BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Monday, November 26, 2012

My search for a Robbie Fowler Muangthong United shirt

While it was the likes of John Barnes, Ian Rush, and Kenny Dalglish who turned me into a Liverpool fan (I guess I should also thank the Beatles), it was actually Robbie Fowler who made me hardcore. It was an incredible time to be a fan of Liverpool and English football when "God" blew into the scene. Somehow, I always make it a point to watch those Fowler highlights every month. Then as it is today, they leave me in total admiration. 

I've never had a LFC Fowler kit and I sure wish I had one. When I heard that he went to Thailand to play for Muangthong United, that was such huge news. And more so when I realized that former Vietnam national coach Henrique Callisto was managing the club! I recall speaking with a Singaporean friend to zip over to Thailand just to watch. Robbie is no longer here but today, I went around to look if there were still MTU kits with his name available. 

Robbie Fowler and Henrique Callisto! 
I first went to Rama 9 mall where they have a nice sports shop. Obviously that wouldn't be the place to look. They did have the Muangthong United shirt but none in my size. Then I went to Ramkhamhaeng Road where there are a lot of stores. It's the usual knockoff stuff with some Thailand national kits. Since I do not buy knockoffs, I spent little time here. My real destination was FBT Sports Complex that is located near Rajamangala Stadium. The building is a seven-story sports store. But all the football stuff are located on the ground floor. 

The Chonburi Sharks shirt that I got.
I first picked up a Chonburi Sharks shirt (199 baht). I know Thai sizes differ from ours but at first glance XXXXL sounds like something that sumo wrestlers would wear. But no. It fits me with a little bit of extra space. At FBT they had a nice stall there with DVDs of top English sides, MUFC, Chelsea, Arsenal, LFC, Tottenham and a few others. They also had a nice display set for Muangthong United with a cool t-shirt with a MTU dedication to Fowler (not again in my size since most Thais are slim). Should have taken a picture of that though. 

I did pick up their Muangthong United shirt (with the three stars). The shoppe lady told me to try Grand Sports next door because they still might have the Fowler MTU shirt. I did and it turned out that they are the makers of the official Thailand kits (for all their national sides). They didn't have the Fowler shirts anymore since that was from last season but they did call the club for me. They told me that there were three white shirts left with "Fowler" on them. It was close to 5pm when I learned of this and it was too late in the day to make a trip out with all the traffic. At least I have a lead! Tomorrow my search for  a Robbie Fowler Muangthong United shirt continues!


The Muangthong United kit that I got today (pic below). Not the Robbie Fowler version though.



2 comments:

  1. I think you need to buy another Chonburi shirt by Nike.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The problem is there are no available Nike Chonburis. Umbro has the other clubs.

    ReplyDelete