VietNamNet Bridge – Spending over half of a billion dong ($30,000) to go to South Africa for the World Cup, exploring flares at all stadiums where the V-League is held, quitting job to follow his favorite team… That’s the man who is called “Hoan say” (drunken Hoan) by football fans.
“Hoan say” is very familiar to the business circles in the northern port city of Hai Phong, because he is a well-known entrepreneur there. But for Vietnamese football fans, “Hoan say” is the most cuckoo fan in Vietnam.

Ten years ago, “Hoan say” was only known among football fans in Hai Phong. When the Hai Phong Police FC still operated, “Hoan say” followed this FC to stadiums throughout the country. The team was dismissed and replaced by the Mitsustar Hai Phong and then Van Hoa Hai Phong FCs. These new teams were very weak and disappointed Hai Phong’s football fans. But Hoan kept following the FCs in all matches because “This is still the FC of our hometown”.

Besides the FC of his hometown, “Hoan say” also loves the national team. This man has not missed out any game of the national squad since 1995, the year it won the silver medal at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

However, “Hoan say” only became famous among Vietnamese football fans since 2005, the year the Vietnamese national team triumphed at the SEA Games in the Philippines.

Getting on board, Hoan guarded insistently the Vietnamese flag and a large-sized portrait of President Ho. At SEA Games 2005, U23 Vietnam team performed outstandingly at the qualifier round. At the semi-finals, Vietnam defeated Myanmar 1-0. When the Vietnamese team scored its decisive goal, Hoan was so happy. He held high the President Ho’s portrait and jumped down from the stand of several meters high to the ground. Consequently, he broke one leg and was nearly shot by Filippino police officers.

At the Asian Cup 2007, held at Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium, “Hoan say” brought President Ho’s portrait and hundreds of flares to the stadium. He had ticket at the VIP zone but he sold it to buy a normal ticket to group up with the most enthusiastic fans at the Grand B. When Vietnam defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in the first game, Hoan let off flares to light up a corner of the stadium. The atmosphere was overenthusiastic. Hoan said that was the time the national pride blazed up. However, he had to pay a nearly VND10 million fine ($600).

In 2008, Hai Phong won the bronze medal at the V-League. Every time the team faced its rivals at the home stadium of Lach Tray, Hoan was absent from work that day to group up other fans in Hai Phong and prepared flares. Because of Hoan’s flares, the organizing board of Lach Tray stadium was fined several times. Hoan then hired houses near the stadium to let off flares.
This man also gave flares to fans of other teams. That’s why flares were burnt at stadiums in Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh provinces. Flares are banned at the V-League and the First Division tournament so Hoan has been fined for nearly ten times.

“Flares are not banned products because I can buy them easily and legally. Football games will be less enthusiastic without flares. So I will still go to stadiums with flares,” Hoan said.

Hoan is also a fan of the World Cup. He promised himself to attend 10 World Cup events. He attended the World Cup 2002 in Japan and South Korea, World Cup 2006 in Germany and World Cup 2010 in South Africa. In South Africa, Hoan hired helicopters to visit stadiums and watched seven matches ($1,000/ticket). He paid nearly $30,000 for that trip.

“People say I’m cracked. Yes, but I have never and will never regret about my trips for football. They were interesting experiences. Football is wonderful. It helps you forget tiredness, worries or sadness. It erases all barriers of language, skin color. Vietnamese football fans are number one. Japanese is very rich but at the quarter-final game between Japan and Paraguay, there were only several Japanese fans. If it was Vietnam, there would have thousands of fans,” Hoan said.

PV