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 audience 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 at 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 table in 2022.

Hanoi FC only had to meet the bottom team Hong Linh Ha Tinh and even just need to win a draw to win the championship with 1 round to go. It was a turbulent season for the capital team but they overcame and rose to achieve a satisfactory result. Not only did they win a modest point, 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 crowning moment of their beloved team, alongside Hong Linh Ha Tinh fans (including the number of two-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 was 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-person mark in the previous match against the biggest rival Hanoi FC. Also because of the "turnaround" 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 was the last match of the home team, if they won 3 points they would win the runner-up position, so attracting many spectators for the home team is 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 commendable, happy and criticizable, sad aspects 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 (3 billion VND 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 had to be 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 left. 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, for mid-level football teams, the goal is only to reach a few thousand spectators to be considered as having spectators at 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 the 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 overcome it.

The joy that filled the whole house after the round 25 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 kind of sentence has been announced more than once, 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 rotten apple spoils the barrel" is not just a single meal but 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 weakness of many teams when they do not maintain a fan base regularly and continuously in all matches, when it is favorable as well as when it is difficult, when it is a resounding success as well as when it is a miserable failure, even losing the trust of loyal fans as many people have known, have been worried recently...