Football club bosses have called for hiring foreign referees to officiate important matches in Vietnam’s topflight V-League following the recent uproar over corrupt referees.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai chairman Doan Nguyen Duc made the suggestion following an announcement by Hanoi ACB club chief Nguyen Duc Kien last week that six clubs were prepared to abandon the V-League to protest a “cover-up” by the Vietnam Football Federation.
“It is completely unacceptable seeing corrupt referees destroy our games, each of which costs around VND6 billion (US$293,000),” Duc said.
He arrived at the sum by saying the average expenditure for a club for a season of 26 rounds was VND80 billion.
“A poor referee can cause a loss of VND6 billion regardless of the enthusiasm and energy of fans and players. How can we not be angry?” he added.
He and his counterparts could afford to pay several thousand dollars per game to hire foreign referees to make sure the competition is clean, he hinted.
VFF referee council chief Nguyen Van Mui, who apparently realized the growing disgust among club owners, said he had been considering bringing in Thai referees for long.
“I discussed with Thai counterpart Nahathai Tuepaingam the exchange of Thai and Vietnamese referees,” he said.
Other countries in the neighborhood have been exchanging referees for long. Malaysia and Indonesia have swapped referees while Japan brought them all the way from Scotland.
Duc said comprehensive changes were urgently required in Vietnamese football.
Violence and allegations of bribery have kept increasing in recent years while match attendances have been headed in the opposite direction.
Print
