Soccer in Bangkok

I didn’t know there were so many soccer-mad Australians out there, but I ran into a bunch of them here at Big John’s guesthouse. There are at least ten of them staying here, apparently the ‘Asia Cup’ is in Thailand at the moment. Four different countries are hosting, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, with matches in each of these countries. Australia played its first game against Oman (to be honest, I had to look it up, but it’s a little oil rich Middle Eastern country nestled between the Persian Gulf, UAE, Yemen and Saudi Arabia) decided that it could be fun to go along, being that I happened to be in Bangkok, so I went along with a dutch guy, a Brit, an Aussie, and myself. We were all pretending to be Australians for the day. I’d taken the Aussie to MBK earlier in the day to get a sim card and have his phone unlocked… he was entirely ungrateful, especially because I made the trip to show him where to get it done, having no purpose to go for myself. A nice enough guy though, apart from being so mad about soccer (sorry, “football” you’re supposed to call it if you’re a true fan…. But as I’m not it’ll still be soccer here) I had an interesting conversation with him, in which I proposed that despite all the hype, it’s really just a game… (I lived in Europe long enough to know all about the rivalries and craze surrounding it, and I know very well that to many people it becomes their life, but essentially, at heart, it’s just 10 guys from two teams playing a game…. I was being a bit contrary and a bit cheeky I guess, but he did not take it well at all and acted like I had insulted his mother. I just wanted some kind of acknowledgement that take away all of the hype surrounding it, it was just a game of soccer, but I was kidding myself so I backed down as he was incredibly offended and I had no hope of changing his mind. Anyway, I enjoyed my first soccer experience, despite the empty stadium and stormy weather… Oman played very well and one of the best things about the game to me were their supporters… I really enjoyed the Omani fans, who danced and played musical instruments and chanted throughout the whole game. Australia were lucky, in the last two minutes of the game they scored an equalising goal, and managed a 1:1 draw, but they didn’t impress me greatly. The Omani supporters, though, I loved watching them. After the game, they danced through the pouring rain all the way out of the stadium. Certainly enough to make me want to check out what sort of a country it is and go there myself.