WHAT’S ON sport
Thai Premier League
Soccer pundit Paul Hewitt examines what’s happening in the world of Thai football
Sven’s appointment a great boost for Thai football
S
SVEN Goran Eriksson’s arrival in Thai football is a late-season plus for the domestic game. The veteran Swedish tactician may only be in the Land of Smiles until the end of the season but his technical director role at BEC Tero Sasana has generated some much needed good publicity for the TPL. Eriksson’s appointment made sports headlines around the world and Tero have already expressed a desire to retain the Swede’s services for the 2013 campaign. Tero picked up some good results in the weeks immediately following his appointment at the start of September. Chainat were beaten 4-2 in the league and then the Fire Dragons picked up a very good 1-1 draw at Buriram in the first leg of the League Cup quarter finals. Unfortunately for them, they went out on the away goals rule as Buriram scored a last minute equalizer at Thephasadin Stadium as the match finished 2-2 on the night and 3-3 on aggregate. Another decent 1-1 away draw was secured at Bangkok Glass but the first defeat in the Sven era came when Tero were surprisingly handed a 2-0 defeat by struggling Thai Port. The appointment of Eriksson is a statement of intent by the Pathumwan based club. The 2002 AFC Champions League finalists are determined to bring back the glory days in an era in which Muangthong and Buriram are threatening to totally dominate. Tero have the financial clout but what they don’t have is a substantial fanbase nor a stadium fit for an aspirational well-heeled TPL club. The creation of the latter should produce the former, and Eriksson stated in his first interview in Thailand – with the club’s official website – that a new stadium is in the pipeline. Any new arena will likely be well away from their current home, probably back in Nong Jork where the club used to play.
90
PAT Stadium
AS the first two parts of the series covered the two biggest grounds in the capital readers may be expecting another substantial arena this month. Thammasat suggested itself for its size and external architectural merit as did Chulalongkorn and Army stadiums for their large capacities. But I settled on the more humble surroundings of the PAT Stadium in Khlong Toey as it ticks the box of being a football-only venue. It is Thai Port F.C, of course, who play their home games at the PAT Stadium. But when the venue opened after the club’s formation in 1968 the team carried the name Port Authority of Thailand FC and the ground was known as the Tarua (Port) Stadium. And it’s only in recent years that the ground has developed both its physical and atmospheric presence. In January 2009, the ‘stadium’ comprised just one dilapidated main stand – slightly improved since then – with the other three sides being completely open save for sturdy white railings separating access roads and car parks from the pitch. The reinvention of the club as Thai Port F.C and the relaunch-of-
TheBigChilli
P83-92 Time off_Oct12.indd 90
9/29/12 10:48:17 PM