Chasing A Golden Goal

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Chasing a golden goal

By Kitinan Sanguansak

Jintana Panyaarvudh

The Nation

Published on February 3, 2010

Thailand's World Cup dream has acquired a most important ingredient - a boom in the local soccer league. But with the Thai Premier League set to go into maximum overdrive this year, there are fears it may all be a bubble

The Thai football league is booming to such an extent that the cash flowing into the Thai Premier League - the country's top-tier division - appears endless. As in times of economic boom, people talk in astonishment about the growing figures, but one question remains: is the influx of so much money a good thing?

The issue caps a remarkable turnaround in the TPL's fortunes. Not so long ago, officials were pondering how to find the financial assistance to help the league survive.

It looked dead and buried as fans shunned the stadiums and their support dwindled for teams with which they had little empathy. Any effort to stimulate public interest - such as providing comedy shows at half-time - was to no avail. The heavy increase in media coverage of European football did not help the cause much either.

CHANGING FORTUNES

The TPL's fortunes, though, were to change when the Asian Football Confederation implemented its "Vision Asia" strategy to promote professionalism in the region. Thailand scored poorly in the regional governing body's assessment of its league, and the country's clubs were denied a direct qualification spot in the revamped AFC Champions League.

Few could have anticipated the impact the AFC's decision would have on Thai football, but it proved to be a blessing in disguise as it contributed, more or less, to the TPL's revival.

One measure the Football Association of Thailand adopted to comply with the AFC was to require every club in the top division, mostly outfits each tied to an organisation, to become a commercial entity.

The rule resulted in a major shake-up in the league structure, as teams having legal difficulties in changing status were either disbanded or taken over - such as Krung Thai Bank, became Bangkok Glass FC.

Teams no longer had parent organisations to go to for financial support. They had no choice but to run the business as a genuine professional club. The main priority was to create a fan base, the blood of any team.

Teams became localised and it was no surprise to see them receive a good response from fans, who found it easier to support a side with which they had something in common.

The so-called "Chon Buri FC" phenomenon subsequently became widespread, as stadiums filled with supporters enthusiastically singing and dancing in support of their teams in an atmosphere usually seen in European football.

Gate receipts for the second half of last season, which nearly doubled those of the first, clearly demonstrated how fast the TPL's popularity was growing. The sight of people lining up to sign up for the fan membership of newly founded Buri Ram-Provincial Electricity

Authority - owned by politician Newin Chidchob - showed football frenzy was still very much alive.

With interest in a domestic league higher than anything seen in recent times, business people appeared ready for a scramble to exploit the new gold mine. The new season, beginning in March, will be played under the title "Sponsor Thai Premier League" after the energy beverage brand signed a Bt25-million contract along with three other main sponsors supporting the league.

It is reported the combined value of sponsorship deals the TPL clubs will earn in the next term will be not less than Bt2 billion.

SCRAMBLE TO BROADCAST

There was also a scramble for broadcasting rights for the TPL fixtures. It has been revealed that all 240 games will likely be screened live on either free or subscription TV, previously dominated by foreign leagues.

Another indicator of the TPL's economic boom is transfer fees, which recently set a record when Buri Ram-PEA paid Muang Thong United Bt3 million for a keeper. Although the figure was meagre compared to transfer deals in the top-flight European leagues, it was five times higher than the previous record of Bt600,000 when Michael Burns moved from Nakhon Pathom to Chon Buri.

Apirak Kosayodhin, the Bangkok United president, has a feeling of cautious optimism about the high rate of growth.

"It's tempting to talk about ever-growing figures. We didn't expect the league would grow at such a pace. And we don't know whether it was too fast.

"Looking at the figures, you can see we have a bubble. The question is whether the club can adjust itself to operating in a higher financial scale.

"Each club's budget was between Bt15 million and Bt20 million last season, but we now hear people talking about Bt30 million to Bt40 million. Such an increase in figures poses a problem to any business.

"In my view, we cannot grow only in financial terms, as it would cause an imbalance. Football league development doesn't confine itself to just on-field matters, since club management is another important part.

"We still lack human resources in this field. We can see that many teams use former footballers as managers, but I think being good on and off the field are different issues," said Apirak.

'NOTHING WRONG'

Ronnarit Suewaja, the Muang Thong United manager, sees nothing wrong with the football boom, though.

"It [the boom] should have happened long before, given that football is the No-1 sport in the country. The flow of cash can help develop our football. You can see top world players plying their trades in either the English Premier League or Spanish La Liga, which have strong financial bases."

He also dismissed a suggestion that the financial growth would expand the gap between the "big" and "small" clubs.

"A bigger budget doesn't mean we have a bigger chance of success. I think the solution is for any club to manage the team with their resources. They can choose to invest in youth development rather than spend big money on player transfers," said Ronnarit.

-- The Nation 2010-02-03

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[SriRachaShark]

"The so-called "Chon Buri FC" phenomenon subsequently became widespread, as stadiums filled with supporters enthusiastically singing and dancing in support of their teams in an atmosphere usually seen in European football."

What Chonburi FC does today, the rest of Thai football does tomorrow.

www.clubwebsite.co.uk/chonburifc

[whichschool]

With lots of poor people and a good interest in football Thailand has a good foundation to build on, building thousands of 1/2 size football pitches for kids to play on throughout the country would be as good an investment any country could do to achieve such an aim, same applies for England where kids football is still as badly run as ever with 10 year olds playing on fullsize pitches.

[SriRachaShark]

Unfortunately the Thai FA seems to have taken another huge step backwards after deciding to sack Steve Darby as assistant coach. It will be interesting to see how long Bryan Robson sticks around now. Methinks there'll be a lot more chasing before we reach the "Golden Goal".

http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/chonburifc/cl....pl?news=307026