This is prison reform -- the Elephant way!!

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Jumbo footballers take on Thais: Ten elephants took on a Thai prison team on Sunday in a game that officials hoped would show playing football is more fun than gambling on it.

Inmates are among many Thais betting illegally on the matches in Portugal.

The humans opened the scoring, but the special oversized ball meant the elephants more than held their own.



Football fever

Amid the mud, the result was unclear: either a 5-5 draw or a creditable 7-6 win for the elephants.

The elephants had the flags of the European countries taking part in the 2004 tournament in Portugal painted on their sides. Prisoners wore face paint.

'We want to show and want to get support from all the people that you can get fun from playing football without gambling,' said Nathee Chitsawang, head of Thailand's corrections department."