A Tragic Day for the Port Family

As you may already have heard, earlier this morning a minivan carrying a group of Port fans to tonight’s League Cup game at Nongbua Pitchaya was involved in a collision with a truck on a road near Khon Kaen. As a result, five fans were killed and a further three are in a serious condition in hospital. The picture above shows the group at the PAT this morning before setting off on their trip. You can read a report on the accident (in Thai) here, but be warned as it contains some fairly graphic images.

Amongst the victims was legendary Port fan group leader Spiderming, known and loved by all who follow (and play for) the club – a lovely, friendly, outgoing man with absolutely boundless energy (as anyone who’s ever been on an away bus trip with him will confirm), and a man who was always first in the queue to help others and raise money for fellow fans in need. I knew Ming well and have tears in my eyes as I type this; I still can’t get my head around the fact that we won’t be seeing his face or having a beer with him at Port games again.

Fans have been sharing tributes on Facebook all day and players and fans from around Thailand have also been expressing their shock and grief on Twitter:

Saturday’s game against Bangkok Utd is sure to be an emotional occasion and fans are being asked to wear black Port shirts if they have them, or just black shirts if they don’t. There are sure to be collections for those affected by the accident and The Sandpit will be donating all this season’s Sportsman sponsorship money, as well as our own personal donations. If you’d like to donate but won’t be at the game, please transfer to BBL 9260085668, and either drop us an email or leave a comment on this post to let us know so we know where it’s come from. We’ll update this article with more news when we have it.

Finally I, Dom, Tom, and all our contributors, would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this horrific accident, and also send our support & best wishes to the survivors for a speedy recovery.

Tim Russell

The founder and editor of The Sandpit, Tim has been in SE Asia since 2003 and in Bangkok since 2012, where he runs a travel tech business. Tim has followed Port FC since 2014, and is also a fan of his hometown club Coventry City, and French club AS St-Etienne. He has written for the likes of Football365, ITV.com, NME and The Quietus, and is a regular contributor to God Is In the TV. He's a keen photographer and his work can be seen on his website.

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