Football craze can yield positives

The “friendly season” of popular football clubs is drawing to a close. Thailand has welcomed Liverpool and Chelsea with expected results, not just in terms of scores but also the manner of reception. In what has become an annual sporting ritual, the country, along with the likes of Malaysia and Singapore, gave a red carpet, shrieking welcome to football stars whom most people have seen on TV. According to the clubs’ official websites, we are a proud host. The question is, how much longer this kind of “pride” should continue.

Football “fandom” has its own characteristics. It’s religious, unbreakable and borderless. Thailand is known as having one of the world’s most devoted fans of European football. For example, Liverpool’s official website has declared that there are more Liverpool fans in Thailand than anywhere else in the world, including the city of Liverpool.

There is no doubt that Thai footballers’ regional success has a lot to do with the sport being so popular in Thailand. The Thai football team has, most of the time, been the region’s best and most consistent. Singapore and Malaysia, despite their wealth and peoples’ fondness for football, have been struggling to build teams that can seriously challenge Thai supremacy. Thailand’s own Premier League has also really started to get off the ground.

Having said that, there remains big room for the improvement of Thai football. And there is no proof more glaring than when everyone goes crazy about the arrival of foreign football greats. When we look in awe at the raucous reception football stars from overseas get, we cannot help wondering why Thai footballers aren’t a lot better than they really are. We wonder why the almost-unrivalled football craze cannot translate into a more constructive energy.

One thing is clear: Countries with great national teams don’t fall in love with clubs of other nations. Brazilians don’t run after chartered buses carrying foreign players;teams from Spain can’t “dig gold” in pre-season in Germany, unless genuinely big matches are really set up, and vice versa. And if you were Italians, you wouldn’t roar on French or Russian players to victory over your own national footballers.

Football fandom is beyond reason, but that doesn’t mean something good can’t come out of the characteristic irrationality. Foreign clubs’ popularity can create more than just handsome incomes for a handful of organisers or corporate sponsors. Good traditions, like the way young talent is located and groomed, for example, can be jointly promoted and instilled. 

We have heard about famous foreign clubs or players holding “football clinics” in Thailand. There are free tickets to see games overseas or even opportunities offered for Thai youngsters to join practice at famous training grounds. One problem is that all of these serve business interests primarily, and fandom is actually exploited rather than productively utilised. The current “campaigns” lack the consistency and long-term devotion needed to push Thai football to the next level.

In every sport, much of the hard work takes place behind the scenes. Behind the glory and fame are unrelenting sweat, gruelling scouting and strenuous training. For all the Thai craze and surreal following and admiration for foreign “stars”, the real essence of what makes them great has not been promoted or instilled for the greater good.

Fervent fandom has both positives and negatives. On the one hand, it can turn people into hypocrites. On the other hand, it can inspire. It’s up to all involved – the organisers, the sponsors and, not least, the clubs themselves – to make the noble best of it.