A whole new ball game

A whole new ball game

Barefoot country boys scrum down on a rugby adventure that has captured the public's imagination

PASS MASTER: A Ban Bak player practises his skills. (Photos by Chumporn Sangvilert)
PASS MASTER: A Ban Bak player practises his skills. (Photos by Chumporn Sangvilert)

After being a physical education teacher at the same rural school for 30 years, Thongchai Muangchan was bored with his job. The only thing he looked forward to at weekends, away from work at Ban Bak Primary School in Ubon Ratchathani province, was spending the day at his rubber plantation.

But out of the blue in July he received a phone call from his former teacher Wannasakpijitr Boonserm offering him an opportunity to take part in an unusual event the next month. Mr Wannasakpijitr formerly played rugby union for King's College in Bangkok, which has a long rugby tradition and has produced many of the country's top players.

"Would you like your students to sign up to compete in a regional rugby competition?" he was asked.

Mr Thongchai, 52, was taken aback. His students, the sons of farmers, had competed in football and athletics but knew nothing about rugby union, which started on the playing fields of a posh English public school in 1823.

According to rugby folklore, William Webb Ellis from Rugby School, while playing a version of what they then called football, broke the rules of the game by catching a ball and running with it.

Barely aware of the origins of this tough, physical game, which in recent decades has expanded its reach internationally, Mr Thongchai also decided to grab the ball and run with it.

He started to teach under-13 boys the basics of the game, while Mr Wannasakpijitr later arrived at Ban Bak to pass on rugby skills and its complex rules.

In August, they competed in the second division of a regional rugby sevens tournament against schools that had played rugby for two decades. In his heart, Mr Thongchai thought his charges, who couldn't afford boots or jerseys, didn't stand a chance.

"I told them not to expect anything as this was our first time and we were not going to win," Mr Thongchai said. "I told them to just do their best and learn from the experience."

But two months later the barefoot country boys are the most celebrated rugby team in Thailand.

ISAN MISSION

Ban Bak is a small government school located 30km south of Ubon Ratchthani town that provides a basic education for 120 students up to Prathom 6 level.

Its most striking feature is a large sports ground, which used to be rice fields, ringed by trees.

COMMITMENT: Coach Thongchai Muangchan holds the very first rugby ball used by his team. Chumporn Sangvilert

The students are mainly the children of farmers and, unlike city kids, they have no access to fancy smartphones or social media. Most pupils don't move on to higher levels of education due to poverty, but the school manages to produce a lot of high-quality athletes, some of whom continue their studies at other schools on scholarships.

Rugby is not on the school's sports curriculum, but when the Education Ministry announced its new policy to reduce classroom hours earlier this year, Mr Thongchai saw an opportunity to include it as a school activity.

Unknown to Mr Thongchai until the phone call, his former teacher was on a mission to bring the game to the people of Isan.

Mr Wannasakpijitr is the chief of northeastern rugby development for the Thai Rugby Union. A lecturer at Mahasarakham University, he is also a consultant at Chaloem Phra Kiat Somdet Phra Srinakarin Roi Et School, which in 1998 became the first school in the region to start a rugby programme.

After he established both boys' and girls' teams at the school, the Thai Rugby Union asked him what else he could do to promote the sport. Mr Thongchai, his former student, immediately came to mind.

"Rugby in Thailand was first played by students who used to study in Britain and it is kept only in a closed society of rich people and the elite. Vajiravudh College and King's College were the only two schools in the past that played the sport," Mr Wannasakpijitr said.

He wanted to change "this strange social norm" in Thailand and make rugby more accessible for everyone, including grassroots people. "This is why I started the project with the rural school of Ban Bak to let other people see that anyone can play rugby and become good at it, like the students at Ban Bak."

In Mr Thongchai, he had a willing if inexperienced disciple. Mr Thongchai has a master's degree in physical education and competed in field hockey tournaments at national level. He knows about winning and losing.

He started to read books about the rules of rugby and educated himself by watching YouTube videos.

When he announced his plan for Ban Bak school's first rugby team, he received a lukewarm response. Only nine students showed up at recruitment time, but luckily they were good athletes who played football and competed in athletics.

Mr Thongchai remembers that first training day well. He says he walked onto the playing field -- which is used as a football ground -- with nothing but the little knowledge he had acquired and a rugby ball he had bought himself.

FILL YOUR BOOTS

After the team was formed, Mr Thongchai told his charges they had a month to prepare before competing for real. Despite the tough task, they were surprisingly calm and trained every day for an hour before going home.

Not long after, the Thai Rugby Union sent a coach called "Uncle Tao" from Bangkok to give the boys a day of instruction on the rules and how to play.

But it was Mr Wannasakpijitr who gave them the most intensive lessons to prepare for their first competition.

Students' spirits soared under the tutelage and they were confident they knew what to do on the field. The main problem was their parents didn't have the extra money to buy proper rugby boots and equipment, and the school couldn't afford them.

In August, they arrived at Kanchanapisek Wittayalai Kalasin School to compete against three other teams in the sevens tournament. They were the underdogs. The other players had head protection gear, mouth guards, jerseys and rugby boots. The Ban Bak students arrived with nothing but team jerseys bought with donation money.

The rugby debutants had to borrow boots from their friends. Often they weren't the right size but they wore them anyway.

"One of the students kicked the ball and it flew in the air along with one of his boots," said Mr Thongchai, laughing at the memory.

"It happened twice and he had to tie the laces around his ankle to avoid the boot flying from his foot."

They lost their first game against Kanchanapisek School but went on to beat them in the later stages of the competition and ended up top of the second division for under-13s.

SPEED THRILLS

The team of novices returned home with a trophy and a cockiness their coach didn't like. Their overconfidence and belief they could beat anyone meant they didn't train as hard.

As a former athlete, Mr Thongchai could see the bad signs and told them that a regional tournament was only the beginning. He told them they were nothing until they could compete against traditional rugby powerhouses such as King's College and Vajiravudh College.

Mr Thongchai is a tough taskmaster and he soon took the "arrogance" out of the players at their daily training sessions.

A week after the team's success, the Thai Rugby Union contacted Mr Thongchai and asked him to send his team to compete at the national championships against the top teams in Thailand. He was excited and contacted Mr Wannasakpijitr to let him know the good news.

"He told me that I could do it. He told me I have gems in my hand, especially the three top players with experience in football and athletics. So I accepted the invitation and let my students know that we were going to compete at the national championships," Mr Thongchai said.

But he still had no budget, so he trained his students as he had before with emphasis on ball movement and less attention to technical aspects of the game. He had a team of speedsters who based their game on attack rather than defence.

Teachers raised enough donation money to hire a van to get them to the tournament in Pathum Thani last month. As they had a limited budget, the players slept on the office floor of a factory owned by a former Ban Bak student located not far from the stadium.

After the first day of competition, the country boys knew they were up against far tougher competition and stopped bragging about their Isan success. They were dead last in the five-team tournament.

But on the second day they beat a team of King's College students and were excited they would get the chance to play against Vajiravudh College for the Division Two championship.

Almost inevitably, Vajiravudh College brought them crashing down to earth, but Ban Bak ended up runners-up in Division Two and ranked fourth nationally in their age group. The Thai media fell in love with the fairytale of the small, plucky novices taking on bigger and more experienced opponents.

Mr Thongchai said much of the success was due to his players with athletics backgrounds, such as Thanarat "Top" Sihanam, and sevens being a quicker game than traditional 15-man rugby.

"I told Top just to run with the ball as fast as possible," Mr Thongchai said. "We are half the size of the other players and I never taught them to tackle. Running is the best weapon we have and Top is the one who holds that secret weapon. But it didn't work in this game.

"I'm proud of my students anyway. We need a lot more experience before we can think about beating tough teams like that."

FIELD OF DREAMS

After his parents split up, Top was sent to stay with his aunt in Warin Chamrap district near the school. To get his mind away from problems at home, he played sport. He started boxing and fought at temple fairs but always lost.

At school Top is a quiet boy. He is smart but doesn't like to talk much. He is, however, good at many other sports apart from boxing. He is an athlete and good at takraw. But as soon as Mr Thongchai started building the rugby team, he found a new favourite activity.

"I love sport and I love rugby," he said. "I find it a lot easier to play than any other type of sport but it also requires a lot of physical strength. I have to practise a lot because I want to play professionally. I want to be a national rugby player to compete with other countries," Top said.

Watching his friends practise last week was Teeranai "Ice" Laiprajak, 12, who broke his arm at the national championships. Even though he was wearing a cast on his right arm, he was still bright and bubbly.

Ice is hoping for a rugby scholarship from a top school as his family is poor and he wants to take his rugby career as far as possible. He was the once the top football player at the school but now his full attention is on rugby.

"I wasn't intimidated at all when I went to compete with Vajiravudh College or King's College. I didn't know who they were and I didn't know about their reputations until I competed against them," Ice said. "I want to be as good and as fearless as them. I want to play rugby for the rest of my life. I hope one day I get to make a living out of being a rugby player."

NOT ONLY FOR ELITE

Mr Wannasakpijitr believes rugby is a good metaphor for life. It teaches people about working together as one player can't make the whole team win.

Mr Thongchai is busy preparing and training his students for three competitions from December to February that he thinks will be a good learning experience.

"I told them not to expect to win or bring home any prizes. Just go there to learn about rugby from the other teams. The more you play, the better you become," he said.

It is difficult finding competition in a country where football, boxing and volleyball are more popular, so Mr Thongchai knows the importance of finding good opponents to test themselves against.

Ban Bak started with nine kids, one rugby ball and a lot of ambition. Today Mr Thongchai's rugby team has 20 players aged 10 to 12. Since the current crop will be leaving soon, he hopes to train a new batch of rugby converts to improve the school's growing reputation.

He also sees potential in the girls' team, which he will start training soon.

"We have a lot of female volleyball players who want to join the rugby team," he said. "They are in fact bigger and have a better chance than the boys' team due to their body size. I also want to get kids from other schools in this area to join the team. I can train all of them to play the game and make it more accepted.

"As a teacher, there is nothing better than seeing other people become successful. I have so many students who got to where they want to be. I am proud to be part of their success."

NEW SKILLS: Players get to grips with rugby union techniques despite having to train without boots or other equipment. Chumporn Sangvilert

QUICK OFF THE MARK: Ban Bak Primary School’s barefoot rugby novices put the emphasis on speedy attacking play rather than defence when they take on bigger opponents.

REACHING FOR THE TOP: Ban Bak players in action in Kalasin.

CUP OF CHEER: Ban Bak with their trophy from the northeastern championship in Maha Sarakham.

QUICK LEARNERS: Ban Bak faced top teams in the national sevens tournament in Pathum Thani.

AIMING HIGH: Thanarat ‘Top’ Sihanam wants to play rugby professionally.

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