It's time the TPL hands over cash to local teams

The video, titled “Where has the TPL money gone?”, was posted by one Myhengheng on March 27. It had 88,000 views as of Friday and showed Buriram United’s president Newin Chidchob questioning TPL chairman Vichit Yamboonruang regarding the whereabouts of the money that the league got from the sponsors.

Newin raised four interesting questions.

Firstly, where did the prize money for champions come from? His team, title-holders Buriram United, has not received the Bt10 million prize yet.

Secondly, how much money did the TPL firm receive from sponsors, including the fees obtained from the display of advertisement banners around football grounds? Where has the money gone? Who took the sum?

Thirdly, how much money has the TPL earned from broadcasting the matches and where did the money go?

Fourthly, why didn’t the TPL pay the clubs the money to give them a chance to develop their teams?

The scene in the clip took place on March 26 during a monthly meeting of 18 clubs. The meeting, in fact, was initiated by Newin, who suggested that all clubs meet and discuss problems every month to help lift the standards of the teams.

In the clip, Newin said he had to raise those questions after Vichit said that the TPL has no money to organise competitions for youth teams. He said all 18 clubs need to know what happened to the money and what is the incontrovertible truth.

Although there was no clarification from Vichit, who also attended the meeting, it is understood that more than Bt100 million had been paid to the TPL by sponsors. TPL’s major sponsor is Sponsor, an electrolyte beverage company, which has paid Bt72 million a year. Strangely, the revenue from broadcasting was not disclosed.

From the Bt72 million, Bt4 million was to be allocated to each club for logistics and broadcasting purposes. At the end of the season, all clubs were to be presented with cash prizes according to their performance in the league. The champions are to get Bt10 million.

Newin is perfectly justified in cornering Vichit. Those are the questions that the clubs wanted to ask but did not have the verve or gumption. Perhaps, they had no idea how to start about or who was the right person to talk.

This is not the first time the TPL has become mired in a controversy and it will not be the last time either. Since the Football Association of Thailand established the TPL company in 2009, with participating clubs run as companies, it has been heavily criticised for its poor management. For example, allegations of favouritism, match-fixing, handling of fans inside the stadium and poor standards of refereeing rankle everyone.

Over the past three years, the league has been growing rapidly in popularity. Several companies jumped onto the bandwagon by throwing around huge sums to support the league. Therefore, something needs to be done about the subject. The entire management should be held accountable and put to scrutiny. Transparency should be the name of the game.

In fact, one of the most important questions Newin did not ask was whether the clubs should get more benefits from the cash-rich organising body.

And perhaps, the league needs a man like Newin, the politician-turned-football club owner who took the avatar of a whistleblower, to clean up and improve the league.