National anthem lacks music, Thai newspaper reacts to SEA Games Organizing Committee

(Dan Tri) - After the incident where players of the U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos teams had to sing the national anthem without music yesterday afternoon (December 3), the Thai media today directly questioned the seriousness of the host of the 33rd SEA Games.

Thailand's leading daily newspaper Thairath this morning (December 4) directly addressed the issue of professionalism of the host of the 33rd SEA Games: "Are we really ready for this Southeast Asian Games , after the first day had so many incidents?"

The first day of the 33rd SEA Games was marked by the men's football match between the U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos teams. And right in the first match, which opened the entire series of events at this year's Southeast Asian Games, there was an incident where the U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos players had to sing the national anthem without music.

U22 Vietnam players had to sing the national anthem without music due to an incident from the host tournament organizer (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

The reason, explained by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) and the host Organizing Committee (BTC), was due to a technical problem with the sound system.

Not stopping there, the lighting system at Rajamangala Stadium also had problems, many bulbs on the high-pressure poles did not light up. The match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos took place in the afternoon, the stadium was not lit, so Vietnamese fans did not pay much attention to this problem.

But soon after, in the match between U22 Thailand and U22 Timor Leste in the evening, the above mentioned technical shortcomings were revealed.

Thairath newspaper exclaimed in dismay: “The Games hosted by Thailand have stumbled at the very first step. This has made the public in Thailand question whether we are ready for a Games that has cost a huge amount of money. In particular, Rajamangala Stadium has been invested heavily in renovation (125.2 million baht, about 103 billion VND).”

“But it was also on the football field that the incident happened right before the opening whistle of the sports competitions. The highlight of the first day of competition was not the technical aspect, but the organization. This caused concern for many fans,” Thairath added.

Many of the lights at Rajamangala Stadium were not on yesterday (Photo: Thairath).

Regarding the incident where U22 Vietnam and U22 Laos players were forced to sing the national anthem in the absence of music, the leading daily newspaper of the land of golden pagodas expressed a rather harsh attitude.

Thairath commented: “The national anthem was not played, the players had to sing directly on the field. This was chaos, and the audience felt uncomfortable. This is a mistake that should not happen in international competitions.”

“Another problem is that the seating system for spectators is not perfect. The seat allocation system distributes more seats than the actual number of seats in the stadium. For example, a fan booked seat number 20, but the actual number of seats ended at number 19. Many people were forced to find other seats or move to other areas.

Even though the ticket booking is free, it still creates discomfort for fans. They think this reflects the rather loose preparation for the SEA Games,” are still the lines written in Thairath newspaper.

Then, the leading daily newspaper of the land of golden pagodas warned that the host country of the 33rd SEA Games needs to do better, in order to regain its good image in the eyes of international sports delegations and fans: "The SEA Games will take place for many more days, until December 20. What happened on the first day is not just a small problem."

“These incidents are worrying signs that Thailand’s hosting of the SEA Games may need to be taken more seriously to avoid further damage to the country’s image and the Thai sports industry,” Thairath stressed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/quoc-ca-thieu-nhac-bao-thai-lan-phan-ung-voi-ban-to-chuc-sea-games-20251204134404010.htm