We're up to issue number 7 of our popular 'Five Asides' feature. Take five Thai football fans, share five contentious opinions with them and let them all have their say. Nice and simple. Our panel today is James (Port), Neal (Ratchaburi), Kenny (Port), Gian (Muang Thong Utd), and Ta (neutral).
1. Ratchaburi Stadium is the best football stadium in Thailand.
James: Any football stadium without a running track around it is a ‘winner’ in my opinion, but Ratchaburi definitely is a stadium that deserves to be in the discussion. It’s a shame that their attendances aren't close to meeting their capacity, but if (and it’s a big ‘if’) they can get close to filling that stadium on a regular basis… what an advertisement for the league it would be.
I understand that it’s tough for a lot of clubs to justify financing a stadium, but I'm of the viewpoint that more clubs at all levels (T1, T2, and T3) need to try and move away from large stadiums they don’t stand a chance of ever filling, and into more ‘boutique’ stadiums that they do stand a chance. Then, if a massive game comes to town, you can always move to the big stadium on a ‘one off’ basis. In my opinion, it’d be much better for broadcasters (and potential league sponsors) to see a full 5,000 capacity stadium, than a 89% empty 25,000 capacity stadium (eg. Bangkok United).
Neal: What a stupid statement. How could it be the best? After all is said and done:
• There’s no running track, so supporters can actually see the match.
• Visiting supporters are seated pitch side.
• Visiting supporters aren’t housed in an area completely exposed to the rain.
• The box office doesn’t re-direct supporters to the nearest 7-11 to purchase tickets.
• Supporters don’t have to drive the streets in search of car parking.
• The toilets don’t have a strong smell of ammonia odor.
• There is no rusty, Meccano type seating, bench type seats or raw concrete to sit on.
• The scoreboard does not obstruct the view to the pitch.
It is quite amazing really. The old Ratchaburi Stadium ticked most of the above boxes before they upgraded to the Dragon Solar Park Stadium.
Seriously, I have been to many of the county’s stadiums from T1 to T4. Every other stadium (including Buriram) fails on at least one of the above points. If Carlsberg built stadiums, they would build The Dragon Solar Park Stadium.
Kenny: Looking past the “Captain Obvious” choice of Buriram, and also Chiang Rai in the North, Ratchaburi is certainly the best looking stadium down South. Especially if you have a 6pm kick-off, you get to see that amazing sunset over the hills behind the Dragon stand. Minus points though for a no-mans land behind one of the goals, and the stewards keeping us (Port fans) caged in at half-time last season. A shame they never got that sports bar up and running near the Youth pitches, it could have rivalled the Bunny bar at BG. BG should also be in the conversation for best Southern stadium, especially now the 4th stand is getting built.
Gian: It’s definitely up there. Top three for me along with BG’s and Buriram’s stadium. Well designed, easy to navigate, and very aesthetically pleasing.
Ta: Yes, if you don't count the Chang Arena and BG Stadium.
2. The Thai League should introduce a salary cap in order to ensure a more equal and fair competition.
James: It’s a nice idea in theory, but when rules are always open to interpretation, what’s the point? All it would see, is a lot of teams paying players under the table, and not being honest/open in reporting what they're actually paying people. If we were to go down that road, it’d be a nightmare for everyone involved, as there’ll be plenty of clubs ready to bend the rules.
In my opinion, Thai clubs need to learn to set a budget, and stick to that budget. I've heard (and witnessed) plenty of horror stories since I first began to follow the league in 2016, but there’d be a lot more people than myself who’ve seen worse.
From what I've seen, too many clubs are living beyond their means, and committing money/resources that they just don’t have, and hoping for the best. It’s not a sustainable practice, and they (the club owners) probably wouldn’t be operating in the same way if they were running a ‘regular’ business.
Sorry for the long answer, but just to play devils advocate at the same time… Who decides the limit of the salary cap? The clubs with strong financial backing shouldn’t be punished, and unable to bring top players to the league, just so that a club without the same level of funding doesn’t get their feelings hurt.
Neal: What a brilliant idea. Thailand already receives the dregs of other football leagues, with many foreign players coming here to retire. A salary cap should keep even the foreign players in their twilight years away. This will give the opportunity for some of the country’s T3 players to break into T1.
Maybe, as a counter-suggestion, clubs could be means tested, and the rule applied just to teams like Port and Buriram. Don’t salary cap, just ensure there’s a maximum budget a club has to work within.
Seriously, I know a few Thai ex-pros who quit football because they could earn more money doing a proper job. Unlike footballers in other countries, do Thai nationals really earn silly money (I don’t know the answer, which is why I’m asking)? If they do, I’ll bet there aren’t that many in the high earner bracket. For most, being a footballer in Thailand is a very long way from living the dream that footballers in the English Premiership do.
Kenny: Thailand being Thailand, I'm sure a few of the enterprising club owners would still find ways to slide their players some extra baht, above and beyond any supposed salary cap.
Gian: Absolutely, but it needs to be done the right way. Thai League wages have inflated a lot, and top players often have to take wage cuts to move abroad. This hurts the national team in my opinion. The first question has to be whether the salary cap applies to foreign players or not; personally, I think bringing in good foreign players is really important for the league to grow. However, I can see that creating problems in the dressing room. Also important to decide if it’s an individual cap, team cap or both; I would go with both personally.
Lastly, I would make it a ‘flexible’ system, with a progressive tax for going over a certain wage limit. The tax would be reinvested in grassroots football, the Youth League and the Women’s League. However, this would only work if we can ensure the money is being reinvested correctly…
Ta: Salary caps are too complicated for Thai League. There are still clubs not paying players on time. I'd say introduce it in 5-10 or 20 years when the league, hopefully, is more professional.
3. Later kick-off times (19:30hrs/19:45hrs/20:00hrs) would help to increase attendances.
James: Yes, absolutely. We don’t necessarily suffer this problem in T1, but T2 and T3 games can be a real struggle (for fans, players, coaches, and match officials) due to the heat that they're played in. I've been at T3 games in years gone by where my weather app was telling me the real feel temperature was over 50°C. The game was essentially played at walking pace, and even then the players looked out on their feet.
However, early kick off times are a serious problem/nuisance for cup games. I understand that attending cup games as an away fan is a bit tough, but to take away the option altogether by playing many of the earlier rounds at say 15:00hrs is just mind boggling to say the least. If you’re a lower league team, why not still have the game at say 18:00hrs or later, and try to flood the local schools with free tickets, in the hope of the children pestering their parents to take them to the game?
Neal: Later? I still remember the good old days of travelling home from Ratchaburi for Hua Hin at 11pm following 9pm kick-offs. However, having said that, I’ve never been deterred by late kick-off times. I have noticed with earlier kick-off times, attendance is very low because people are still at work. The crowd has usually doubled by half-time. Even though I would never set foot inside Takiab Stadium again, I do watch Hua Hin City’s live feeds. Crowds at 15:30 are a couple dozen, but have always increased considerably by the end of the game. It really is a hard decision, bums on seats or TV money (bums on seats/floodlight bills in T3)? I guess money talks, but the later kick-offs always attract the larger crowd.
Kenny: I think 7:00 pm is the sweet spot for a weekend game, it still gives you time to do other stuff like go for dinner after the match has finished while not being too early for those coming from work. The later kick-off times were a pain in the arse last year because bars and restaurants were already closed by the time the match finished. (Covid restrictions). I've seen quite a few midweek 5:30- 6pm games at Port where the stadium still feels empty until nearly half-time because people still haven’t got back from work, so I can see the logic in having later kick-offs…just not on the weekend matches please!
Gian: Maybe true for midweek games. But for the weekend games, I think the current timings are fine. Remember, many Thai League outings are family affairs too, so I think there’s a ‘golden time slot’ to maximize attendances, and going too late beyond that could make attendances fall again.
Ta: I love late kickoffs. 19:00 and 20:00 are perfect for me, given the weather and traffic in Thailand.
4. Matches shown live on TV shouldn’t clash with other games.
James: First and foremost: get the games on free-to-air! In my opinion, the current TV deal has been a flop to put it mildly. TRUE was a far superior product, but they must've known they’d overpaid, and weren't getting value for money. Get the games on free-to-air, and even if you need to have 15-20 minutes (the half-time interval) as a solid block of ads to make it financially viable… get it done! Thai football needs as many eyeballs as possible at the moment.
Neal: It isn’t a problem at Ratchaburi. Everybody has a Smart Phone these days. I think clashes with Thai Soaps are more of a problem. Game after game in the West Stand at Ratchaburi supporters can be seen watching their Thai Soaps on their phones, whilst the live game is carrying on in front of them (I avoid the West Stand these days for just that reason). At least in the East Stand, supporters are usually watching football on their phones, especially when Liverpool are the early game. I must admit, I can be guilty, switching to my phone for an action replay of the match going on in front of me. However, if Ratchaburi are playing, I have little interest in other games.
Kenny: I think at least 1 match a week should be shown on Free Thai TV away from the AIS app, so a much wider audience can see it, and keep the others behind a paywall. I don’t see any benefit in all games being shown live at the same time. The potential pool of viewers for Thai football isn’t that big to begin with, without spreading that audience across multiple concurrent streams.
Gian: We should do something similar to the Premier League, where the ‘big games’ of that weekend are shown separately, and ‘less important’ fixtures are shown simultaneously. Maybe even giving crucial T2 games their own television spot once in a while could be good - we need to get more eyes on the second division for clubs to be sustainable there.
Ta: I disagree with this. I think every match should be televised, it will help spread the game to a wider audience.
5. Thailand’s participation in the WAFF Championship is a complete waste of time and an unnecessary interruption to the league programme.
James: It wouldn’t be a Thai League season without numerous interruptions.
I don’t want to be too negative for this one, but what I will say is this… if it’s outside a ‘FIFA window’ regarding clubs having to release their players, I hope that clubs will stand their ground and say “nope, you can’t have him.” If I were a club owner, I’d be furious if I released a player for a tournament like this (or the AFF Cup for that matter), only to not have that player available for the rest of the season due to a serious injury that they picked up unnecessarily.
For me, club football will always be far more important than any form of international football.
Neal: Definitely not, this competition is essential to enable Thailand’s national side to engage against class international opponents such as Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan. It is another brilliant opportunity, not to be missed, to cock-up the Thai League’s fixtures even more than they already are. After all, what other league is there where you can’t make firm travel arrangements until the end of the previous month? More in-season international competitions need to be arranged. It could be a great leveler if players from the top Thai teams picked up additional injuries. At the very least, these players will be fatigued from the extra travel and games. However, it’ll all be worth it when Thailand have another trophy in the trophy cabinet.
Kenny: Not much to add to that statement. The Asean Cup losing us a month was bad enough, this is just a total piss-take. It will be interesting to see how far Thailand have evolved under Mano against stronger Asian opponents, my guess is…. "not much".
Gian: Look, I can completely understand the reaction against this. But it’s been proven that Thai fans attend league games in bigger numbers when the national team is doing well, or they perceive the prospects for football in the country to be generally positive.
The WAFF cup provides us with the opportunity to play against teams higher than us in the FIFA rankings, but who are realistically beatable at this moment in time. Wins in this competition could help us improve our ranking and go up a pot just before the draw for the Asian Cup group stage and 2026 World Cup qualifying. It may seem like a meaningless competition, but participating and doing well could really help us get back on track as a national team, which will certainly help the league too.
Ta: Totally disagree, I think it will be a good test for the national team to play against strong opposition from the middle east. Good chance for Mano to put out a strong XI and see how big the gap is between Thailand and middle east countries.
Please note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of each individual and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the blog. Thank you.
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