Golden whistle Duong Manh Hung: 'The relationship between referees and the Organizing Committee is extremely complicated'

(Baonghean.vn) - Former Golden Whistle in 2006, Mr. Duong Manh Hung - a famous honest and upright referee of Vietnamese football, frankly pointed out the systematic mistakes of referee Ha Anh Chien in the match between FLC Thanh Hoa and SLNA.

Referee Duong Manh Hung won the Golden Whistle award and refereed many international matches --Photo: Internet

As a viewer and a person with many years of experience in the field, Mr. Duong Manh Hung commented on the penalty situation of referee Ha Anh Chien for FLC Thanh Hoa as follows: “In the situation where Pape Omar collided with Dinh Hoang in the 88th minute, referee Ha Anh Chien was clearly wrong. In that situation, player Omar used tricks, intentionally creating a situation to fool the referee outside the 16m50. If it were me or an objective referee, I would have given player Omar an indirect free kick for intentionally deceiving the referee, not a penalty. If he was weak in terms of expertise and was not sure about his decision, or did not follow the situation closely, referee Chien had every right to consult with his assistants, but he did not do so.”

There are two problems here, one is that referee Ha Anh Chien has very poor expertise. Two is that referee Chien is influenced by issues outside of his expertise (personal intentions, material temptations, instructions from superiors...), of course this is everyone's right to question.

The ball that led to the "imaginary" penalty by referee Ha Anh Chien

Former referee Duong Manh Hung added: “I tell the truth, it’s not just the obvious things that I saw and the teams reacting that are the end. There are many other situations that teams don’t talk about, or only those in the profession realize. It’s clear that every round of the V.League has problems with referees. In the case of referee Ha Anh Chien, if he is disciplined, he will be a “scapegoat” for other mistakes by other referees. Referee Chien being brought out for dissection only solves the tip of the iceberg. The essence of the problem has been there for so long and surely the problem of referees punishing teams will continue in the near future.

When I was a referee, I encountered countless negative issues. Therefore, I sympathize with SLNA's reaction and when I was in office, I always supported the right of football teams to complain about professional errors of referees while working. There are still many teams in the V.League that ignore the excessive behavior of referees. I really hope to have a serious dissection with the presence of club leaders, tournament organizers, VFF, General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, fans and the media on this issue. I am ready to confront.

However, I also want to send a message to coaches like Le Huynh Duc, coach Ngo Quang Truong or the HAGL team leader to have a little sympathy for the referees because they may not want to do so, but the relationship between the referees, the referee council and the Organizing Committee is extremely complicated. It is difficult to be clean. And complaining and demanding justice is the right thing to do, we must fight to the end for a cleaner and more active football, do not be discouraged".

Trung Kien (written)