Phuket FC football: Chumps to champs in a year?

Phuket FC did not make the most auspicious of starts in the lowest tier of professional Thai football.

Formed only weeks before the start of the 2009 Division Two (Southern Section) season and managed by a local politician, the team unsurprisingly failed to thrive.

Despite a succession of managerial changes and a mid-season makeover that saw virtually the entire playing squad overhauled, the side still finished bottom of the division.

Attendance at the Surakul Stadium was extremely poor and Phuket FC failed to record a single home win in front of this small handful of supporters.

While the few who did go to games regularly were pleased that an island with a population of well over half a million people finally had a professional football team, there was clearly much work to be done.

Miraculously, with the aid of some considerable investment and a much improved organizational infrastructure, this work did get done.

The squad which had struggled so badly was almost entirely disbanded at the end of the 2009 season and a new group of players were brought in.

Crucially, the club also employed the services of one of the best regarded coaches in the Thai game, Arjan Songssamsub.

He arrived from Muang Thong United as part of a link up between the two clubs.

Three years ago, Muang Thong United were playing in the third tier of Thai football, just like Phuket FC. Now they are on the verge of winning the Thai Premier League for the second consecutive season and have reached the semi-finals of the AFC Asia Cup.

Reinventing Phuket FC

Phuket FC sought to reinvent themselves in similar fashion by borrowing a number of players from the Thai champions. They also changed the color of their kit, logo, nickname and even the team name.

As of 2010, Phuker FC became FC Phuket, nicknamed the Southern Sea Kirin in tribute to Muang Thong United, who are known to their supporters as the Double Kirin.

Amongst the new arrivals were three players from the Ivory Coast. Diarra Ali, Camara Ahmed and Nene Bi were all loaned to the new look FC Phuket and this trio would be pivotal to the club’s successful second season.

Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town.

As well as new players, a marketing campaign which reached out to the Thai community attracted a small band of loyal supporters.

These fans were well organized and brought with them printed song sheets, percussion, flags and megaphones.

Whereas in the previous season the team had moved from one training pitch to another, sometimes turning up to find the grass was in urgent need of a mow, this year they moved lock, stock and barrel to the FIFA Tsunami pitch in Cape Panwa.

This is one of the finest playing surfaces on the island and gave Songssamsub the perfect venue in which to prepare his players.

2010 playoffs

The result was an almost instantaneous improvement as FC Phuket surged to the top of the table and stayed there all season.

While the 2009 season had seen the club collect only nine points and score 11 goals, the 2010 campaign saw Songssamsub’s men score 51 goals and pick up 55 points in the process.

Phuket has long been one of Thailand’s most popular and prosperous regions and it now had a football team of which it could be proud.

FC Phuket is one of the favorites to win the divisional playoffs, which run through December and decide which of the top teams from the five regional divisions will play in Division 1 next season.

On October 24, FC Phuket played Rayong FC to a 1-1 draw. On October 30 they beat high-scoring Chainat FC 1-0, a crucial win that moved them to Division 1 of the Thai League.

Ultimately, the ambition is to follow in the footsteps of Muang Thong United, which won Division 2, Division 1 and the Thai Premier League in three consecutive seasons.

One potential obstacle facing FC Phuket is the lack of support. While the fans who do show up are a vociferous bunch, there are nowhere near enough of them to fill the 15,000-seat Surakul Stadium.

This is partly due to the itinerant nature of the Phuket population. Its status as probably the most popular tourist destination in the region means that the majority of people in Phuket actually come from elsewhere.

It is difficult for people who have no roots in a place to feel an affinity for its football team.

Not the average tourist experience

While a football match might not be part of the average tourist experience in Thailand, there is much to recommend it.

Tickets to FC Phuket home games cost only 50 baht and unlike the majority of major European leagues, it is permissible to drink alcohol inside the stadium.

Win, lose or draw, and lately the team has mainly been winning, a good time is always had by all at the Surakul Stadium.

The supporters are boisterous yet benevolent and are always happy to welcome another member into their ranks.

So if you happen to be in Phuket between February and October and you are wondering what to do with yourself, why not take in an FC Phuket game?

Up to date news and ticket information can be found at: www.fcphuket.blogspot.com.

About the author: James Goyder is a freelance journalist from the UK who is based in Bangkok. He has had articles published in a variety of publications on topics ranging from cage fighting to the credit crunch.

His speciality is sport, he had a two year spell as chief sports reporter for the Phuket Gazette, used to publish his own Muay Thai Magazine and currently runs the only website for mixed martial arts in the region, South East Asian MMA.

He is happy to turn his pen to just about anything and his articles regularly appear in Thai magazines such as Thailand Tatler, Property Report, Tropical Living, Phuket Magazine and Shop Window on Lifestyle.

For more information, visit www.jamesgoyder.com.

James submitted this piece as part of CNNGo’s CityPulse section. To find out what other stories we are looking for, go to our CityPulse page.