Thai fans make their presence felt

Published>Thu, Sep 09 10 06:37 AM

When Bhaichung Bhutia was brought down at the edge of the box in the last minute, Ambedkar Stadium went up as one shouting "penalty". Almost everyone that is. In one corner of the stands, seventeen voices shouted in unison "nooo".

The seventeen are led by 26-year-old "Bandit" Aroman ? a man on a mission. The Bangkok native is trying his best to outshout the sizable Indian contingent that India manager Bob Houghton believes is one of the forces that make the team so strong at this venue. Its no small undertaking, considering many in the several thousand strong Indian section are armed with the booming vuvuzelas.

The seventeen ultimately have the last laugh as Thailand breached Fortress Ambedkar to win 2-1.

Standing in the far right corner of the stadium directly across the Thailand dugout, the band seems indistinguishable from the sizable North-Eastern section of the crowd down to the spiked hair, french beards,and heavy metal T-shirts.

It's only their allegiance that sets them apart. The seventeen are all students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who have taken the day off to cheer their team. Bandit is himself a Phd student in Asian studies. "There are around 100 Thai students at AMU and all of us are football fans. We even have our own soccer team ? Jaran Maeluleem over there," he said while pointing down at the red and white T shirts he had custom made for the team.

"Not all of us could come to Delhi. But the national team won't come to India every day so the seventeen of us decided to hire a bus. It was a six-hour trip but worth it. You could say we are representing all the Thai people " he said with a smile.

Singing and dancing for nearly two hours in the pouring rain in the uncovered stands, 20-year old Nurudin is perhaps the most passionate. Draped in a soaking wet red, white and blue Thailand flag, he shouts words of encouragement. "Chai Yan Yan (be cool, be cool)" he shouts at Samana Natthaphong as he watches the Thai midfielder struggle to get past a spirited Indian defence.

The trip included a bit of subterfuge as well. Food was not allowed inside the stadium and the players, most of them Muslim, were fasting. "We had to smuggle the food inside and we broke our Roza during the halftime," said Bandit with a big grin.

Nurudin the flag wearer reveals there are divisions within the Thai cheering contingent. They are divided on the basis of club support in the Thai Premier division. "My favourite club in is Muangthong United. In fact, most of us are Muangthong fans. Ideally, we would prefer to cheer our own club players, but today we don't care as long as they are on our (Thailand) side," he said.

The player of the moment for them is striker Winothai Teerathep, who scored the opening goal. "Back home he plays for BEC Tero Sasana. So he is the enemy. But today he is our hero."

Indeed, Winothai is so happy about their support that after the Thai team has gone about doing their wai to the crowd, he comes back and performs the traditional Thai greeting of folding hands and bowing. He then comes up and poses for photographs. "This is something that would never happen back in Thailand, there is no way we could get this close to a footballer. It's an amazing feeling."

Any plans to continue celebrations are brought to an abrupt halt as a policeman asks them to leave. The small group, still giddy with the excitement of win, does not complain. They have to leave immediately as if they have to be in time for classes the next day.

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