Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
The Buriram province in Thailand never lacks ammos despite the distinct disadvantages it has to launch its chapter of the AFC’s groundbreaking Vision Asia football development programme.
Not to be intimidated by the other provincial projects which have certain strengths, Buriram is banking on its dedication and pure love of the game to propel its Vision Asia programme forward.
“Buriram is not like Chonburi or Phuket or Khon Kaen,” Buriram Football Association (BFA) working committee President Kanoksakdi Bhinsaeng said during a recent meeting.
“We don’t have advance infrastructures like Chonburi and the size of the Buriram province is several times bigger than Phuket and Chonburi.
“In terms of education, we trail Khon Kaen which is also the centre of everything in the north eastern region of Thailand,” Kanoksakdi said during the first meeting between BFA officials and AFC delegates after Project Buriram was added as the fourth AFC Vision Asia project in Thailand early this year.
“But what we have is the dedication and love for the game,” he said, showing the in-design of the new and soon-to-be-inaugurated stadium of the province’s golden child club, Buriram PEA.
Buriram is the latest AFC Vision Asia football development project in the Southeast Asian nation after the much more established Projects Chonburi, Khon Kaen and Phuket.
Kanksakdi, who has taken the task of establishing the FA in Buriram as one of the priorities before the Vision Asia implementation begins, adds:
“At the moment, we the clubs’ people are the ones who are running the football show in the province but now it’s the right time to form an FA to look after the entire football activities of the province as ultimately it will benefit the professional clubs in the province.”
Similarly, AFC Vision Asia started the other previous Thai projects by establishing the provincial FAs first before the implementation of the programme.
“Even in Vision Asia, I assure you that once we start the implementation there won’t be any looking back but of course we need some time to fix things before we take off,” added Kanoksakdi confidently.
“We are well aware that the FA is bigger than the clubs so we will try our best to embrace the members consisting of all football stakeholders throughout the province,” he said.
“That’s why we need some time before the Assessment Visit (planned to be in September this year) by the AFC Vision Asia Department, which is one of the prerequisite activities before the programme proper can take off.”
Kanoksakdi admits that the football people in the province are ‘babies’ but they are ‘dedicated babies’ willing to learn from the Vision Asia Department.
“Recruiting a coordinator for Project Buriram and finalising the statutes that will be approved in our first-ever Congress are the priority I have listed so far,” he said.
“And here comes the role of the AFC. We are like babies but are ready to follow whatever the AFC and Football Association of Thailand advise us to do.
“I repeat - we don’t lack the love and dedication to the game.”
Like the famous quote ‘Love makes the world go round’, Buriram is set to take its football round as well.
- P. Kattel