Closing the 'whistle distortion' event at Thanh Hoa Stadium

(Baonghean.vn) - Rarely has a Vietnamese football event made the media and audience as excited as the incident involving referee Ha Anh Chien last week. In addition to 9 sports newspapers, about 20 other newspapers and radio stations with a total of more than 200 articles mentioned this rare football event.

The role of the media

This is not the first time that Vietnamese football has had a “strange whistle” but the Ha Anh Chien incident this time has been reported by the press from all angles. The angle of the key players with interviews with General Director Nguyen Hong Thanh, Head Coach Ngo Quang Truong, veteran sports commentators Quang Huy, Trinh Minh Hue, VPF officials, Organizing Committee, Referee Board, veteran referees, referee supervisor Doan Phu Tan, multi-dimensional opinions of the audience, including Thanh Hoa audiences and the explanation of referee Ha Anh Chien himself…

The referee team failed to complete their duties in the Thanh Hoa-SLNA match. Photo: Trung Kien.

The press also turned back the past of the match between FLC Thanh Hoa and HAGL with a goal thanks to the “hand of God” of striker Tung “con” also refereed by the same referee Ha. “Sensitive” details such as the report of assistant Cao Thanh Tu, the image of hot tape surgery at Thanh Hoa stadium by referee supervisor Doan Phu Tan also did not escape the observation of the press.

Not only did the press discover the absurdity of the refereeing method, the strange way of handling situations, the determination of referee Chien to "force the issue" but also analyzed other situations in which referee Ha Anh Chien pressured the away team throughout the match. The process of Ha Anh Chien becoming the main referee of V-League was too fast (after only 4 years, normally it takes 6-8 years) and the arrangement of an inexperienced referee to officiate a key match was also dissected.

Many articles also mentioned the shortcomings of the country's football management such as "voting" for an individual who is both the Head of the Referee Committee (training, evaluating, assigning referees) and the Deputy of the Organizing Committee of the V-League 2016, Mr. Nguyen Van Mui, causing the quality of referees to remain sluggish for so long.

End to open

Finally, it took 2 meetings, along with the determination of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, VPF and the public opinion for 4 days for 4/5 members of the Board of Directors to vote to permanently suspend referee Ha Anh Chien, only then did he realize how difficult the road to cleaning up football is.

When a series of referees and officials of Vietnamese football have been imprisoned and there are still "strange, distorted whistles" appearing, fans all know the price of each whistle is not cheap. If it was cheap, people would not blow it, knowing the sad ending waiting for them if they were brought to trial.

Until now, there is still no conclusion on the "strange whistle" motive, but at least the decisive handling by the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, VPF, and the Referee Board has given fans something to believe in. Individuals who have been and are "involved" in matters related to the football field have levels to consider and calculate how to avoid making the same mistake.

For us, sports writers, in the past few days we have spent a lot of time and effort to grasp the situation of news production, in addition to the love for our hometown team, it is also the responsibility of millions of readers who trust and place their trust when coming to our writing page. The "whistle-blowing" event here needs to be quickly closed so that we can continue to be passionate about beautiful football moves, goals or passionate matches on weekends.

On this occasion, Nghe An audiences would like to send their feelings to the Board of Directors, Coaching Board and players of SLNA "on the field, play your best" whether you win or lose, everyone always stands by the team, supporting the team as they have done in the past days.

AT