This was one Thai Premier League match-up nobody saw coming at the start of the year. On one side was the league’s roughest team, with its headquarters near the Klong Toey slums, which was last year slapped with hefty fines for crowd violence as it stared down relegation. On the other was an heiress to the Muangthai Insurance fortune, a softly-spoken businesswoman who takes pride in her appearance and has a small enterprise importing luxury handbags.
So there was no small amount of surprise when Nualphan Lamsam announced in February that she was taking over the Port Authority of Thailand Football Club. But it’s a match that makes a lot of sense. Although Ms Nualphan is a well-heeled socialite, she is a powerful force behind the spectacular success of the Thai women’s national team, and national team at the Asian Para Games. Also, the club formerly known as Singhtarua has renamed itself and is attempting to change its reputation from one of hooliganism.
It’s hard to deny that Ms Nualphan stands out, but she does not feel out of place at Port FC. “I am no longer a hi-so. I am running in the football fields with Port FC and the national women’s football team every day,” she said.
“I was approached by the old management of the Port Authority of Thailand’s football club. They asked me if I was interested in being the team’s chairman and to jointly invest in the team. I said yes. Port FC is one of the oldest football clubs in the country, with a long tradition and a solid fan base.”
Brunch met Ms Nualphan about a month after she took over Port FC at the PAT Stadium in Klong Toey. Port was at home against Suphanburi FC in its fifth match of the season, and Ms Nualphan arrived at the stadium shortly before kick-off.
Earlier, she had attended a special event at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre, one sponsored by Muangthai Insurance Pcl, majority-owned by her family. Beating the traffic with the MRT, Ms Nualphan made an impressive entrance wearing Port FC’s striking orange and blue jersey, a dark skirt and high-heel shoes. She walked around the stadium greeting fans of both teams, waved and waied while saying: “Thank you for supporting our team.” A group of fans chanted back “Madame Pang”, her nickname. Ms Nualphan made the V for victory sign to a roar from the crowd.
Before the match, she also spent a few minutes talking to Port’s players in a small reception room underneath the stadium. “I told them to play to their best ability. Whatever the result, we have to show the spirit of sportsmanship.”
ON THE BALL
Running a professional football team seems an unlikely pastime for this 49-year-old businesswoman. In contrast to her demure style and decorum, the football scene is testosterone-fuelled and expletives echo through the locker rooms.
And it’s not as though Ms Nualphan doesn’t have enough to do, since she serves as Muangthai Insurance president and chief executive officer and oversees her side business Saint Honore (Bangkok), which imports luxury goods from Hermes, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans, Tod’s and Bluemarine.
Thailand’s professional football league is perceived as men’s business: It is tough both on and off the field. It depends not only on the athletes’ performance but also sponsorship deals, with club managers competing to recruit players both locally and internationally.
Newin Chidchob, the politician-turned-football club chairman, reportedly spent several million baht this season recruiting for Buriram United, the current premier league champion. Other top clubs such as Chonburi FC and Bangkok Glass FC have received huge amounts of funding to recruit the best possible players for their squads.
Mr Newin also gave Ms Nualphan a less than warm welcome before the clash between Port and Buriram United, saying via the press: “Welcome to the hell of the Thai Premier League.”
Ms Nualphan is not so easily daunted. “Khun Newin just wanted to tease me,” she said, lightly shrugging off the advice.
Running Port FC will certainly provide its share of challenges. For a start, the team is still languishing in the lower half of the league. The club lost several top players to other teams, although has retained key players including midfielder Adisorn Daeng-rueng, forward Rachanon Srinok and Japanese football star Hironori Saruta who is vice-captain.
More notoriously, however, is the brand of hooliganism that Singhtarua has been associated with. Last season, the club was slapped with a nine-point deduction and a fine of 300,000 baht after the team’s supporters clashed with fans of Muangthong FC in October. About 10 people were injured and both sides filed complaints with the police.
Changing the club’s name is just one part of changing its image, and in the early games the crowd behaviour has improved. “We haven’t experienced hooliganism so far this season,” Ms Nualphan said. “We have communicated with the fans and plan to engage them in constructive activities.”
Ms Nualphan declined to say how much money she has invested for her five-year agreement to manage the club, but said Muangthai Insurance played no part in the deal. “It is my personal money.”
Muangthai’s name was briefly incorporated into the club’s rebranding, but that lasted less than a month. Fans didn’t like the change and Ms Nualphan responded by renaming the club, for a third time in as many weeks, Port FC. Meanwhile, the 12,000-seat Port Authority of Thailand stadium in Klong Toey was repainted blue.
But the option is open for future cooperation. “Muangthai Insurance is interested in sports marketing. Muangthai Insurance may have CSR [corporate social responsibility] activities with Port FC in the future.”
However, Ms Nualphan’s immediate priority is to rebuild Port FC.
MATCH DAY
On the evening of Port FC’s match with Suphanburi, the club chairwoman watched from the bench, her excitement clear whenever her team came close to scoring. Port FC missed its opportunities, and Suphanburi took the match 2-0. “I am not happy with the result,” she said. The fans showered her with consolation, and one group of Port FC fans from the Klong Toey community surprised her with an advance birthday cake. “I love my football fans,” she said. “They came here to boost our morale. They have been the team’s supporters for years.”
Port fans made their affection for the club’s new chairwoman abundantly clear, staying to mingle after the match despite the disappointment with the result. “Perhaps, the fans see that I am the only chairwoman of all 18 Thai premier league teams,” she said. “But in professional football leagues, there are headaches every day.”
For someone with a master’s degree in management from Boston University and no sporting pedigree of her own, Ms Nualphan does love the game of football. But there is something else that drives her. “I think sport is a means to improve people.”
She entered the sports scene as a means of social service, guiding national Thai athletes with disabilities to win gold medals at the Fespic Games in 2006 and Asian Para Games a year later. Ms Nualphan has since been very active in projects to empower women, leading Muangthai Insurance’s participation in the Stop Teen Moms campaign.
Later, she was approached by the Football Association of Thailand to manage the national women’s team, which has secured a place in this year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup final. Her role as the manager is to take care of the team members’ well-being, not coaching them on the field. “After running a women’s team, I wanted to try a men’s football team,” she said.
The Thai Premier League makes football the toughest sport in the country as each team’s performance is judged and dissected every week. Losses are not taken lightly.
When Brunch visited Ms Nualphan’s office three days after the defeat at the hands of Suphanburi, she was tied up in an hours-long meeting with Port FC’s management and coach.
After finishing 13th last season, Port’s prospects for this season based on early performances do not look promising. With more losses than victories, Port is again at risk of being relegated if the situation does not improve.
In her designer jeans, Ms Nualphan looked serious while talking about her football business on the phone.
“Of course, I am not happy with the performance. But we face some limitations. We have to wait until the recruitment window is open,” she said. She did not say which players she is after. “But we can manage. We will do it gradually,” she said.
Asked about her experience of leading a professional league club so far, she said: “There are surprises every day.” n
