Its a shame aye scotty. I think its probably because songchais s1's in thailand seem to be made up of who is floating around in Thailand at that current time.
And we all know there is bugger all money involved in winning the Thai s1 and most of the time you have to pay our own way to get there.
I remember a few years back jwp won it in thialand and was promosed a million baht. I wont disclose the real amount he got but it was no where near 1 million baht. But thats just Thailand for ya.
I personally think you dont need the s1 brand behind you at all scotty. i think you would get the same support for a good sized show with decent prize money.
And you would save on having to bring in those thai 'officials" for the show.
Just my opinion.