"The condition to be divisible by 11 is... to love football"

(Baonghean.vn) - As a PhD in Mathematics at Vinh University, when I was still teaching, I spent most of my time on scientific research and teaching, so I didn't pay much attention to football, especially Vietnamese football. Occasionally, if we watched football, we only watched the European Cup C1 to enjoy the art of the football field rather than satisfy our passion. When we were teaching mathematics, outside of class, we would play chess, both Chinese and Chess, write poems, draw poems... but rarely went to the football field.

I still remember in August 2011, VTV was broadcasting the long-running drama Dong Yi. The drama was set during the reign of King Sukjong of the Joseon Dynasty, based on the life of Consort Choi, a royal concubine of Consort Choi. The story revolves around Dong Yi, a maid working in the Royal Conservatory of Music. Intelligent, beautiful and extremely kind, along with her concern for solving conspiracies in the palace, Dong Yi became a palace maid, then Consort Choi, even though she was originally a commoner. My wife and I, who is also a retired lecturer at Vinh University, were waiting to watch episode 49 of the drama when our 5-year-old grandson pouted: "Dad, let me watch soccer, today SLNA is playing against HN.T&T for the championship title?"

Of course, the grandparents would give in to their grandson, the little boy who had just returned from far away. That day, the two of them accidentally became reluctant spectators of a football match with their grandson who had come from Hanoi to visit. In the role of a commentator without a microphone, he began to tell his grandparents: "The goalkeeper Duong Hong Son who just let the ball bounce for Fagan to score used to be a goalkeeper for SLNA, but now he was too nervous to catch the ball." In fact, neither the grandparents knew the names or talents of the players on the field. Cu De ran close to the TV screen and pointed out, "These are Gonzalo, Cristiano and Antonio, the best foreign players of Coach Phan Thanh Hung. If you keep an eye on them, SLNA will surely win."

My first impression was a stadium full of yellow-shirted fans, shouting “Sông Lam, Sông Lam is the champion”. At the end of the first half, when the score was 1-0, “my old lady” retreated to the kitchen, leaving space for the two of us to shout… In the second half, when Hồng Minh, a player from HN.T&T, came in as a substitute and shot past the home team’s goalkeeper Quốc Cường, my grandson suddenly fell silent. At the end of the match, after Antonio had a tricky shot that got past goalkeeper Quốc Cường (1-SLNA) but the ball hit the crossbar, missing a golden opportunity… the little boy rushed to hug my neck and shouted “Sông Lam is the champion, grandpa, long live Uncle Thắng”.

SLNA players lift the 2011 V League Championship Cup. Photo: Internet

At that moment, “my old lady” brought up a basket of hot boiled potatoes and peanuts: “Here, let’s celebrate SLNA’s championship”. … My grandson passed on to me his love for his hometown team after watching that live broadcast.

I started researching information about the team and SLNA's past achievements. Due to my old age, I could not go to the stadium to watch every match live, but I did not miss any of SLNA's matches on NTV. I also bought the Football newspaper and followed the Sports section of Nghe An Newspaper.

At first, “my old lady” was not very interested in football, but seeing her husband glued to the TV, “my old lady” prepared a piece of candy, a pot of green tea… then sat quietly beside him and watched the screen. At the age of over 70, I also cannot explain all the football matches, why SNLA was winning like a bamboo split, then lost, then lost like a losing team, won, beat a very strong team like Becamex Binh Duong recently, but all the joys and sorrows in my heart followed the results of the Nghe An team. From my love for my hometown team, inspired by the times I lectured to graduate students, I created an additional clause “the condition for a number to be divisible by 11 is… to love football”.

I wonder how many math teachers who were my graduate students joined the SLNA fan base after that time?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quy Dy