Hi,

I will be in Thailand whilst the Football World Cup in on.. Does anyone know anywhere good, preferably on a beach where the world cup will be shown? Has there been any places where previous sport competitions have been shown on big screens?

Cheers.

It depends on what you mean by "big screens". In bare areas, you'll find that many mid to large sized bars will have a large screen showing whatever the biggest sporting event that is on currently.

Most of the time it'll cost you a drink every half hour or so to sit there and watch, it's just a matter of finding one with some sofas free. In sports season, those sofas go quick, so it pays to get out there early if you want to secure a prime spot for the evening.

There are also dedicated sports bars. Soccer is becoming a phenomenon in Thailand, and any sports bar worth its salt *will* be showing the world cup on at least one screen. If you're looking for a sports bar, here are some links that you may find helpful:
Sports Bars in Phuket
Sports bars in Bangkok - Bangkok Tonight
Sportsbar Chiang Mai

If you're in Kanchanaburi, look for "Rascals". I haven't been there, but it's supposed to be a pretty good sports bar.

Secrete traveler's tip: When in Pattaya a few years back, my cousin once dragged me out of bed at 2am to watch some special once in a lifetime boxing match he was excited about. He'd managed to sort out some dodgy deal with the hotel management where they cabled their illegal satellite up to his room so he could watch it surrounded by room service platters and without any distraction from noisy bar goers. The moral is this; if you get friendly with the right person, *anything* is possible in Thailand.

Good luck!

Thats great mate, cheers

MrNaz basically said it all, but I wanted to add that it's about 6/7 hr time difference...bars may be closed when certain matches air. It's not exactly a big screen and any community feel is certainly questionable , but, a good laptop with an internet connection can pick up any game at any time.

Ustream.tv
Justin.tv

all great info - if it were me I would have my laptop and my subscription to LiveOnlineFooty.com up to date just for those matches where its not possible to find a venue showing only happened to me once but found an internet cafe downloaded the player from the site and used my account to watch the match - all my travels are arranged with football in mind mate I never miss one of our games

you could also try here vip although best in firefox

MyP2P.eu :: Free Live Sports on your PC, Live Football, MLB, NBA, NHL and more... Has never steered me wrong. Either way, you have plenty of options as long as you're online. Even if you can't bring up a live stream, radio feeds aren't too hard to find either...an no one is out there trying to take those down.

that's great, thank you all for your help