Sports Notes - Thailand's Bid For Liverpool - Do Politics & Sports Mix? - June 2004

photo James Loving NR Thai fans love their football and idols. These ladies rejoice with the arrival of Manchester United in 2001.

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Thailand's PM Thaksin Shinawatra Bids For Liverpool - FIFA TOP TEN & NEWS - Fans Save Khmer Boxers Bacon with Bombing

Wednesday June 2, 2004

THAILAND'S LIVERPOOL BID - DO POLITICS & SPORTS MIX?

Do politics and sports mix? That seems to be the question that hasn't been asked regarding Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra bid to purchase a 30% share of the Liverpool football club of the English Premiere League for US $100 million.

Is there a major professional sports team in the world that is owned in part or total by a government? Why would a government invest in a professional sports franchise outside of their country? Doesn't Thailand have enough work to do in their own country where their money could improve conditions there?

Thailand has an avid interest in football as indicated by the huge amounts of money Thai's gamble on the sport.

Thai's are devoted fans of Liverpool and Manchester United. Man U won't be for sale any time soon.

Thai football fans are divided between the loyalties towards the two teams. The older generation is more supportive of Liverpool. The younger fans prefer Man U. Why? Liverpool was on the top when the older Thai generation were in their youth. The young Thai now prefers Man U for the same reason. Bottom line the Thai's are front-runners.

Thailand buying into Liverpool is a bad idea that does not serve the country. There is talk that if the Liverpool deal falls through then Thailand should buy outright another club that could use some money. Those mentioned are Everton, Manchester City and Fulham. The rationale is Thailand could then control the business and feed Thai players into the Premiership.

Why would the English Premiere League want the politics of a country involved in their business?

Thailand has set an example of how they meddle into the affairs of foreigners in their country how would that translate for England if they buy into the Premiere League?

Their history is not good when it comes to how they handle their affairs with foreigners. Their position is if you ain't Thai you ain't. Basically you are second-class or don't exist but a foreigners cash is always appreciated. As they say you can bring money in but you can't take it out.

They demonstrated that attitude in their mishandling of their former national team coach Peter Withe. Every time his contract came up for renewal they bitched and moaned about how they didn't have the money to pay him. Here was a man that took a disgraced team that quit against Indonesia in the 1998 Tiger Cup to being ranked 5th-6th in Asia.

They defeated South Korea in the 1998 Asian Games and followed that with a win over Arsenal. They also made it through the first round of the World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in their history.

When you put into perspective that they could only criticize Withe for the way he dressed on the pitch and not what he accomplished on it... by winning... it makes one wonder. They won football games like they've never won before and didn't appreciate it.

More hysteria was created when an assistant Thai coach quit Withe behind his back by going to the press with his grievances and not talking to the coach man to man.

The FAT ( Football Association of Thailand) then said they didn't have the slightly over $100,000 to pay his salary. No money, no money, no money… thus… this $100 million Liverpool proposal doesn't make sense.

Since Withe's dismissal the latest ranking had Thailand ranked 10th in Asia. Thai's also haven't complained about the way their current coach dresses which is the same as Withe on the pitch in sporting gear... a sweat suit.

What has that to do with the Liverpool bid? Answer…. Making rational decisions.

Where did or is the money come from? Why is it so easy to raise US$100 million and so difficult to raise $100,000 for Withe's contract?

The answer is a proposed lottery costing the buyer 1000 baht (US$25) per ticket with a reported winning top prize of one billion baht.

So what does that mean they made an offer and don't have the money?

The jackpot prize doesn't make sense since the offer to buy into Liverpool totals 4.6 billion baht.

For a BILLIONAIRE prime minister and former policeman that is trying to curtail crime this Liverpool scheme blurs that vision.

Thaksin wants to put and end to gambling on football in Thailand. Isn't a lottery a form of gambling? Is gambling associated with crime? Go figure.

It is well known by those that do business in Thailand that the Thai's have a way of putting you in your place. This applies even if they are wrong. The explanation being Thailand is their country and they can do what they want.

Fair enough....but does England need that aggravation?

If being demanding and imposing their will on others is their way of doing business why would the Premier League need a meddling country involved in the league?

Thaksin's demanding deadline ultimatum to finalize the deal last week wasn't acted upon by Liverpool. Since that time Thaksin has backed off and it's reported that to do the deal it would take several weeks to complete… if at all.

Thai football fans as Man U Red Devils at Man U press conference in Bangkok in 2001 - NR photo   Dell attacks Phouthang with a leg kick - NR photo Ringside crowd was settled in before water bombing - NR photo After the water bombing the ringside area was clear. Like Elvis most fight fans left the building never to return - NR photo Police restored order - NR photo

Thai demands, demands and more demands...

What would follow, would the Thai's criticize English football fans in the way they behave and dress as they did with Withe and do with foreigners in Thailand? Would they require fans to ware tuxedos to the games?

The bottom line is politics and sports don't mix. The one thing Thailand did gain from the venture is millions of dollars of FREE PUBLICITY for Thailand. If Thaksin wants to buy a football team let him use his OWN MONEY.

FIFA TOP TEN

Rank/Team/Points

1. Brazil - 838

2. France - 819

3. Spain - 784

4. Netherlands - 744

5. Argentina - 741

6. Mexico - 738

7. Turkey - 737

8. USA - 724

9. Germany - 723

10. Czech Republic - 720

KHMER FANS SAVE CAMBODIAN BOXER'S BACON

In what was one of the funniest moments in sports resulted in a nonevent.

Disgruntled Cambodian boxing fans unhappy with the performance of the champion boxer doused the boxing ring with plastic bottles of water during the fourth round of a championship fight in Phnom Penh last month. The result was the boxer's body surfing out of the ring seeking safety.

The incident resulted in the fans saving the Khmer champion Ei Phouthang his title as he was losing to Australian Timure Dell. As Dell was about to take out Phouthang the bottles flew.

The incident planned or not enabled Phouthang to be lucky too much (as they say in Asia) in saving his bacon and his championship belt. Full story

FIFA NEWS

USA Back In The Top 10 Nigeria And Romania On The March

In the latest FIFA World Ranking, world champions Brazil continue to hold an advantage of nearly 20 points over reigning European champions France, so the clash of these two titans in Paris on 20 May is unlikely to alter their standings considerably.

Spain hold on to third place ahead of a tightly-packed group of ten teams, with a mere thirty points separating the Netherlands (4th, up 1) and England/Cameroon (joint 12th). Seen in that light, the USA may have made only a fleeting return to the Top 10 (8th, up 3) on the back of a morale-boosting win over their Mexican neighbours (6th, down 2).

The situation in the higher echelons of the ranking will become clearer after events at EURO 2004 and the Copa America in June and July.

The two most impressive climbers are Nigeria (16th, up 5) and Romania (23rd, up 5), with the Romanians rewarded for their stunning 5-1 victory over Germany. However, this month's biggest movers are all to be found outside the Top 50. Libya (68th, up 9), Panama (120th, up 7) and Nicaragua (161st, up 16) have all made considerable progress, while Bermuda (164th, down 5) slip slightly after recording spectacular gains in recent months.

The regional composition of May's Top 50 is as follows: UEFA (24), CAF (9), CONMEBOL (7), AFC (6) and CONCACAF (4). Oceania's top two teams - Australia (89th) and New Zealand (95th) - will be hoping to close the gap on this group with their qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) due to get underway at the end of May.