There needs to be a mechanism to manage and support sports clubs.

(Baonghean) -Currently, in the province, sports clubs are developing strongly in both quantity and scale, contributing significantly to the development of local sports movements. However, the activities of these clubs are lacking management and direction from functional agencies.

Bustling with activity

The training atmosphere at the Multi-functional Sports Hall of Nghe An College of Economics and Technology is very exciting. On 3 badminton courts, members of the school's Badminton Club are enthusiastically competing under the watchful eyes and cheers of other members. Mr. Nguyen Thuong Hai - Head of General Administration Department, Club President said: "The school's Badminton Club was established in mid-2012, gathering the participation of more than 20 members, not only teachers and students but also people who love badminton in neighboring areas such as grade 12, Ha Huy Tap ward or hamlet 18, Nghi Phu commune.

The club has clear operating regulations, in which funding mainly comes from contributions from members. In addition to meetings and activities in the afternoons, the club occasionally organizes exchanges and competitions with badminton clubs at other professional schools in the city. The club's activities have created a useful playground for staff, teachers, employees, and students, while promoting the badminton practice movement in particular and sports in general in the school."

A few hundred meters from Nghe An Technical College, another Badminton Club of T&D Construction and Investment Consulting Joint Stock Company is also organizing dramatic matches. Mr. Tran Vu Quang - Director of T&D Company, also the Club's Chairman, said: "The company's Badminton Club has 12 members of many ages and professions. Although the number of members is not large, and activities are only held on the weekends, the Club is still very well organized, such as setting out regulations, buying competition uniforms for members and periodically organizing exchanges with clubs of other businesses once a month."

Badminton is like that, and tennis, although it appeared in Nghe An quite late compared to many other sports, is currently a sport with a strong development movement with nearly 30 clubs (mostly in Vinh City), the number of members participating in training is also increasing rapidly. Some typical clubs include Truong Son, Song Lam, Giao Te, CIENCO 4, Tax Department, Electricity, Railway, Thanh Vinh….

A shot at the Nghe An Open Tennis Tournament. Photo: Duc Chuyen

Mr. Tran Quang Trung - Chairman of Truong Son Tennis Club said: "Truong Son Club currently has about 50-60 athletes who are businessmen participating in regular training. This is truly a useful and healthy playground, people come here to practice to improve their health and to exchange and share work experiences. To increase communication, meetings and exchanges, every year, we and other clubs organize 5-6 friendly tournaments, each tournament attracts dozens of clubs and hundreds of athletes to participate."

But the most exciting activities are still football clubs, because the number of clubs in this sport accounts for the majority of the sports clubs in the province. In Vinh City alone, there are currently over 100 clubs (abbreviated as FC) with different scales. In addition to the clubs gathered by football enthusiasts who contribute operating costs, there are also many clubs sponsored by businesses. The owners of these FCs, in addition to their love for football, also hope that their company's FC activities will bring excitement, interest, and dynamism to the production and business activities of the unit. A typical example of this is FC Van Minh.

Although it was only established in July 2012, thanks to the "willingness to spend" of the owner Nguyen Dam Van - Director of Van Minh Tourism Company (spending 30 - 40 million VND per month on the FC's activities), Van Minh FC has become one of the strong teams in the province's grassroots football. Within just 1 year, this FC has won 5/6 tournaments they participated in (Vinh City Television Cup, Larue Cup, Do Luong Open Tournament, Department of Transport Open Tournament, Saigon Beer Tournament, and Enterprise Grassroots Football Tournament). In addition to participating in tournaments in the province, Van Minh FC also plays friendly matches in other provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Ha Tinh, etc.

Need professional support

According to statistics from the Sports Affairs Department - Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the province currently has more than 870 sports clubs operating in residential areas (blocks, hamlets), agencies, organizations, armed forces units, schools, enterprises, production and business establishments, services... The sports with the most clubs are football, badminton, tennis, billiards, martial arts, swimming... The operating costs of these clubs all come from socialized sources (members contribute together or are sponsored by the unit). The establishment of sports clubs has brought together sports lovers so that they can meet, exchange, practice and compete more regularly.

The development and growth of sports clubs not only promotes the movement of physical exercise and sports, improves health, and better serves the tasks of labor production in residential areas and agencies, but also promotes the movement of physical exercise and sports in localities and developing sectors.

Mr. Vu Hong Duc - Deputy Head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vinh City said: "Through the activities of the clubs and the grassroots tournaments organized by the clubs themselves, the city's sports sector has discovered and selected many quality athletes, adding them to the city's teams to participate in provincial tournaments". In addition, some sports clubs have active social activities, through tournaments they have mobilized and raised from tens to hundreds of millions of VND to support the poor, children in difficult circumstances...

However, up to this point, the activities of the clubs are mostly spontaneous, without management or direction from the professional sector in organizing, practicing, and expanding competitions to learn and improve skills.

Mr. Nguyen Danh Nam - Deputy Head of Sports Affairs Department - Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: "The number of sports clubs is compiled by us from reports of districts, cities and towns, but in reality, localities have not yet accurately counted the number of sports clubs in each sport. The reason is that there are no sanctions to manage these clubs".

However, according to research, it is known that on December 2, 2012, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Circular No. 18/2011/TT-BVHTTDL regulating the model for the organization and operation of grassroots sports clubs. However, it seems that this Circular is quite "new" so sports management officials have not yet grasped it to implement it. Also regarding the management of sports clubs, Mr. Tran Van Sanh - Chief Inspector of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism added: "The activities of most sports clubs are associated with sports service business establishments. In 2010, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also issued 18 Circulars regulating the operating conditions of grassroots sports in 18 sports; but currently, the inspection and examination of these establishments as well as the activities of sports clubs have only stopped at propaganda and reminders...".

Also due to the lack of management from the authorities, the activities of spontaneous sports clubs currently have limitations and problems. For example, the activities of billiard clubs can easily turn into gambling activities in the form of playing billiards with cards; the activities of fitness clubs, if not guided by qualified coaches, will negatively affect the physical development of the trainees...

On the other hand, although grassroots sports in the province have developed quite strongly, the establishment of sports federations and associations to manage, provide professional support, and orient the development of sports and sports clubs is still quite limited.

Mr. Hoang Anh - an officer of the Provincial Sports Competition Center said: "Currently, in Nghe An, there are only 2 federations: Badminton Federation and Martial Arts Federation and 1 association: Karatedo Association; and the activities of these federations and associations are also ineffective due to the failure to mobilize socialized capital sources". Meanwhile, through discussions with many members of clubs in sports such as tennis, billiards, bodybuilding, etc., we found that most of them share the same desire for professional support from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, such as the need to have a direction to include these sports in the province's annual sports competition system, thereby organizing annual tournaments for athletes to compete, hone their skills and experience, thereby developing the activities of the clubs better.

Minh Quan