Fans - Light and Dark Colors

In Southeast Asia, the tragedy at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Indonesia after the match between Arena FC and Fersebaya in early October 2022 caused a real tragedy, shocking the whole world. This is a sad, saddest, most painful reality of regional football due to the incompetence of the security forces, the careless and childish actions of the stadium organizers, the excessive rivalry between fans of "hostile" teams, and countless other reasons. This shows that football in the lowlands, specifically in Indonesia, still leaves behind too many bad and dangerous things, which is a painful lesson for football in Indonesia and many other places.

In Vietnam, at a much lighter level, the "field collapse" incident in 2008 was also a memorable lesson for security and safety for each match, especially in the V-League, in matches with stakes, rivalry, "hostile" fan groups and often deliberately causing trouble before, during and after each match. Obviously, the V-League Organizing Committee has issued the Competition Regulations, the disciplinary content and the activities of the Disciplinary Council are always timely, accurate and fair, but here and there, unexpected incidents still occur, still involving a few groups of Nam Dinh or Hai Phong fans.

But it must also be said that when the team plays well, satisfying many people, the incidents are also less, everything goes more smoothly and better. The story of fans filling Thien Truong Stadium not only when Nam Dinh plays well but also when other teams come here to compete (the recent SEA Games 31 football qualifiers, for example) speaks for itself. Or most recently, when Hai Phong played brilliantly, winning against the top team Hanoi FC in round 21, the fans of the red phoenix flower country also became happier to "sing along with the team", although the story of lighting flares and "spraying rain" on referees is not easy to ignore in the eyes of many football lovers.

When stadiums are crowded, causing chaos, causing trouble for security forces, that is one thing, it is a headache worth mentioning, but now there is the story of fans turning around, leaving one team to cheer for another, which is even more concerning, more worrying. Obviously, football and the audience are a story of parallel existence and development in the direction of becoming more connected, more civilized, with more things to praise and honor. Here, if the leaders of the teams, the players are negligent about their responsibility in competition, speaking, and being unfriendly to the fans for even a second, they will immediately suffer the consequences as seen recently.

In the world, in developed football countries, people build the team brand without ever forgetting the fan base, the image of the typical fan. The fans are also aware of their love for the team, doing everything to promote the identity, the flag and the shirt, cheering and honoring both the team and their typical representative. But all are carried out on the basis of the team playing honestly, from the opening match to the last match of the season with many different big and small goals. People can love and cheer for Barcelona or Chelsea, they will also fill the stadium at a third-class, fourth-class, or even amateur match, but it is difficult to say which team's love is higher or lower?

Very, very regrettable in the V-League, for example, although there is currently pride in surpassing the Thai League, there are still countless things worth mentioning and forgetting related to the quality of matches, the quality of referees, and the quality of fans. Regarding fans, there are many bright colors but also many dark colors. The boss clasped his hands and asked fans not to light flares that would affect the team, which is a real story. It is common for teams lacking ambition to play well in the first half and play badly in the second half. Fans loving it a lot and then getting bored with it after each season is also not a new story...

That means Vietnamese football still has to work, learn, and improve itself in many aspects. That means professional football but still has a lot of amateur things that need to be quickly eliminated, sometimes it will be a lesson that will last a lifetime before it can be truly eliminated./.