Today it is my honour to interview Thai football aficionado, pundit, legend and thoroughly good egg, Mr Dale Farrington (he told me to say that!!). I would like to thank Dale for taking time to allow me to peek a little into his football brain.
Hi Dale, could you please briefly introduce yourself.
I'm Dale. I'm a 57 year old man, originally from Oldham in the north west of England. I'm a lifelong football fan who moved to Thailand in early 1997. I've been supporting Chonburi since 2002 and curating various websites and blogs about the club for 12 years. I like other stuff too...
How did you first become joined at the hip with Chonburi FC?
After arriving in Thailand, one of the first things I did was look for a team to support. Sadly, at the time, the league was very Bangkokcentric and full of clubs representing branches of the armed forces and companies. I did try to get enthused, but my heart wasn't really in it so I threw myself into supporting the national team. Those early days were interesting - to say the least - and we saw a couple of very controversial matches, which didn't show the country in a particularly good light. Thankfully, Peter Withe came along, steadied the ship and produced one of the most exciting and successful Thailand sides of all time. They gave me some of the best days I've had watching sport and it was a great time to be a fan.
Then, in 2002, whilst flicking through a local football magazine, I discovered Chonburi now had a team. I went in search of the ground on my motorbike, eventually found the stadium (although everyone I asked had absolutely no idea where it was or that Chonburi FC existed), watched my first match - a 3-1 win against Nakhon Pathom - and thus began my love affair with the Sharks. Over the past 20 years we've had our ups and downs, but I wouldn't change them for the world. I'm proud to say I support this club and it's a huge part of my life.
What are your thoughts on the Shark’s first leg progress?
It's exactly as I expected. A couple of good results, being beaten by much better teams and losing to sides we should be beating. If I was marking us in old fashioned school report terms it would be:
C- : Must try harder
Can you foresee Chonburi competing with the current big boys to challenge for the league title in the coming years?
Sadly not. Our glory years are well behind us. Bad management and a stubborn refusal to move with the times have left us stagnating and with a bleak future as a perennial mid table team. The best we can hope for these days is a decent cup run. And we might just get it this season. If the quarter final draw is kind to us I think we have as good a chance as anybody to reach the final. I only hope that all our players are still standing by then!
A couple of teams appear to be attempting to buy the title this season. What are your thoughts?
It's the nature of the beast, I guess. The way things operate here you're always going to get those people with political ambitions throwing money around in order to build their profile and increase their popularity. The real problems will begin when they get bored or realise that there are only a couple of teams that can win trophies each year. A large number of Thai clubs would completely disappear - or be bought and relocated - without their rich benefactors and, for me, that is one of the main things holding back the local game. It would be lovely to see a community or fan owned club here. But, in reality, I think that is a very long way off.
Knowing your views on food being allowed into the Chonburi stadium, what 5 items would be in your football picnic hamper for half time consumption?
Beer, Pla Muek Yang, Pad Kaprow Moo Kai Dow, a meat and potato pie and a Wagon Wheel.
You have to erase certain parts of your personal history. Which of the following would be your " must keep"? You can choose two!!
Chonburi FC
Punk Rock
Bilko
English TV comedy series
Oldham Athletic FC
This is, without doubt, the hardest question I have ever been asked. It's impossible to answer! Though, in the spirit of the interview, I'll give it a go. You've clearly done your homework by choosing these five. Or are you stalking me?!
(The interviewee has now taken a long pause while he deliberates. This may take some time. Please talk amongst yourselves until I get back)
Phew! This is more difficult than I thought!
(The interviewee has now taken another long break to deliberate further. Go and make yourselves a cup of tea or get a cold beer from the fridge)
OK. I have decided that there is no scientific way to do this so I've written all the options on pieces of paper and put them in a cup. I will now proceed to draw out my two choices...
Drum roll
1. Oldham Athletic
Drum roll
2. Punk Rock
So that's that sorted. Or should I choose again..? We could be here a while! Let's move on...
When I first moved to Thailand, I was keen to explore the kind of places that weren't really on the tourist trail. One of my students at the time, came from from Korat and she suggested I paid the city a visit. I borrowed a friend's jeep and drove up, not really knowing what to expect. Thankfully, I fell in love with the place straightaway. The friendliness of the people, the vibrant social scene and the slow pace of life all stood out. The next time I went, I took a mate with me and he also took it to his heart. Over the next few years we went back time and time again and always enjoyed ourselves - the Songkhran holidays we had there were always special.
I guess my soft spot for the Swatcats grew out of this affection for the area. It was further enhanced by my friendship with Paul Hewitt - an early foreign fan of Thai football who ran an independent NRFC website, back in the day.
It's so easy to dwell on the negative aspects of domestic Thai football. Are you positive about its future and can you give three aspects that give you hope of future successful progress.
A lot of the things people complain about these days - fixtures not being made publicly available until the last minute, inconvenient kick off times, dates changing, poor officiating, bad management, clubs relocating etc etc - are things that fans have been moaning about for years so I now treat them as part of the fabric of Thai football. However, if you're looking for positives, there are plenty, but as you only asked for three, here goes:
The media coverage is now better than it's ever been. Information is freely available - in a few languages - and their is a diversity of opinions, which spark debate and occasionally instigate change. Not all that long ago, it was extremely hard to find any news about the local leagues. Even in Thai!
The league is now far more representative of the country as a whole, with most provinces having at least one football club to support. A far cry from our first season in the TPL - when only ourselves and Suphanburi weren't a forces or company club based in the capital. This was only 15 years ago. Look how far we've come since then. Sometimes it's easy to forget, or overlook, the progress that has been made.
They are far from perfect, but the league management has made great strides in recent years and this is something we should recognise. I believe they do their best in a very difficult situation and no doubt have to put up with a lot more than the average fan can comprehend - especially in these strange times. And imagine having to deal with, and satisfy, all those egotistical club owners!
How do you think that the Swatcat's season has gone so far and will we go down!!?
It hasn't been easy for anyone with the stop/start stop/start again nature of the league this year. And a lot will depend on how you - and everyone else - cope with the insane schedule between now and the end of the season. However, I don't think you'll go down. In situations like this you always ask yourself "are there three teams worse than us?" and I believe those currently in the relegation spots are. If I was a betting man, my money would be on Prachuap, Trat and Rayong to get relegated, with the possibility that Police Tero might also get sucked in.
How do you think the weekend's game will go? It probably has not escaped your notice that a Swatcat victory will push them above the Sharks in the table so what’s the verdict???
I was very pleased with our emphatic FA Cup win against Suphanburi in midweek and the new signings made a big impact - although we'll gloss over Kelic's red card! Our main problem is inconsistency. If we play as well as we can do, and everyone is up for it, I expect us to come away with all three points. However, if the "other" Chonburi turn up, we could get a hiding!
Thanks Dale and can I take this opportunity to thank you and congratulate you for the contribution you have made to the English speaking Thai football scene and here's wishing you a happy and successful new year.
You're welcome. Thanks for the interesting questions. I really enjoyed that.
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