Owners of several football clubs in Vietnam are disgusted by corrupt refereeing in the topflight V-League and reluctant to sink any more money into their teams.
Vo Quoc Thang, owner of Dong Tam Long An, told Tuoi Tre he was mulling stopping investment in his club who have been relegated to the First Division next year.
The club’s manager Pham Phu Hoa told the media at the end of the season last month that the club preferred to invest money in football and not in bribing referees.
Other owners like Doan Nguyen Duc of Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Nguyen Duc Kien of Hanoi ACB, and Tran Dinh Long of Hoa Phat Hanoi have also expressed reluctance to continue after pumping hundreds of billions of dong in their clubs in recent years [US$1 million = VND20.5 billion].
Khanh Hoa coach Hoang Anh Tuan said bluntly: “Referees destroyed the competition this season. It discourages clubs from investment.”
It has for long been a practice by clubs in Vietnam to wine and dine referees and give them envelopes with money inside before a game though the football association covers all their costs.
This has grown into full-blown corruption, with some officials now willing to favor one team or the other in exchange for money.
Renowned coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh of Hoa Phat Hanoi has complained that referees hold complete sway over Vietnamese football.
But some honest club owners prefer not to indulge in bribery though the result could even mean relegation. The result also means they are not willing to invest any more money in football unless the sport is cleaned up.
Not surprisingly, there are Chinese whispers that the champion team are the one who gave away the fattest envelopes to referees while a demoted team are the most honest one.
Scandalous referees
Last month the Vietnam Football Federation decided to suspend three referees for the entire 2011-12 season and caution three other for their “inaccuracy in blowing the whistle that has triggered public protests.”
Do Quoc Hoai of Hanoi “systematically committed mistakes” while Tran Cong Trong of Ben Tre and Nguyen Van Quyet of Thai Binh “showed glimpses of unfairness.”
The three cautioned officials are Vo Minh Tri, Ngo Quoc Hung, and Dao Van Cuong.
Vicem Hai Phong snatched six points from two dubious wins over Ninh Binh and Hoa Phat Hanoi with the abetment of referees, VFF chairman Nguyen Trong Hy said.
They managed to escape relegation by a whisker, finishing 12th out of 14 teams.
V-League match attendances have kept going down in recent seasons, with the average attendance per match falling from 10,326 in 2009 to 7,395 this year, the VFF said.
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