Illustration by Trịnh Lập

by Nguyễn Mỹ Hà

Like the rest of the world, Việt Nam has been bouncing up and down to the rhythms of the World Cup's ball. Football has become not the talk of the town, but of the entire country.

Every day families get together to watch the game on national TV. They live and breathe the cup, and family happiness can even be hampered by a win-or-lose game played by strangers thousands of kilometres away.

A popular Vietnamese saying goes, "If you have innate fragrance, it will disperse," which means that real abilities and talent speak for themselves, you don't need to brag about them.

If that is true, then the modern marketing world will not exist, and marketing executives would have nothing to do. Pictures of Japanese football fans picking trash as they left the stadium in Qatar last week spoke a thousand words. But the simple answer of a fan made it even more clear: "That's simply what we do, not to impress anyone."

That sentence speaks volumes about practising good deeds as something we need to do—not brag about. You need to have an essence for valuable content. Good marketing will not be able to turn an empty low quality product into a great one.

In the past, we used to hold on to a certain teaching style, i.e. better the wood than the paint coat, or good virtue beats beauty to death.

Vietnamese society used to be based on value and weight in content, not the sound or images someone makes. But time has changed, for better or worse, and everyone needs to steer to the right direction.

Many watched the evolution of a recent situation when National Television tried to up their views by inviting top young women from colleges in Hà Nội to represent the 32 World Cup teams to discuss football. This would not have been a big deal if these young women could talk football like real fans who understand not only the rules, but also the footballers' strengths and weaknesses. Instead, they were picked for their beauty alone. Big mistake.

The first viewings aired young women with no essential knowledge of football, so it got smashed by almost everyone who watched it. It was a poor and condescending attempt to shock and get a bump in views, but viewers immediately saw it as a cheap trick to add sex appeal to the programme. Nobody was fooled.

Blatant comments, harsh responses, and even insulting comments immediately pushed the broadcasting company to withdraw the guests. They replaced them with professional women footballers from the National Women's Football Team.

Initial doubts abutting them on air would not do any good because some "superior protectors" feared that the footballers would be laughed at.

But no, despite the lack of financial support and investment, the Women's National Football Team has broken record after record and nailed numerous victories in their championships and tournaments. They are going to a World Cup, not the Vietnamese men, after all.

Despite all the adversaries and hardships, the Women's National Football Team has been loved by everyone. But their prize money and other award or gifts have yet to equal their male counterparts.

Now on a televised programme, women were to be dismissed and not give a word about the game they played best in this country. But the public spoke up, and thanks to social media, the television channel immediately altered the change, inviting pro women footballers to talk.

The professional women footballers were not only cup winners, but they could also talk football in a very informative and articulate way. They spoke from their experience on the field, extracted from sweat, tears, failure, and victories. Hence, their words had substance, emotion and the authority of the first-hand experience of these women warriors on the field.

It's always gratifying, hopeful, and it spreads positive energy to watch these discussions impact the next generation of both men and women.

Justice has been done so far for the pro footballers, but it is harsh on the female students who were first invited to join the programme just because of their looks; they didn't deserve to be smeared.

Four years ago, there were fewer women commentators for the World Cup. Now the number is much higher. But putting on 32 random women to represent each country is too many and many silly mistakes were caught on air, making the decision a laughing matter for all football fans.

What we need is real representation of different people with questions, expertise and attitudes. The public feels left out with unanswered questions when the talk only tends to be among insiders and experts. A few novice questions from less experienced members can be refreshing.

From a viewer's standpoint, a diverse group of people makes the commentary informative and exciting, but the more people talk, the more they will disagree. It would be a disaster if high-profile experts invited to speak got into a fight on air.

While we can't deny women's vital role in today's society, young women must not be ridiculed or manipulated for their physical beauty or unfairly stereotyped. It's a simple matter of respect.

When we have genuine respect in our thinking, equality will be within reach. Football is an excellent game for both men and women, attracting everyone to the world's biggest competition every four years.

Let the beautiful game be a beautiful game for all. VNS