Former VFF Vice President Ngo Tu Ha: "If no negative findings are found, then one should resign"

Regarding how to eliminate negativity from professional football, Mr. Ngo Tu Ha - former vice president of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) term III - said that it is not too difficult for professionals, it is just whether they want to do it or not. He said:

- Football in the past and present always had negativity and collusion, but now it is much more complicated than before. In the 1983-1984 season when I was a match supervisor, and the supervisors at that time had a lot of power over the referees, not like today. That time, I was a match supervisor for a team about to be relegated against a team that was sure to stay in the league.

The leader of the club that was about to be relegated came to see me and said: “Mr. Ha, please instruct the referee to let my team win this match. If my team stays in the league, we will give you a house on Thanh Nhan Street (Hanoi)”. And of course I did not accept. That shows that football has always had negativity.

* People mention you for many cases of drastic handling as the head of the tournament's organizing committee. What is the basis for you to deduct points from Hanoi Police and Hai Phong Police without having to say "where is the evidence" like the current organizing committee?

- The Organizing Committee of each football tournament has a number of specific tasks as follows: developing tournament rules and regulations before each season; planning competition organization; training and assigning referees; working and liaising with the Organizing Committees of the stadiums and localities.

When the ball is rolling, monitor and handle events that occur, especially negative incidents, discipline teams, referees or related departments that violate. Manage the tournament, the Organizing Committee is based on FIFA laws, professional football regulations, and tournament rules.

A play in the match between Saigon Xuan Thanh and SQC Binh Dinh -
One of the most "smelly" matches of the past season - Photo: SH

When creating the tournament's disciplinary regulations, I included the sentence "if there are negative signs in the match, the tournament's Organizing Committee will handle the disciplinary action according to levels a, b, c". The signs of two clubs giving up points, players selling matches are shown during the 90 minutes of the match, in the relationship between the teams, the findings of the press before and after the match, the reports of the supervisors, the evaluation of the professional subcommittee...

I think that with all those eyes and ears, if a professional in football watches a match and doesn't know if there is match fixing or not, then his level is low and he should quit. If he knows but doesn't handle it, then the organizers' character is low. It's not difficult to conclude whether the match, the players, the referees are negative or not, it's just whether the organizers dare to do it or not.

* What do you think about the current tournament organizers when recently, Mr. Kien of the Hanoi ACB team spoke out that the tournament organizers are covering up and concealing negativity?

- I see that VFF and the tournament's organizing committee currently have overlapping work and responsibilities. Every agency has a leader. When there are negative events in the tournament, the person with the highest responsibility is the head of the tournament's organizing committee. The tournament's organizing committee belongs to VFF, so the person with the highest responsibility here is the head of VFF.

One of the most important tasks of the tournament's organizing committee is to handle violations and negativity, but as far as I know, the tournament's organizing committee currently compiles reports and sends them to the disciplinary committee, and this committee handles the case. When there is a disciplinary incident or a referee incident, the head of the organizing committee and the president of the VFF say that this is handled by the disciplinary committee and the referee council because they are independent committees. So where is the responsibility of the organizing committee and the VFF leadership?

The disciplinary board has just disciplined, then it is brought to the appeals board, the appeals board reduces the sentence. There are even cases where the head of the disciplinary board has just disciplined and suspended a player, but after a few days the club comes to "work" and the player requests a reduction in the sentence, the disciplinary board reduces the sentence.

What is the basis and regulation for such decisions? Currently, VFF has people who work for their own good, but there are also people who work for other purposes.

* A tournament where 6-7 teams want to withdraw, what does that show?

- Football is a playground for clubs. When many clubs feel frustrated and no longer want to play because of the management of the Organizing Committee, the Organizing Committee and VFF must review themselves. If VFF cannot review itself, there must be a higher organization to review the way VFF works. Mr. Kien's statement shows the great frustration of him personally and the businesses doing football.

* Responding to Tuoi Tre, VFF vice president Le Hung Dung said that Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi should resign as tournament chief from the 2012 season. What do you think about this opinion?

- Four years ago, I expressed my opinion in the newspaper that Mr. Khoi should not be the head of the tournament's organizing committee. Now, I support Mr. Dung's point of view, anyone who has a bad reputation and does not complete their tasks well from top to bottom should resign and let someone else take over. But words must go hand in hand with actions, I think there are some cases where they should resign completely (from the tournament's organizing committee), if they are allowed to do other work related to the tournament, it will remain the same as in previous seasons.

* Why don't you think of the option that VFF should hire a head of the Organizing Committee who is an expert in the field of football from a developed football country?

- This is very difficult because the head of the tournament's organizing committee in Vietnam must grasp the ins and outs of Vietnamese football. There are many things about Vietnamese football that foreigners do not understand.

According to Tuoi Tre