At 73, Thavatchai Sajakul may seem like a man whose playing days are well behind him. But the former manager of the Thai national football team has been in the news again after challenging Worawi Makudi, the long-time president of the Football Association of Thailand, for his job.
changing roles: Thavatchai Sajakul has been a national team coach, a politician and now wants to unseat Worawi Makudi and become president of Thailand’s football association.
As the Oct 17 election for president of the FAT draws near, the fight for the top job is turning ugly as the controversial incumbent recently filed a defamation suit against Mr Thavatchai, who is also known by his new name of Vanasthana.
Narinpong Jinapak filed a defamation claim with the Criminal Court on Mr Worawi’s behalf. He is asking for 20 million baht in damages caused by Mr Thavatchai’s allegations on social media against Mr Worawi over FAT voting regulations. Mr Narinpong claimed Mr Thavatchai had damaged the reputation of Mr Worawi and the FAT. The court will decided whether to accept the case on Nov 16.
During an interview with Spectrum, Mr Thavatchai shrugged off Mr Worawi’s lawsuit.
“The trial will take years and even if the lawsuit consists of five counts with a two-year sentence each, I will be about 80. I have nothing to lose,” he said.
“I have heard a lot of negative news regarding the ethics of people in Thai football circles,” Mr Thavatchai added.
He cited examples such as a petition by referees over the payment of their allowances and the fact Mr Worawi was found guilty by the Criminal Court of falsifying documents about FAT voting regulations.
“The perception of FAT is negative and there are calls to change the leader,” he said.
On Oct 17, FAT members will vote for a president. Mr Worawi, who has held the position since 2007 and is also a former Fifa executive committee member, had been seen as a sure bet to be re-elected to head Thailand’s most influential sports association. The term of the new FAT president will be extended from two to four years.
As well as Mr Worawi, the two other candidates for the job are Mr Thavatchai and Pisan Jundilok, a regional police chief.
Most observers predict Mr Worawi will win. His team includes Nualphan Lamsam, the former manager of the national women’s team and the chair of the Port Football Club.
Mr Worawi’s trump card is thought to be getting the backing of Siam Sport Syndicate PLC, the most influential sports media group in the country which also owns SCG Muangthong United Football Club.
Mr Worawi was not available for comment.
PLAYING FOR A WIN
Mr Thavatchai, however, is playing a tactical game and plans to score a few points on Mr Worawi.
contender: Pisan Jundilok is also standing in the election for president of the FAT .
He has two young staff members who work on social media and they have opened two Facebook pages highlighting the problems in Thai football: www.facebook.com/Bigcleaningfootballthai and www.facebook.com/sportparty.
The pages were launched three months ago after Mr Thavatchai announced he was running for the job.
“It is normal practice in politics. We have to expose the weak spots of our opponents,” said Mr Thavatchai, a veteran politician who once represented the Democrats before switching to Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party.
But Mr Thavatchai is better known for managing the popular and successful national “dream team” in the mid 1990s, when he was known by his nickname Big Hoy. In his days as national coach, the team won the Asean Football Championship and regional titles with star players including Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang.
BLOWING THE WHISTLE
While some might expect a man of Mr Thavachai’s age to retire quietly, he felt obliged use his experience to try to change the sport.
“I heard so many complaints from people in the industry. And I had to do something,” he said.
He alleged the football association breached voting regulations, stipulated in 2013, during a special general meeting of members on Sept 17 this year.
Mr Worawi’s lawyer, however, argued that the meeting was held to change FAT rules to bring them in line with the new Sports Act and to set up an election committee.
During the meeting, Mr Thavatchai took the microphone to say the gathering was short of a voting quorum because FAT executives failed to comply with the regulation that required representatives of the Regional League to come from the top five teams in each of the six regions.
He then wrote three protest letters to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, alleging the Sept 17 meeting was not transparent and asked for it to rule that the new FAT regulations be declared void.
Mr Narinpong, who represents Mr Worawi, argued the FAT’s 2013 regulations stipulated the rule regarding voters from the Regional League coming from the top-five teams was effective only in that year.
Mr Narinpong said Mr Thavatchai’s allegations had defamed Mr Worawi and the football association.
Mr Worawi later told the press that the meeting had not breached any rules and was carried out in a transparent manner. He said the new regulations, which were approved by a 72-58 vote, were essentially the same rules as the 2013 version.
Only two changes were made — the voters agreed to change the association’s name and extend the term of the FAT president from two years to four. Mr Worawi said no changes to the rules were made to benefit him in this month's election.
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS?
Mr Thavatchai has questioned whether Mr Worawi should even be eligible to stand for another term as president, given the suspended 16-month sentence the Criminal Court handed down against him earlier this year for falsifying documents to amend the FAT statutes ahead of the vote.
‘no conflict’: Ong-art Kosinkar, president of the Thai Premier League.
The suit, filed by Pattaya FC president Nathaphon Panyakananukul, accused Mr Worawi and Ong-art Korsinkar of making changes to the FAT regulations before the 2013 presidential election, in which Mr Worawi defeated former national team manager Virach Charnpanich.
However, Mr Ong-art, the Thai Premier League president who was also subject to the same court ruling as Mr Worawi, told Spectrum they were appealing the verdict.
"The case is not final," he said. "So, Khun Worawi is eligible to run for FAT president.”
Mr Thavatchai also questioned whether it is appropriate for Mr Worawi and Mr Ong-art to be the major shareholders of the Thai Premier League Co Ltd, an entity which runs the business side of the professional football leagues, which include the Thai Premier League, Division 1 and Division 2, which is the Regional League.
“The professional leagues should not be used for any individual to seek personal benefit,” Mr Thavatchai said.
Mr Ong-art said he and Mr Worawi had to be the majority shareholders of TPL, which started >>
>> with paid-up capital of only 1.25 million baht. “The FAT is supposed to be a non-profit organisation, so it cannot be a shareholder in the TPL. So, we had to become the shareholders in order to register the TPL as a corporate entity,” he said.
Mr Worawi and Mr Ong-art hold a combined 70% of TPL shares.
“The TPL has to be a business entity like any other football club in the premier league to make it successful,” Mr Ong-art said.
In a previous interview, Mr Ong-art said the annual income of the leagues is about 800 million baht. The earnings consist of TrueVisions’ broadcasting rights for Toyota Premier League matches, worth 600 million baht, 100 million baht from Toyota and an additional 100 million baht from other sponsors.
VOTING RIGHTS
Also contested is who can vote to elect the FAT president. “It is a contentious issue because the regulations have been amended to lock in the people who are entitled to vote for the FAT president," Mr Thavatchai said. "If the regulations are not changed, there will be no need to vote because we already know who the winner is.”
For now, there are 72 eligible voters: 18 members from the Premier League, 18 from Division 1 and 30 selected from Division 2, or the Regional League. The remaining six voters come from the champions and runners-up in each of the three amateur leagues.
During the Sept 17 meeting, the association endorsed an amendment to nominate all 30 with voting rights from the Regional League, regardless of their ranking.
“Nominating the voters by their ranking is fairer because cronyism would not play a part,” Mr Thavatchai argued.
At present there are 83 teams in the Division 2 Regional League from six zones. Mr Thavatchai said the FAT regulation from 2013 stipulated that each zone would send representatives from the top five teams to vote for the FAT president. But the FAT executives amended that regulation during the special meeting on Sept 17.
Mr Thavatchai took to the microphone in protest.
“They shut me off by turning off the microphone. But that’s OK. I can express my opinion on websites,” he said.
However, Mr Ong-art, who was secretary-general of the FAT at that time and also the organiser of the voting two years ago, argued that the provision regarding representatives from the Regional League was written as a transitional clause. In 2013, there were protests from the candidates over different issues, delaying the election process.
“If we could not vote by the deadline set by Fifa at that time, there would have been a problem,” Mr Ong-art said.
In 2013, Mr Worawi won the vote against Virach Charnpanich in what was described as a scrappy atmosphere.
“Each of the six regions was supposed to elect five members to vote for the FAT president," Mr Ong-art said.
"But the nomination process takes time and the FAT was running out of time then. Therefore, the FAT wrote a transitional provision to ask each region to send people from the top five ranked teams in each zone to vote. But the transitional provision ended after the last election in 2013 and we should go back to the original intent of the FAT, that is each zone nominates their five members to vote, regardless of the ranking.”
Mr Thavatchai raised the case with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, which oversees the FAT, and asked it to decide if the FAT resolutions from the Sept 17 meeting were valid. He anticipated the result could go either way.
“It’s 50/50,” he said. “This is a fight in terms of a legal document.”
Asked whether he considered his candidacy as a long shot, Mr Thavatchai said, “Some said I would lose anyway. But I want to give it a try. He can’t beat me if the game is fair.”
Succcess: Nisa Romyen celebrates after scoring against Myanmar during the Asean Women’s Football Championship in Vietnam in May.
Not just on the sidelines: Port Football Club chair Nualphan Lamsam is a key voice in the sport's administration, and her support of Mr Worawi could be influential.
Cashed-up: Worawi Makudi after the FAT signed major endorsement deals valued at 300 million baht.
Eyes on the ball: While the Thai Premier League is popular with fans, questions have long circled around its management.