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TPL

Police Tero FC vs Ratchaburi Mitr Phol FC

Boonyachinda Stadium

30th September, 2018

This game was at the back end of our first season supporting the Dragons.  The club had been sitting quite comfortably in mid-table at the mid-season break, but some strange transactions during the mid-season transfer market had left the team floundering in the relegation zone with just a few games remaining.  It was so critical; the following poster appeared on the Hua Hin Dragons Facebook Page.

 

The mathematics going into this game posed quite a conundrum.  If we could beat Tero I think they would be relegated and we would live to fight another day. If we lost Tero would still not be safe and neither would we. Sukhothai had to play Muangthong but they had recently beaten Pattaya and Bangkok United and were due to play us on the following Wednesday. Their final game was against an already relegated team - Air Force Central whilst our last game was against league leaders Buriram, who were seeking a record point’s haul.  Chainat and Bangkok Glass were also in the equation somewhere.   If my calculations were correct we had to win at Tero and beat Sukhothai. We had to hope Sukhothai did not beat Muangthong.  This was truly a relegation battle, and survival was paramount.

Hua Hin Dragons were not really into away travel at this stage (home games were already a 4 hour round trip), but Ratchaburi Mitr Phol needed as much support as they could get.  A few of us decided to do the trip.

I’d been to Boonyachinda Stadium before with Hua Hin City, and knew it wasn’t the easiest stadium to find, so we decided to travel via the club’s supporter’s bus.  For anybody who hasn’t travelled on a football supporter’s bus in Thailand, it is an experience.  The buses are usually sound, although our regular Hua Hin City bus was a white knuckle ride, with 50% of the wheel nuts missing, but a very powerful sound system that vibrated right through every passenger, with a set of disco lights to match.  We used to illuminate 4 lanes of the carriageway with our disco lights on the way home.  Of course, Ratchaburi being a T1 club are a bit more sophisticated, and the supporter’s buses have a full set of wheel nuts, but don’t have the disco lights.  It seems the TV/sound system on football buses are attuned to Carabao at maximum volume.  For Farangs travelling on their first away trip, it can be a tad daunting.

 

Well, I’m not sure if the driver was killing time en-route to the game, but he seemed to be travelling in ever decreasing circles into Bangkok.  The journey took 4 hours.  My ears were ringing by the time we arrived, but this is part of the football experience in Thailand.  Unlike travel to away games in the UK where it was a continual  sing song all of the way singing football chants, very badly, on a Thai football bus you are brainwashed with Carabao music, and maybe the occasional Thai game show.  I guess that’s entertainment.

We decanted from the pleasure bus at Boonyachinda Stadium, and still had a few hours to kill.  There is very little to do as I think the stadium is inside the police college.  If not a college, it is very police orientated.

We wandered about a bit, and bought our tickets.  There was a lovely surprise with our ticket.  Each ticket came complete with a football programme.  An essential money spinner in the UK, but the only time I’ve seen one in Thailand, and it was free. What a novelty it was.

 A bit more wandering and we found a neat little coffee shop, where we topped up with several Lattes.  It was now time for the main event – we moved to the away supporter’s enclave.  Just as when I’d been there with Hua Hin City, supporters here were treated like human beings, and the accommodation was half decent.  At least we could see the pitch without the use of binoculars, which is always a distinct advantage for a football supporter visiting another stadium in Thailand.

As the game started, we had a good indication of what was to come.  On the horizon was a pretty impressive electrical storm.  Of course, this was Bangkok in September – torrential rain is the law, and who was going to break the law in the Police’s own back yard?

The game got off to a terrible start when Michael N’Dri gave the home side an early advantage.  This was not what we had travelled all of this way to see.  However, it wasn’t too long before my hero at that time. Kang Soo-il had leveled Ratchaburi’s account, converting a penalty kick.  At half time, the score remained 1-1, and both teams were fighting for survival.

The second half started, and the tension was unbearable.  In true relegation battle mode, both teams missed chances that would have been a guaranteed goal for a mid-table side.  This was truly squeaky pants time.  A point was no good to either side.

About 10 minutes from time, the heavens opened.  It was rain like you only see in Bangkok.  In the Western world, I am sure 60 seconds of that kind of rain would have seen the match abandoned.  However, they make them tough in Thailand, and both teams continued as if it was normal.  The 90th minute came, and it was still a stalemate at 1-1.  The 4th official braved the elements and displayed there would be 3 added minutes.  It was as Ratchaburi made their final counter attack of the game that Nerijus Valskis found the net to make it 2-1 in the third minute of added time.  I was never a fan of Nerijus Valskis, but he was every Ratchaburi supporter’s hero that night.  Ratchaburi supporters were quite emotional, and the team thanking the supporters after the match was amazing.

I think it was probably because of the rain, but nobody moved from the protective cover of the stadium roof.  Everybody was buzzing after such an important victory achieved with the last kick of the match.

After a while, our club Chairperson, Boonying Nitikarnchana came across to the elated supporters with Kang Soo-il.  Initially, she posed for a photo in front of our very wet Hua Hin Dragons flag.

 

Photo opportunity taken, she moved into the crowd with Kang, and organized a free raffle of 15 club shirts to the travelling supporters.  Unfortunately, no Hua Hin Dragons came out of the hat.

Then the biggest shock of the day, Boonying requested an audience with the Hua Hin Dragons.  Hmmmm….. Hua Hin Dragons had been on National TV a few days earlier after being interviewed at the FA Cup semi-final – had we said something wrong?  Diplomatic Jan had been our main spokesman during the interview, so anything was possible.  It was OK, nothing to worry about, she had noticed the group travelling from Hua Hin each week, and wanted to thank us personally for our support.  She told her little helper to arrange a club shirt for each and every one of us – a very nice gesture, which was gratefully received.  

We now had to endure the journey home on the ear drum numbing express.  Even that was a bit special.  The Ratchaburi team bus always has an escort with a flashing light on top.  Basically, people see the flashing light, and get out of the way.  Our bus was part of the convoy, so we got back to Mitr Phol Stadium extra quick.  On the way back we stopped at a motorway service station.  While were there, Lassaad Chabbi (Ratchaburi’s Head Coach that week) came to talk to a couple of Dragons.  Of course, he couldn’t tell us everything that was going on at the club, but in a roundabout way he confirmed a lot about the club’s management structure, which was very enlightening.

I think we were buzzing about this game for weeks afterwards.  Yes, it was a dogged relegation battle, but we had taken 3 very valuable points, which helped to secure our T1 status for another season.