The Football Grinch at Mukdahan

Grinch: a person who ruins the pleasure of others.

กรินช์: สถานที่ปรักหักพังคนมีความสุขของผู้อื่น

Sakon Nakhon FC is experiencing one of their worst season since their inception in 2005.

12 games, 10 losses and 2 draws. Attendance to some games is less than 10% of stadium capacity.

Sakon Nakhon FC visited Mukdahan Saturday. Mukdahan is not faring much better: 8 losses, 2 draws, 2 wins. The stadium was, at my estimates, at 25% of capacity.

Within minutes of arriving at the game, an official confronted us and advised us that bullhorns used by cheering fans are not allowed. The official came across as a real ahole, no tact, very unprofessional.
He stated only drums were allowed for cheering.

Surprisingly a stereo to the right of the stands blared music throughout the entire game. The type of music you'd expect to hear at a nightclub.

To the left of the stands a band cheered on the Mukdahan team.

At 55 minutes into the game, the official seemed to decide that band music was also not allowed.

This time he sent in the police to stop the music. At first the cops seemed confounded and somewhat reluctant to carry out the order of silence. They did follow orders, they talked to one of the cheering team members in a very polite manner

After that, at times there was a deafening silence from the crowd. Had it not been for the nightclub music, the stadium could have been mistaken for a library on Sunday.

The bullhorn has been used by the Sakon Nakhon cheerleader for over a year without incident.

From the looks of the official he didn't enjoy the game.

Frequently this official assumed the duties of police, removing people who wandered past the field gate.

The refereeing at the game wasn't that good either. There should have been a couple of yellow cards and even a red card.