Writing about a deceased fan

(Baonghean.vn) - Now he has passed away nearly 20 years ago, but to me, he is a loyal fan of Nghe An football in general and SLNA in particular. I write this article, not simply to participate in a contest, but instead of a stick of incense to express my feelings for him, a man with boundless love for the football field.

Many residents living in the A3 building, Quang Trung still remember him, the big, tall man with a hurried gait. His full name is Nguyen Van Dan. We children often called him by the affectionate name: Uncle Dan. My father told me that he was a geography teacher and librarian at the famous high school in Vinh named after the patriot Huynh Thuc Khang. My father and many people who studied at this school respected him for his erudition.

At that time, the children of Quang Trung apartment building often played football at the “Slide” park. The names Huu Thang (building B1), Quang Ngoc (building A2), Bac Son (building A3)… participated in the SLNA youth team selection. Almost every afternoon, he was present at the football field in kindergarten area A, or the “slide” field to watch us play football. At the end of the match, he often had some professional comments, sometimes giving us guava, banana, peanut candy to encourage us.

On Sunday afternoons, he often called the children of house A3 to his room 24 to listen to the radio commentary of football matches with the enthusiastic voices of commentators Hoai Son, Dinh Khai, Tran Kien, Xuan Bach. We were able to eat some peanuts and listen to the football commentary…so we children at that time loved to go to his room, especially for the matches of The Cong - CAHN, General Department of Railways - CAHN.

Commentator Viet Khue - granddaughter of teacher Nguyen Van Dan.

On summer days, Vinh city is on fire, the sun is like a fire hitting people's faces. The football matches at Vinh stadium usually start at 3pm, so going to watch is a torture.

At that time, there was no home-away rule, so many teams such as CATH, Hanoi Construction, Hanoi Train, Nam Dinh Textile… came to Vinh to play. He went to watch every match, rain or shine. If it was sunny, he would cover his head with a newspaper, if it was raining, he would put on a hastily folded raincoat.

When he went to the stadium, he usually brought a jug of water and some potatoes, cassava, corn or sometimes a handful of boiled peanuts. For the matches that Nghe An Provincial Team (the predecessor of SLNA) played, a few days before, Uncle Dan came to each of our children's houses to announce: Let's go watch this Sunday, it's very interesting.

Back then, in the neighborhood where I lived, the Vice Chairman of the Vinh City People’s Committee, Ba Dung, occasionally gave his old teacher an invitation to watch football matches at the A stadium. Uncle Dan often went to the stadium to exchange them for tickets, so that children who didn’t have money would have more opportunities to watch. Before each match, he often took out a piece of paper and drew a diagram of the provincial football team and pointed out enthusiastically: This is Thuy “tru Lao”’s position, this is Hai “vau”’s position…

In the afternoons, after the match, you would see him walking and singing love songs in French. Without asking, you would know immediately that Nghe An Provincial Team won and vice versa.

Not only the matches at Vinh Stadium, he also never missed any children's tournaments. In the summer, he went to cheer for the youth tournaments, ward and city children's tournaments... His wife is Mrs. Lan, a Hue native who is very good at housework. She makes sesame candy and delivers it to the tea shops around the area. Occasionally, Mr. Dan would take a handful of defective candy and give it to us, the A3 football team, as a grandfather's encouragement to his grandchildren.

When he was over 80 years old, his health was not as good as before, his wife did not let him go to the games anymore but Uncle Dan still quietly found a way to sneak out to the field. She knew she could not stop her husband's love of the field so she asked us kids to accompany him, to help him, especially when crossing the crowded street.

In the stands, he no longer had enough strength to stand up and clap his hands in cheers at every beautiful play by his favorite team, but he still raised his hands firmly and shook them happily.

The day he passed away, I was not at home. Later, when I came to burn incense in memory of him, my aunt Lan choked up: Two weeks before he passed away, he still wanted to go to the stadium to watch football. I wonder if his love of football was passed on to Viet Khue, his grandchild whom he often took to Vinh Stadium to watch football, and then he also became a veteran football commentator for Vietnam Television?

But for us, the children of A3 were lucky to receive the passion for football from him, an old, knowledgeable, kind and child-loving teacher.

Phan Hao -An Thanh