The Far
East of Anfield
by rick olivares
When Liverpool Football Club visited
Thailand last July 12-14, it was the sixth time in the new millennium that the
English club went to this part of the world.
The trip was a hastily organized one as
Kuala Lumpur and Macau were the previously announced cities for their Southeast
Asia leg. However the deal for the latter fell through and Bangkok immediately
agreed to host the Premier League squad. Why not? Thailand is home to the most
number of Liverpool supporters in the world outside their native England.
Through the graces of Standard
Chartered Bank, the club’s global and official sponsor, I was able to attend
many of the team’s functions in Bangkok from a press conference to clinics to
interviews with its legends not to mention the friendly match itself. And it
was as always a great experience even if the rains came crashing down. With the
humidity obviously affecting the performance of Liverpool, a heavy rain came
crashing down by halftime significantly cooling off not only the stadium but
also Bangkok. The game picked up in intensity and skill after. While most of
the media retreated to the covered confines of the Rajamangala Stadium, I
stayed put in my seat taking in the rain with a few others. “Now that’s a real
fan,” remarked Jet Namwong, a Thai Standard Chartered executive, to me as he
went down to the media section to bring me over to the media room for the
post-match press conference.
Years ago, through my own initiative
with the club, I was able to wrangle an interview with former manager Rafael
Benitez in Singapore. During a club’s Kuala Lumpur sojourn in 2012, I was able
to attend a function with players like Jamie Carragher and Andy Carroll.
While trophies have become scarce in
the last 20 years, Liverpool still enjoys incredible popularity among fans
thanks to talismanic players in the last decade like Michael Owen, Steven
Gerrard, Fernando Torres, and Luis Suarez to name a few. And they have been the
first club to embrace its fan base outside England having made regular tours to
North America, Australia, Europe, and Southeast Asia in that span. And since
the significant inroads made by Liverpool in emerging markets and increasing
its fanbase, other clubs, not only from England but also Spain and France have
also gone on tour.
As usual, I did a survey among fans in
attendance and not only were there fans from Thailand but also from (not in
particular order) Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.
During my first ever trip to Anfield,
Liverpool’s home field, last September 2014, I met fans who flew all the way
from South Africa, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and from other parts of
England. It was incredible not only for the experience but also for connecting
with others who made their pilgrimage.
A survey on LFC’s Facebook page last
November of 2014 about fan engagement depicted some surprising results
and there are a lot of things to glean from it.
Liverpool FC Facebook-registered fan
base:
1 Thailand 3.5 million fans
2 Indonesia 2.5 million fans
3 United Kingdom 1.7 fans
4 Malaysia 1.2 million fans
5 India 1 million fans
6 Egypt 960,000 fans
7 Turkey 675,000 fans
8 Mexico 670,000 fans
9 Brazil 650,000 fans
10
USA
600,000 fans
Digressing for a moment, in the
Philippines, there are a lot of fans of the club but there is no official count
as no supporters club is not yet recognized by Liverpool FC. Hopefully, it will
be soon! But some notable fans include past and present Azkals like Chad Gould,
Rob Gier, Chieffy Caligdong, and national team manager, Dan Palami.
Back to the survey, three of those
countries are from Southeast Asia and they are in the Top Five. Five are from
the Asian region if you include India and Egypt.
Of the 10, only two, India and the USA,
aren’t considered football mad-countries although they are viewed as emerging
markets.
Six countries have played in the FIFA
World Cup — UK (as England), Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, and the USA.
While Turkey has no official state
religion, about 96% of its population is Muslim. And thus, four countries on
the list are Muslim including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Egypt.
It is incredible to see a LFC fan base
in Mexico and Brazil where the sport is a religion. If you are to ask what is
the most popular football side in Mexico you’d be hard-pressed to guess who it
would be. For Brazil, one can drop Santos FC’s name on account of Pele and
Neymar but it is actually Flamengo. Liverpool’s popularity in Brazil and other
parts of the world is a testament to the draw of the English Premier
League.
It should be noted that during the 1950
World Cup Final between Brazil and Uruguay, close to 200,000 people packed the
Maracaña Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. But that is national fervor in a hotbed of
a region of rivalries. When Liverpool played the Melbourne Victory in Australia
two years ago, 95,000 Aussies packed the venue! That is quite a draw possibly
the single biggest number to see a LFC match.
In a 2013 survey by Bleacher Report,
they cited Liverpool as the seventh most influential football club in the world
(once upon a time where trophies were a regular acquisition at Anfield they
were number one).
Surprised at the “small” number from
the UK? You shouldn’t be. For fans who live outside the UK, Facebook and social
media is the most convenient way for them to express themselves or try and be a
part of the action. Fans in the UK have a different way of expressing
themselves by going to the matches and pubs, or by purchasing the merchandise
or fanzines sold around the stadium.
I have been a fan since 1979 and have
seen the club seven times live across three continents — North America, Asia,
and Europe. I have over three dozen Liverpool kits, a number of scarves,
magazines, and other merchandise. But I do not engage all the time on social
media as I do have quite a lot of other things to do.
And so it is with LFC in Bangkok. It
was fun and memorable but I also wish that we in the Philippines — especially
for my fellow Reds fans — had a taste of this. When I informed former LFC star
Luis Garcia that the side had fans in the Philippines, he looked pleasantly
surprised. When I asked if it was possible he could come down over to the
Philippines, he answered, “Why not? I never thought I’d be down here in Bangkok
or Asia as a Liverpool ambassador. It is good to be associated with this
historic and famous club."
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