Thai Division One side Saraburi is not a glamorous experience. The club expect fans to travel around the country from their provincial base one hundred kilometres North of Bangkok to the unspectacular stadiums of Big Bang Chula or Thai Tobacco Monopoly, and now they even expect the shirts off their backs. Playing doomed Nakhon Pathom United last weekend was prefaced by the kind of preparation that would let down a chimp's tea party.
Saraburi (the home team, by the way) couldn't locate a second kit and Nakhon Phatom (a club notorious for being shut down for two years in 2010 when a member of staff threatened a referee with a gun after a promotion play off game) hadn't brought one. A visit to the local shops (not surprisingly in a region proud to be the hub of "herbal Chinese pork sausage with iodine") came up with nothing. The club managed to fish some socks and shorts out of a kit bag, but it was the unwitting fans who had to hand over their shirts for the greater good of the club.
The Bangkok Casuals League still laughs about The Winking Frog's failure to provide an alternative kit a decade ago, but this is supposed to be a higher standard of oversight. There is a non league structure in Thai football called the King's Cup that feeds into a six league regional setup (skip that if you are a politician) which then moves on to the national Division 1, crowned by the glamour of the Thai Premier League.
So, a team that can legitimately expect to play at a thirty five thousand capacity stadium in Buriram next year forgets to bring a spare kit and, comically, irons on players' names to fans' shirts minutes before kick off. This being Thailand, both clubs blamed each other and accused their opposition of not communicating. It also says a great deal about Saraburi FC's merchandising power that their souvenir shop couldn't (or wouldn't) cough up a full set of away kit.
In contrast, fellow Saraburi-based Osotspa M150 (a club whose location is elbowed aside by two sponsors) travel to mega grounds like Buriram's I-Mobile and the SCG Stadium. Although results on the field continue to be strong for the province's second representatives (now occupying the third promotion spot to the money bags Thai Premier League) there is clearly a long way to go off the field to match their efficiency on it.
The good news for the shirtless Saraburi supporters was the game finished in a one nil victory thanks to their generosity, when an automatic two goal defeat would be in store if they chose not to strip. If the club are promoted by a margin of three points or less, they owe a huge debt of gratitude to their fans for going over and above the call of duty.
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