V-League and the story of crowded and sparse fans

Why, even though V-League 1-2022 has reached the penultimate round, which many people still consider the endgame, has attracted such a large number of spectators to the stadium? Is Vietnamese professional football proving its leading position in the region, surpassing Thailand, even Chinese football, because of its real quality, because of the eye-catching performances of the teams and rising stars?

Hanoi FC in the joy of winning the championship. Photo archive

First of all, let's look specifically through the matches in the 25th round. These are decisive matches with at least 3 teams in the Northern region including Hanoi FC, Hai Phong and Nam Dinh at the top and bottom of the 2022 table.

Hanoi FC only had to meet the bottom team Hong Linh Ha Tinh and even just need to win 1 point to win the championship before 1 round. It was a season with many changes for the Capital team but they overcame and surpassed to achieve a satisfactory result. Not only did they win a modest point, but they won all 3 points against their opponents to win the national championship for the 6th time. The Capital fans came to Hang Day Stadium to wait for the coronation moment of their beloved team, along with Hong Linh Ha Tinh fans (including the number of 2-faced fans who used to wear yellow shirts to cheer for Song Lam Nghe An), so the number of 10,000 people present in the stadium is not strange, even less, if this was a match of Song Lam Nghe An before the "turnaround".

At Lach Tray Stadium, of course, the number of 19,000 spectators cheering for the Hai Phong - Song Lam Nghe An match is not considered crowded, because this stadium had reached the 22,000 mark in the previous match against the biggest rival Hanoi FC. Also because of the "turnabout" of the yellow shirt fans, because Song Lam Nghe An basically ran out of goals, there were almost no fans from Nghe An. It is worth mentioning that this is the last match of the home team, if they win 3 points they will win the runner-up position, so attracting many spectators for the home team is also understandable. Moreover, the enthusiastic and somewhat excessive admiration of Hai Phong fans has long been a brand, a type of achievement to achieve a "medal" with 2 sides of praise, joy and criticism, sadness as many people know.

The match at Thien Truong Stadium between Nam Dinh and Saigon FC was truly the reverse final of the season. With the determination to escape relegation, with a huge source of doping (VND 3 billion for a win, equal to the championship prize of the season), the fact that the audience from Thanh Nam came to the stadium to cheer in large numbers with 18,000 people was a happy thing but also a sad "record" for the team that has been in this situation for a long time. And the team of "welder" Hong Viet achieved what the fans wanted: successfully staying in the league with 1 round ahead. It was also the joy of victory but with different nuances for the champion, the runner-up and the person who narrowly avoided the sadness of relegation...

To see, at a specific time for a specific milestone, football will attract fans to the stadium in large numbers or sparsely with different expectations as mentioned above. Meanwhile, in the middle-ranking football teams, the goal is only to reach a few thousand spectators to be called spectators coming to the stadium. Thanh Hoa Stadium only has 3,500 people, Thong Nhat Stadium 3,000 people and Hoa Xuan Stadium 5,000 people. That is unusual for a football tournament considered the strongest in the region and is gradually reaching new heights. It further shows that the relationship between the team and fans in V-League is both a happy and sad story, right in the happy story there is a sad story and there is no way to fix it.

The joy that filled the 25th round match at Lach Tray or Thien Truong stadium had not yet subsided when the team received a disciplinary sentence for letting fans light flares on the field. Unfortunately, this type of sentence has been announced more than once or twice, but this bad thing still happens like a mockery, regardless of a few people who take advantage of the love of football to sabotage. "A single bad apple spoils the barrel" is not just a single meal but is a system, a stain, a stain that needs to be thoroughly and carefully washed away.

There are many important things to do in the coming time of Vietnamese football, including building a fan base - the 12th player of each team, national team. The above mentioned things show that this is still a weak link, a weak point of many teams when they do not regularly and continuously maintain a fan base in all matches, when favorable as well as difficult, when resounding success as well as when miserable failure, even losing the trust of loyal fans as many people have known, have been worried recently...