Coming home

It's been well over a year after Rajpracha left the place, promising that they would return for the second leg of the 2010 season after "renovations" were complete. Yet the Nonthaburi Provincial "Wat Boat" Stadium remains unimpressive and barely changed, but this tiny ground is likely to stay deep in the hearts of local fans.

Importantly, the pitch is looking in good condition. Off the field, the only real change visible from the front view is the layer of dust and stone over the track that runs behind the pitch and running track. I hope this will last out the monsoon season to avoid a repeat of my first ever trip to the stadium - when I arrived in business attire and sunk knee-deep into mud before I made the stand, much to the amusement of local kids. Behind the single stand for fans, a large area has been demolished, leaving waste ground and rubble behind.

The real question now is: can Nonthaburi FC and Nonthaburi Government deliver the TPL standard structure the club has pledged to achieve? It looks to be a difficult task given the dilapidated structure of the stand, the surrounding construction and the typically cramped provincial Thai village that surrounds it.

Let me try to give you a visual image - the ground has just one stand - I'll call it the West Stand - that runs from a touchline to almost the opposite touchline. Around the pitch is a running track (that was used cheerfully by runners throughout yesterday's friendly) but it's mercifully narrow and does not affect a fan's view too much. The area behind the goal that I walk across to get to the stand could conceivably be used to throw up some bleachers and expand the total capacity to 1500-2000. Even this would be a challenge though, as it would block vehicles from entering the ground from the front way. Assuming that the area behind the stand was deolished to form a car park, there would need to be another route for vehicles to enter it. The opposite goal end is immediately in front of a school playground and has very little space. The opposite side to the west stand is narrow and covered by a run-down basketball court, but perhaps at a push the club could relocate the court and throw up another small makeshift stand that could just push capacity to 2,000 (the minimum TPL requirement).

In all, the Wat Boat Stadium is unlikely to ever be a top-ranked football ground, but then that's probably not what anyone wants. Fans of Rajpracha and now Nonthaburi FC like it because - unlike the Thunder Dome or even the Rama 9 Stadium - it's central to the province, in a typically provincial area, hard to get to (no regular buses go there) and is frequented by working class Thai people. That may just by why it worked for Raj, and may yet work for Eka.

The man standing closer to the camera is where the outside track now runs. The machine you see next to the grass pitch is where the goal now is. You can see the edge of the single stand in the background.
This is the only picture I could find online, if anyone knows of others, please tell.