Vũ Văn Thanh (2nd right) is given a red card following his outburst towards the referee in the match against Quảng Nam on Wednesday. — Photo VFF

Anh Đức

It has been over a decade since the media last buzzed about moral issues in Vietnamese football.

On September 7, 2012, an expensive sports car blazed through the streets of Thanh Hoá, collided with a woman on a motorbike and was eventually stopped by the police.

Inside the car, the driver was found to be wearing a post-match Việt Nam national team jersey. The man had his eyes closed and kept on dancing to the music in his car, despite the noise of the crowd around his vehicle.

The driver was later identified as defender Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, who later became a manager at Sông Lam Nghệ An. Although authorities said that Hoàng had been drink driving, a viral video clip of him bounding around in his car remains questionable proof to the masses.

Fast forward twelve years and the renaissance of Vietnamese football has elevated footballers from snobbish playboys to revered heroes, but still under the cape of pleasure seekers.

On Wednesday, five players of the Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh Football Club were suspended indefinitely by the VFF, after they were arrested by the police for allegedly using drugs.

Amongst the players arrested, two names stood out: Đinh Thanh Trung and Nguyễn Ngọc Thắng.

Trung, the 2017 Vietnamese Golden Ball winner and the club captain before his arrest, had been praised by his colleagues and coaches for being a role model with a healthy and scandal-free lifestyle. Now, that image of Trung has been shattered, along with the pride of his hometown club.

Thắng, at just 21 years old, had just been called up to the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup and is considered one of Việt Nam's hot prospects in defence. Now, it seems Thắng's career is over, even if the indefinite ban is reversed.

Trung and older players should have been a good example for young players like Thắng to look up to, but instead enticed the youngsters into committing vices. Thắng, after his mistake at the U23 Asian Cup, should have known better about the repercussions of slipping up.

In another incident involving questionable behaviour, Vũ Văn Thanh, the scorer of the deciding penalty that took Việt Nam to the 2018 AFC U23 Championship final, was sent off in the match against Quảng Nam on Wednesday.

He was suspended for three matches by the VFF for offending the referee, when cameras caught him shouting offensive swear words at the match officials. Thanh later wrote an apology on social media, but did not mention the referee, who was the direct recipient of his verbal attacks.

Thanh is a player idolised by many children for his confidence and philanthropy, but what will parents tell their kids now that their hero has been found to be rude and using swear words on the field?

Footballers in Việt Nam have been elevated to near-celebrity level for a long time and it is imperative for the players at the highest level match their behaviour to their status, because the future of Vietnamese football lies with how both young fans and young footballers behave. — VNS