Don't park the bus; Thailand
Words Ted Delahoy
Bangkok is a city of contrasts. Modern Skyscrapers look down over ancient temples, tuk tuks share the road with flash cars from all over the world.
I like this contrast. You can see the old which has often influenced the new and appreciate the past but also see the direction Bangkok is moving in now. Speaking of which, the city has an excellent skytrain metro system which is where my first day in Bangkok started.
Without having much of a plan I looked at a map at the station and noticed one of the lines that ended a few stops away was called “National Stadium”. Naturally I bought a ticket and was on my way.
Bangkok is a huge city with new developments popping up everywhere so I was slightly concerned where football would fit into the city's constant change and expansion, fortunately I had no reason to be concerned. Leaving the station I was immediately met with a football court.
The court was slightly run down but it was in use as students from the Sport Science centre opposite laid out cones and did drills. Walking past this I reached the Thephasadin Stadium.
Slightly worse for wear, the ground had an endearing quality with one of the letters missing from the sign and plants somehow growing out of the concrete. Turning around I realised the stadium was in the shadow of the equally charming Supachalasai National Stadium.
Built in 1937 on the grounds where ‘Windsor Palace’ used to stand, the place is full of history. Looking at the front of the stadium this became even more clear as the names and countries of winners from the three Asian games held at the ground were displayed.
Interestingly, in the 1978 Asian games, the ground hosted the football final between North Korea and South Korea. The game finished goalless after extra time and as per the rules at the time, this meant both teams won the gold medal.
You can see why penalties were introduced as there wouldn’t have been much incentive for either team to take too many risks, still at least fans on both sides of the border would hopefully be happy with the result.
Doing a lap of the ground I then saw that a corner of the stadium has been turned into a public gym.
What is more, an old row of seats from the stadium have been placed there, a nice touch. Being English and football obsessed it is hard not to compare things from my trip to back home. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a public gym outside of Wembley with rows of seats from the old Wembley?
On my way to the metro station I passed a football court under an overpass which was nice to see. Throughout my time in Bangkok I saw football shirts being worn constantly and adverts for the Thai League.
It is a strange feeling looking at football pitches and towering buildings all around but that sums up football in Bangkok. In an ever changing city where every football pitch size space could easily be developed into another flat block, I’m relieved to say that football is given priority and space.
