Pinit Ngarmpring is on a mission to make Thai football fans support their national team like never before

In an age when the popularity of the English Premier League and Europe's top leagues is on a high, many locals passionately follow their favourite clubs week in and week out to such an extent that they perhaps show more interest than native fans.

As a result, most people appear less enthusiastic about Thai football. While others might sing praises about Liverpool or Arsenal, there is one man who proudly presents himself as a die-hard supporter of the national team.

"One question people usually ask me is which team do I support. My answer is the Thai team. They then explained what they meant was a foreign club. But, I told them that I don't support any side except the national team," says Pinit Ngarm-pring, president of the CheerThai club.

The love of his life

Football became the love of Pinit's life after he watched the broadcast of the 1978 World Cup when he was 11. The atmosphere at the matches was fascinating, which led Pinit to pester his father to take him to the local stadium.

Unfortunately, what Pinit witnessed was quite different from what he had expected. Rather than the passionate cheering he hoped to experience, Pinit was greeted by scenes of chaos.

"Back then, people sat in circles and drank alcohol while watching football and there was also a thick smoke from cigarettes. They also yelled abuses at players when they didn't play well.

"I wanted to see people support our team in the same way as the Argentines did at the World Cup in 1978. So, I started to use confetti at the King's Cup in 1980. Initially, it didn't work because the pieces ended up on my face due to windy conditions, which made people laugh," recalls the 40-year-old Pinit.

The prodigal fan

Pinit distanced himself from football when his life took a different turn. However, he was back in the thick of things when he became a reporter at Bangkok Post, during which the scholarship training in Japan left a strong impression on him about Japanese football, particularly their supporters.

"There was a group of supporters called Ultras Nippon. Their cheering was well organised, which was in contrast to our style. They sang together which made their cheering powerful, while we did it on an individual basis."

The trip was a source of inspiration for Pinit. He then created cheerthai.com to provide a forum for fans. The website members made a plan to meet during the King's Cup seven years ago. However, the planned meeting came a cropper.

Reaping the rewards

Having reaped the rewards of his efforts, considering more and more people jumped on to the bandwagon, Pinit is now hopeful that his hard work would bring about a change, not only in the Thais' cheering methods, but also their mindset. "We wanted our club to play a leading role. We would like to instil a new tradition. We have overseen the improvement in collective cheering.

"Now, we want to spread that attitude so that fans cheer the team no matter whether we win or lose," says Pinit