Post-Victory: Car Storm and Trash Storm
(Baonghean.vn) - After the convincing victory of the Vietnamese football team over the Philippines at My Dinh Stadium on the evening of December 6, as a Vietnamese football lover, few people do not feel proud. However, after this event, reality shows that there are also things that make many people wonder, even worry.
On the morning of December 7, social networks were flooded with images and videos of "traffic racing". The "traffic racing" activity is not a new spontaneous activity. The press has reported on traffic storms in many provinces and cities after previous victories of the Vietnamese football team, but never has this activity tended to become a "trend" or "movement" like in this AFF Cup football tournament. Facebook recorded "traffic racing" taking place not only in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but in many provinces and cities across the country, with thousands of people and many motorbikes, even cars. The "traffic racing" activity did not only take place a short time after the match, but lasted until 1 or 2 am. With the excitement, even after consuming alcohol while gathering to watch the match, not everyone could control their steering wheel when racing. As a result, a series of traffic collisions occurred. There are no specific statistics on accidents related to the "storming" activities of fans after this event, however, on the morning of December 7, Mr. Uong Viet Dung, representative of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said that the number of traffic participants increased dramatically and traffic incidents increased on the night of December 6. Specifically, there were 78 traffic violations related to the "storming" activities that were handled. Notably, the accident occurred when two motorbikes "storming" at high speed collided head-on on Chuong Duong Bridge (Hanoi) at 11:00 p.m. on December 6, causing injuries to people on both vehicles, including some seriously injured.
Everyone has the right to express their feelings the way they want, and expressing pride, concern, support, and cheering for the national team is a positive thing as long as the way of expressing those feelings is healthy, does not harm the individual, does not affect the people around, and the community. Putting ourselves in the position of mothers, wives, whose children and husbands have had accidents during storms, we will understand the feeling of disapproval, even anger at the "storming" activity that causes unfortunate consequences after an event that should have only brought joy.
Talking about the unhappy stories after the victory of the Vietnamese football team on the evening of December 6, I also want to talk about the images of the area around My Dinh Stadium being filled with garbage that were widely shared in the press and social networks. A large "garbage dump" formed in the area around My Dinh Stadium, springing up overnight with all kinds of household waste from disposable cups, food wrappers, straws, lyon bags, to leftover food... It is unbelievable that this messy, dirty, unhygienic, and uncultured scene appeared at a national stadium, in the middle of a thousand-year-old capital, after a regional sporting event. Who created this unsightly, sad scene? Of course, when blaming those who litter, we cannot help but consider the responsibility of the managers for allowing food and beverage businesses to mushroom in this area, without accompanying regulations on maintaining urban hygiene and aesthetics, or at least placing easily accessible trash cans. If the act of “storming” can be somewhat understood based on respect for the right to express one’s emotions, then the sight of littering in places where football watching and cheering takes place is hard to justify because it shows the poor awareness and bad habits of the majority. After the victory in the field of sports, we Vietnamese are forced to look at the failure of culture. It will be a long time before we Vietnamese reach the threshold of civilization if, as adults, we have not learned the lesson of throwing rubbish in the right place.