Chibuna FC and Academy is an amateur football club, formed in 2017 in the eastern suburbs of the Thai capital of Bangkok. Chibuna catered for junior footballers between the ages of 6- 18 years, with their adult team competing in the Bangkok Premier League in the 2022 season.
The club competed in the same competition in 2023-24 before disappearing off the radar. Another club Cheetah FC, which seemed to include several Chibuna players began to play in the Thonburi League from the start of the 2024 season.
Minburi City 2 Bangkapi FC 2 (Saturday 19th February 2022) Friendly (att: c40)
Click here for my first visit to the venue
Chibuna FC 1 FC Bangsaotong 3 (Sunday 12th June 2022) Bangkok Premier League Division 2 (att: c20)
My local friend Steve was accompanying me to several local Sunday games. He had taken a bit of a shine to visiting Airport Stadium. However, no game was scheduled for there, but I had a perfect solution.
Chibuna Arena, as the home club call it, or the Kanjanapat Arena as it is named on the league website was a short journey down Ram Inthra and perfect for our usual 3.30pm meet-up time, with the game kicking off at 4pm.
Added to the mix was that I was friends with Jamie Clarke and Lee Hall of the visiting side. Jamie, the head coach of FCB confirmed the location and that Lee would definitely bring his music speaker for after the game. More of which later!
The taxi driver was a little on the dozy side and was heading for the flyover instead of our turn-off. Fortunately, we averted any real disaster, but I thought it a good idea for him to pull up on the main Suan Siam road rather than going through any further pantomime.
It was only another seven or so minutes’ walk to the ground. A pleasant surprise since my previous game there was the addition of two small covered seated stands over on the far side, not unlike the ones at Grakcu Sai Mai.
We naturally took seats in the shade. It was a warm afternoon, but the skies also showed a chance of rain. I gave Steve the benefit of my Bangsaotong team knowledge, spotting striker Leon Nelson was missing.
While this fixture worked in many ways, I was hoping it would not be a mismatch. The hosts were towards the bottom of the table and had taken a proper spanking in the corresponding fixture, as FCB chased down leaders DX Academy.
We saw anything but a one-sided clash in the early stages as Chibuna used the small pitch to press high in defence which allowed them to send more men forward. This frustrated the Qons who enjoyed a different style of passing football and were being cramped for space.
The visitors were getting frustrated as through passes were overhit or space was at a premium. They came close when the division’s top scorer Simon Murgatroyd played the ball to player-owner Crispin Francis who saw his shot go over off the top of the crossbar.
The breakthrough eventually came on twenty-seven minutes when a neat passing move saw the FCB 20 play inside to 27 before receiving a return pass to finish neatly past the home goalie.
Jamie Clarke won possession and broke before playing a fine pass out wide to 10. He steadied himself and played inside to 20 who shot over when in a decent position.
Chibuna had plenty of play and were keeping their shape and discipline making things difficult for the away side. Although 27 was wasteful with a free kick in a decent position as the high netting surrounding the pitch did its job.
Chanathip Chaibanha could have capitalized when he lobbed over just prior to the halftime whistle when he probably should have scored for the team in green in black. They were certainly posting enough warning shots towards the Qons.
Big forward Murgatroyd was becoming especially frustrated, either being caught offside or with passes being overhit in his direction. However, he could blame nobody but himself a few minutes before halftime.
Neat interchange between 27 and 28 saw the ball come to Francis who fed in 10 with a clever pass, who in turn played the ball across to where Murgatroyd was waiting with an open goal at his mercy, but the ball inexplicably rolled under his boot.
Player-coach Clarke had pretty much the same view as us in the stand when we got a brief chat before the restart. The pitch was small and wasn’t the flattest, and the officials were not doing the away side many favours. By full time FCB would have three players shown yellow cards.
The game followed a similar pattern in the second half, though Chibuna begin to show a little more menace going forward. The game ignited halfway through the period when the referee made one of several puzzling decisions.
A long ball was being chased by home forward Chaibanha. FCB sub 22 did well to get in front and look to clear the ball back over his shoulder. The ref thought it was a foul and showed 22 a yellow card.
We couldn’t believe it in the stand. It’s fair to say that they Bangsaotong players were unimpressed, and some opinions were passed around including quite a stand off over forty yards between Lee Hall and Aloy Chukwudebelu, a Chibuna sub sat on the bench.
Chukwudebelu was incandescent and implored his animated coach Uthai Ngamcharoen to let him on the pitch. Thankfully, a bit of peace talking ensued, but the sub was still fizzing and wanted to go on for several minutes afterwards.
The resulting free kick was easily dealt with by the visiting custodian. FCB still looked the more incisive in attack with the Chibuna keeper doing well to get out of his box and deny 35 with a strong challenge.
The man between the sticks was having a good afternoon with several decent stops along with some disciplined defending from his colleagues. His endeavors kept the team in the contest until they equalized with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
It was a goal of simplicity as following a short goal kick and a couple of passes, the second of which found Chaibanha with plenty of space down the inside left channel. He made no mistake with a cool finish. It was no shock to the pair of us spectators. It’s fair to say that the home side enjoyed the moment.
The game could have gone either way as both teams looked for a winner as the game entered stoppage time. FCB stuck to their football philosophy and were rewarded when a back post cross was controlled and put away by Wanlop Suwannarat to make it 2-1.
The game was put to bed when 16 latched on a through ball and went on a powerful run before squaring for Suwannarat to score. Bangsaotong deserved the win, but 2-1 would probably been a fairer score.
Not that Steve cared as he’d predicted the final result before kick-off without ever seeing either team! Just a shame there wasn’t a bookie’s on hand. We hung around in case of any “afters” were about to kick off, but the atmosphere was convivial between all parties.
Talking of parties. An attraction of the fixture was that Chibuna had their own clubhouse, café and bar across the road from the ground. Steve quite reasonably opined two or three beers before home would be most convivial.
Well, we were nearing that number when Lee and then Jamie plus a few other FCB lads joined us. What followed was a superb time bonding and making friends while talking football, Bangkok and music.
Lee had indeed bought his little speaker to boom out some tunes. Another game had taken place out on the pitch and the players were returning from that game. One side had Kanjanapat on the back of their shirts, and the others were in purple and white. Lee and Alloy were friends again by now!
I had no idea which clubs they were when they began playing. By now I wouldn’t have had a chance of guessing. But I know that several were similarly thirsty, and they enjoyed singing along to Hey Jude.
Jamie and Lee used their common sense and headed off earlier. Ours had departed a while before that. It was a stagger back to the main road to search for a taxi. I’m not 100% certain Steve had total faith in my orientation, but memory and Google Maps pulled us through.
It had been another superb few hours out at local amateur football, that very rarely seemed to disappoint. We’d seen a decent feisty game, had lots of drinks, listened to great music and made or cemented friends. That’s what life is all about.
As a footnote, my wingman was out of action for a few days owing to an injury trying to get out of the taxi at his house but catching his flipflop on the door frame and taking a hefty tumble. His head and ribs were damaged. The road was just about alright.