Coach Ha Thin, loyal and steadfast

(Baonghean) - After nearly 50 years of being associated with the ups and downs of Song Lam Nghe An Club, famous player Ha Thin has officially said goodbye to the club to rest. Over the past half century, Ha Thin has truly been a symbol of loyalty at SLNA...

Confiding to the writer when his resignation letter was approved by the leadership of Song Lam Nghe An Club, famous player Ha Thin said: "Although it is a bit regretful to say goodbye, I still feel relieved because I have contributed all my strength and enthusiasm to SLNA, and have fully devoted myself to the round ball and my homeland." In fact, more than a year ago, when his wife was seriously ill and passed away, he submitted a resignation letter from the youth training job at SLNA Club. However, at that time, the leadership of SLNA Club encouraged Ha Thin to stay, on the one hand to help SLNA in youth training. On the other hand, those responsible at SLNA understood that, for Ha Thin, football is everything, so they wanted him to have more time to be attached to the round ball, with the young players to somewhat ease the sadness of his late wife. Up to now, when everything has begun to stabilize, life has returned to balance, Ha Thin continued to propose to resign and the club agreed.

Ha Thin (white shirt) when he was still playing for SLNA. Photo courtesy

In the past 50 years, when talking about SLNA football, it is impossible not to mention the famous player Ha Thin and vice versa. Ha Thin was the first generation of young players from the SLNA training center. In 1968, when he was only 16 years old, Ha Thin was selected to join the SLNA youth team. Three years later, the youth team disbanded, he became a worker at Vinh Mechanical Factory. Although he was a mechanical worker, Ha Thin was very passionate about football, after work, he gathered his fellow workers to play football. At that time, he was the captain of the once famous Vinh Mechanical Football team. The American invaders increased their bombardment of the North, the Vinh Mechanical Football team disbanded, Ha Thin continued to wear the worker's uniform, having to temporarily leave football.

In 1978, when the Provincial Military Command football team participated in the national B-class tournament, Ha Thin was one of the first players to be remembered by everyone. He accepted to strengthen the team, participating in the tournament with the goal of being promoted to A2 class. As the goal set, the team was promoted, Ha Thin was the core and was transferred from Vinh Mechanical Factory to the Sports and Physical Education sector. In 1979, Song Lam Nghe Tinh Club was established, from then on, he became an indispensable player of the yellow shirt team. With an aggressive, technical and comprehensive playing style, Ha Thin became the center forward and captain, contributing to bringing the Nghe An football team from A2 class to A1 class in 1984.

At that time, Song Lam Nghe Tinh became a force in Vietnamese football, Ha Thin became the symbol of the club. With his technical, intelligent playing style and excellent heading ability, Ha Thin was remembered by everyone for his "specialty" of stopping the ball in the air and scoring goals. In 1988, Ha Thin retired. In the last match against Thanh Hoa Police, Ha Thin scored a memorable goal with his style of stopping the ball in the air to head the ball.

General Director Nguyen Hong Thanh recalled that at that time, Ha Thin's reputation was very famous, he won the hearts of fans. With his contributions to Nghe An football, Ha Thin was given priority by the provincial leaders, given an apartment and created conditions for him to study in Germany. At that time, Germany was a paradise, a dream of many Vietnamese people, Ha Thin's going to Germany was a great favor from the sports industry and the provincial leaders. After 4 years of studying in Germany, Ha Thin returned and continued to work with SLNA in youth training. This was the time when he promoted his technical qualities in breathing life into SLNA's "nail-cutting, iron-cutting" style of play, softening the fiery style of play that had become Nghe An's trademark. Associated with youth training, he twice brought the Nghe An team to the youth championship (National U21 Championship - 2001 and National U15 Championship - 2002). Until his retirement, he was still in charge of training SLNA's U13 team...

Ha Thin's farewell to SLNA after 47 years of association has left many fans with regrets. Former famous players such as Dang Gia Man, Quoc Vuong and many other generations of his students have all left regretful compliments on Ha Thin's personal page. Meanwhile, General Director of Song Lam Nghe An Joint Stock Company Nguyen Hong Thanh said that Ha Thin has truly become a symbol in SLNA in terms of both expertise and personality. Both when he was a player and when he worked as a youth trainer, Ha Thin was the backbone of the club. The lifelong attachment of famous player Ha Thin to SLNA and his contributions to the club have become an example for future generations to learn from.

Nguyen Khoa