All five Vietnamese members at the training course for new FIFA-certified referees provided by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Bangkok between March 26 and 30 have failed to pass the physical strength test.

They include referee Nguyen Trong Thu and male assistants Pham Manh Long, and Nguyen Anh Toan; and two female colleagues, Ha Thi Phuong, and Truong Thi Le Trinh.

A source told Tuoi Tre that at the speed running test, which requires a male referee to run six times in a 40-meter distance within 6 seconds, and 6.4 seconds for the female, the five all passed.

However, they all failed when it came to stamina.

In the test they had to run 20 times in a 150-meter distance within 30 seconds, and walk 50 meters 20 times within 35 seconds.

“The tests were undertaken between 10-11am, when the sun was extremely hot,” the referees gave as an excuse for their failures.

In response, Duong Vu Lam, head of the referee department under the Vietnam Football Federation, said this is bad news for the local referee force.

“With the exception for injury, all other excuses are unacceptable,” he said.

Not the first time

In 2010 two referee assistants, Nguyen Hoang Minh and Nguyen Ngoc Ha, were unable to make it through the same test. The same thing happened to their counterpart Nguyen Phong Vu a year later.

As for the female referees, Le Thi Ngoc Hanh was not assigned to work at the ASEAN Women’s Football Championships 2011 due to her failure of the test at Vientiane, Laos. Similarly, female referee Mai Hoang Trang failed the test in Malaysia this year.

However, since she suffered an injury in the Malaysia test, she was given a retest earlier this month in Korea, and she managed to pass it.

Under FIFA and AFC rules, referee assistants are not able to take the test again if they fail.

Those who cannot pass the test are still recognized as FIFA referees, but will not be appointed to work at international tournaments.

AFC has cautioned the referee departments of its member football federation to tighten the annual physical strength tests for their referee forces.

Meanwhile, a referee lecturer with AFC certification has wondered if the five referees have enjoyed special favor from VFF, since they all passed the test held in Vietnam earlier this year.

“How could the same group of people fail the same test they have earlier passed?” he said.

“It is their unsecured physical strength that has led to a series of mistakes the referees have made over the last 11 rounds of the V-League.”

Tuoitre