Back to the football?

MTU defeated the mercenary PEA Buriram yesterday in a friendly.

Marco has highlighted a double apology from the coach of Thai Port FC and number seventeen respectively. This, coupled with a seemingly genuine (check the final photo) apology from the fans involved in the incident bodes well.

The police punishment of the guilty fans has been criticised as too soft, but I disagree. None of them had any previous offences, and the slightest lapse of their parole or a failure to report every three months will see them banged up.
That these guys gave themselves up - presumably after contact with Thai Port management and supporters - suggests to me that these are a few young idiots who thought they could get away with something stupid but learned their lesson. This is good, because it suggests a 'one off' incident rather than a new trend towards violence in Thai football.

All we need now is a punishment from the Thai FA and a ban on these guys from attending football matches for at least one season, and hopefully my boxing match with the tubby fan. But at least we are moving in the right direction and finally, now, we can start to look at he footballs side of things, which is what everyone wants.

Thai people love football, they love to wear team colours and they love to cheer. They have established a culture of friendliness and camaraderie that puts farang crowds to shame sometimes. I'm so glad that we have a good chance of holding on to it.

On a personal note, the match I went to yesterday was a welcome chance to get last week out of the way. I've got my prediction ready for the TPL 2010 season and I'm hoping that either the official site or the fan site of Muangthong will update its players page so we can all get to grips with the many changes the squad have made.