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| 700th Anniversary Stadium |
Hiziel Souza Soares scored the goals for the side led by coaches Leones Pereira dos Santos and Surachai Jirasirichote. The club dropped JL from their title for the 2020-21 campaign.
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| 700th Anniversary Stadium |
The German formerly did a fine job at Chainat Hornbill, taking them to the league title. He found success once again, leading United to a runners-up place and promotion as Melvin de Leeuw and Jeong Woo-geun put away the goals. It had been a season that saw Amato replaced by Surapong Kongthep before the arrival of Ailton Silva.
The Brazilian resigned with Chusak Sriphum put in charge of the team, before the appointment of his successor, Somchai Chuayboonchum. The side reached the semifinals of the playoffs, losing to Customs United on away goals, by which time Rungroj Thongthinphu was head coach.
Time to Relax
I was in Chiang Mai for the International Cricket Sixes, where the event went swimmingly well. By finals day, I was ready for some live football action, drained as I was, particularly as it was available at a new ground to me.
Even better,
it featured our local side Rasisalai United, who had been crowned champions
after Pattani and Sisaket United drew 0-0 the night before, another match
watched live in a local bar, to more bewilderment from the other drinkers. The
Thai League fixture committee had been most kind.
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| John and I were captured on TV |
Poor Location
Anyway, at 6.20 pm, it was time to exit stage left after MC duties at the cricket, and head away in the car with John driving, kindly lent to us for the fifty-minute drive to the middle of nowhere, by another mate, Martin Peters. Talk about a football connection for my reports to A Thai Football Podcast.
The Rajabhat University Stadium in Mae Rim is undoubtedly impressive, but in the wrong location. Never has the term “white elephant” been more apt. The main stand was huge and incredibly steep, with the opposite side, where we went, consisting of steep steps and lots of space.
Good Game. Poor Experience
Rasi put on a decent show, beating a reasonable home side, with goals from Wichit, just before half-time and Nattapon late on, with Woogeun Jeong scoring a penalty in between them. Once again, the pace and skill of the champions in vital areas of the pitch defined why they have been so successful.
However, it was a poor spectator experience. 90% of fans were positioned on the open side, but the club only sold tickets behind the main stand, meaning we missed the first few minutes as John drove around to purchase them.
Lacking Common Sense
There were no food or drink concessions on our side either, with John saying there were just a couple next to the ticket desk, along with a basic souvenir stall. Surely, a money-making opportunity was lost, as well as a good way to ensure fans would be less inclined to return.
The stewarding and customer service took me back to England; such was their lack of common sense and basic people skills. There was a huge gap between the sets of fans, who got on anyway, and a bigger one to the pitch.
Saturday Nightlife
Temperatures were still in the late 30’s despite the 7.30 pm kick-off. Yet one of the two who’d been handed orange hi-vis tabards confiscated a plastic bottle of water from a young fan because it had a lid on. I’m not sure I’d bother returning.
John did a
sterling job getting us back and finding a parking spot near OMG when we returned to Chiang
Mai. I went out to celebrate the end of another tournament, later joined
by my wife, leading to a flight down to Bangkok in delicate condition the
following morning.
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