It was an altogether different scene from regular play at the stadium, with footballers sloshing and sliding through the wet grass and bumping into one another left and right, until the referee sensibly decided enough was enough and called the game off.
This was probably a first for Phuket FC: having a game called off due to a flooded pitch.
The stadium announcer cracked a joke: this was how we deal with The Fire Power, we extinguish the flames! Yes, maybe that was a little too much.
But Phuket FC are not the first team to experience this sort of embarrassment.
Last Wednesday, a Toyota League Cup game at Buriram United’s stadium, one of the best in the country, was called to a halt after 12 minutes of the second half when heavy rain flooded the pitch.
The game resumed two hours later, after the water had drained away.
At Surakul on Sunday, PTT Rayong couldn’t play their passing game on the wet grass, and Phuket FC found it even more difficult to play their usual kick-and-chase.
So it might be a relief to Coach Panipol that the game was postponed – he now has more time to breath, regroup, and recuperate before going back to the battle, and now there’s only 40 minutes left.
The island’s rainy season has always been a concern for Phuket FC, but this year it seems that heavy rain has arrived a bit prematurely.
New game plans will be needed, both for the football team, who will need to learn to play on a wet pitch when it rains, and for the stadium, to prevent such floods from happening again.
Or maybe instead of fans singing, “This is Phuket, we come to cheer Phuket FC”, we'll have to opt for “Rain, rain, go away. Phuket FC want to play!”