It's time to change the referees

(Baonghean.vn) - To protect the "kings of the field" when the referees make mistakes, Mr. Nguyen Van Mui, head of the referee board, often says, "We referees are also human, we cannot avoid...". But the time has come for fans to tell VFF that: "We are also human..." and cannot endure the blatant and unreasonable mistakes of the Vietnamese referee team forever.

In early Spring, confiding to sports reporters, Mr. Duc, as Vice President of VFF, bitterly said: "I've racked my brains. If we want to change Vietnamese football now, the only way left is to completely erase these overlapping group interests, change the blood and start over. Only then can we hope to improve."". Initially, Mr. Duc thought that low income caused the Vietnamese referee team to make mistakes, so as Vice President in charge of finance, he proposed to increase the salaries of the "kings of the field". Still made mistakes! Thinking that due to lack of communication equipment, the referees could not cover the match, he bought walkie-talkies. Still the same!

Poor referee quality is also the reason why Vinh Stadium spectators turn their backs on football. Photo: Dung Nguyen

At this point, he realized that the “cause of all causes” lies in the personnel team and proactively proposed to replace the position of Head of the Referee Board Nguyen Van Mui. The irony is that although he was fiercely attacked at the VFF Executive Committee meeting on the afternoon of August 11, 2016, when it came time to vote of confidence, the head of the Referee Board miraculously escaped. More than anyone else, Mr. Duc felt “alone in a crowd” and “exposed himself” with bitter words about an organization in which he was one of the key players. The Vietnamese football field is overlapping and intertwined with interest groups and the VFF Standing Committee is gradually becoming powerless. Because my parents are poor?

Yesterday afternoon (February 12), when referee Trung Kien B "pressed down" the home team in the situation where central defender Thiago wearing the number 5 shirt of Quang Nam jumped and punched goalkeeper Nguyen Manh (SLNA) in the neck, causing him to fall to the ground, people saw even more that Mr. Duc was right.

In this situation, many referees would have given Thiago a yellow card, due to a foul on the goalkeeper within 5.5m, but the referee on the field ignored it and let Claudeeir score. We can blame the SLNA players for standing still waiting for the whistle, which is very unprofessional, but we can also sympathize with them because not only the SLNA players, the away team and the audience on the field all thought that no matter how "brave" the referee Trung Kien B was, he had to blow the whistle.

Perhaps, with the time running out, the referee had no choice but to use the tactic of “hitting himself with his own petard” and quickly bring the match to a fait accompli. Compared to the “wrong whistle” incident of referee Ha Anh Chien at Thanh Hoa Stadium last year, referee Van Kien B committed an even more serious foul. Perhaps, referee Van Kien B’s facial expression changed more quickly, right after midfielder Que Ngoc Hai reacted.

Of course, the “king of the field” was still sober enough not to give a yellow card warning even though the home players reacted strongly. Usually, if referees make mistakes, they often blow in favor of the home team like every year, SLNA at least had a few matches that were forced. Recently, right-back Sy Nam on Vinh field, in a situation where a penalty was called, also “swore to live and die” to the writer: “I really did not touch Sadio Diao”. However, the main referee Van Kien did not think so, more precisely, he was “waiting” for any SLNA player to “approach” the S.Khanh Hoa striker!

Thiago himself (5) did not believe that he would not be penalized in the dispute with Nguyen Manh. Photo: Dung Nguyen

Right from the beginning of the season, many people warned that SLNA was easily pressured, but blatant pressure like referee Van Kien B, indeed, no Nghe An audience would think of. Club Director Ho Van Chiem himself in Official Dispatch No. 10/CV.SLNA.2017 urgently sent to VFF, the tournament's Organizing Committee, the Referee Board, and the Disciplinary Board said that "This is not a mistake in the referee's judgment but has a very clear intention" and suggested "not to use and hire this referee" also understood as "talking just for the sake of talking". With SLNA's current "position and power", it is not just referee Van Kien and Van Kien B who "push back" like that!

Referee Board officials have repeatedly said: “Referees are also human and can still make mistakes…” but perhaps referee Mark Clattenburg should have proactively come to meet and apologize to Hull City players for the wrong decision on Sanchez’s goal, then that would be truly HUMAN. Otherwise, that refrain would be too boring for Vietnamese football fans, because after all: “We the audience are also human”, we cannot endure such crude mistakes from the “kings of the field” forever.

Catcosan Vinh