Thai Arsenal fans celebrate with British envoy

Kent is a “Gooner” – a fan of the Gunners – or at least an honorary one now, as are Kamala Sukosol, head of the Sukosol Group, TV host John Vinyu and, yes, Soopsip in person, all of us in the TV scrum of about 30 boisterous devotees. 

The envoy and his wife made sure everyone felt at home well before the 11.30pm kick-off time, a truly casual evening surely unlike anything the residence has seen before. Kamala brought a big stack of old Arsenal magazines to spread around and we all had a laugh when a box of made-in-Thailand Arsenal-brand cookies appeared. The London club would surely be surprised at the depth of our dedication. 

Mark Kent must have been happy to shed his usual buttoned-down attire for a big, sloppy Arsenal jersey, with which he fit perfectly into the crowd bedecked in red (or yellow, since this was an “away” match). And any thought that “one must behave” went out the window when Kent started fuming noisily at every missed goal and cheering loudly at every indignity imposed on Aston Villa. 

Kamala sat next to him and the two of them could have been mistaken for inner-city Holloway yobbos with their passionate whingeing and rooting. They’d done this before, you could tell – they watched last year’s cup final against Hull City, just Mark, Kamala and her hotel’s chef. “I’ve been an Arsenal fan ever since World Cup 1998. I was supporting France, but after that I became a Gooner,” Kamala giggled.

We don’t know about the atmosphere at London’s Wembley Stadium, but it was rather tense at the ambassador’s house through most of the first half, until Theo Walcott scored to let off the pressure. Loud cheers erupted and many photos were taken of the TV screen as they players celebrated.

With Arsenal ahead by half-time, the intermission was a raucous din of group portraits and amiable refreshments. 

And the football gods continued to smile on Gooner Land in the second half, with Alexis Sanchez scoring a screamer and Arsenal adding two more goals after that, for a devastating 4-0 finish and their second consecutive FA Cup crown. Arsenal are now the English football club with most FA Cup wins – 12 in all.

If David Cameron comes to visit his Thailand ambassador anytime soon, he’ll be wondering where the Champagne is, because we basically finished off all there was in the embassy wine cellar. Channel 7 inadvertently kept the bubbly flowing much longer by postponing its telecast of the cup presentation and post-match ceremonies in favour of a German Cup match, but one of its commentators, Adisorn “Jackie” Pungya, promised on Twitter that the channel would be carrying the Arsenal celebrations soon enough. 

So most of the Kents’ guests waited – only to be let down again when Channel 7 squeezed just a heavily edited minute of the UK ceremony into the German half-time.

Well, Channel 7 didn’t do the Gooners any favours, but we select few had had the night of our lives thanks to the favours bestowed on us by Mark and Martine Kent. It was about 2am when the bulk of us left the residence, red scarves streaming from the car and taxi windows.