Vietnamese soccer fan Tran Tien Dung should have been in the northeastern port city of Haiphong on Sunday to watch his team play at home.
Instead, he planned to travel hundreds of kilometers south to the neutral city of Hue to watch Haiphong Cement take on another northern club, a result of a crackdown intended to head off disturbances.
Incidents of fans throwing bottles, burning flares, hurling insults and fighting have multiplied in recent years at matches of Vietnam’s professional V-League.
Haiphong Cement were ordered to play on neutral turf for one match and to pay a fine of 25 million dong (US$1,348) after fans lit flares during a fixture in the capital last month, local media and club supporters said.
While cases of unrest cannot be compared to hooliganism in Europe, they have tended “to become somewhat systematic,” said Nguyen Lan Trung, vice-president of the Vietnam Football Federation.
The V-League has in recent years also faced allegations of corruption and match-fixing.
Livid Haiphong Cement supporters last year burned seats and newspapers in their home stadium after losing a match.
Last month, a Hanoi court issued suspended jail sentences against eight of the club’s fans for another incident in which they were accused of lighting flares and breaking the windows of police cars, a court official said.
Two years ago, a man died and at least 10 people were wounded when clashes erupted between hundreds of fans from Haiphong and another V-League team, state media reported at the time.
Haiphong fans are notorious in Vietnam for their aggressive behavior, but in recent years have not been the only supporters involved in unrest.
Vietnamese soccer, the country’s most popular sport, “is in the process of professionalizing” and matches are increasingly competitive, with spectators a “part of the game,” Trung said.
However, “it’s too much. Where is the line between enthusiasm and foolishness?” he asked, noting that 1,000 police officers had to be deployed for the roughly 20,000 spectators at Haiphong matches.
Outside Haiphong’s Lach Tray stadium, club supporters defended their behavior and criticized the penalty levied for the unrest.
“It’s absurd,” said Nguyen Van Minh, whose fellow fans call him “The Drum” for his stadium antics.
Dung said the penalty was “not good for the mindset of the players or for club revenues.”
He acknowledged that the Haiphong crowd was prone to shouting and yelling insults but called that “normal,” and alleged police had over-reacted.
In its efforts to address rowdy behavior, Trung said Vietnam was seeking inspiration from other leagues, notably in Europe. Working with police, the soccer federation says it wants to identify those few people who light flares and does not exclude the possibility of banning them from stadium.
Trung added that it was not only the fans that needed educating. Players and club officials had to set an example by respecting referees’ decisions so that “order on the field can have a similar effect in the stands,” he said.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
RSS