Investing billions of dong still... breaks the stadium
That is the story that is happening in many arenas, especially Ha Tinh Stadium and Quy Nhon Stadium.
As of February 26, Binh Dinh club has been approved by Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) to organize the match against Binh Duong at home, although in reality, Quy Nhon Stadium has not yet absolutely met quality requirements.
Hong Linh Ha Tinh Club was not so lucky. They had to play against Thanh Hoa in round 15 at Vinh Stadium, when Ha Tinh Stadium did not meet the requirements.
More notably, Ha Tinh Stadium and Quy Nhon Stadium were once among the fields with the best grass in Vietnam. In 2019, Ha Tinh Stadium was completely renovated with a budget of more than 50 billion VND. Just over 5 years later, the grass of this stadium was so dilapidated that no one expected it.
There was a time when there was information about some "strangers" practicing golf on the soccer field. However, at this time, the Ha Tinh golf course management board had to buy golf course grass to build on the course but still did not meet VPF's requirements.
The same goes for Quy Nhon Stadium. At the time of their promotion, Binh Dinh club of course invested heavily to have the best force, the pitch was "no one's loss". After about 3 years, when the financial storm at times seemed to sink the team, Quy Nhon Stadium suddenly put on an ugly shirt.
Or in Thanh Hoa, a team is often criticized for taking care of the stadium. In fact, there was a time when during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021), Mr. Doan gave out his own money with support from the locality to rebuild the entire field grass.
This stadium has only maintained its quality for less than a year. Some incidents during the care process and harsh weather caused the Thanh Hoa stadium's grass to be bare on the opening day of V.League 2023.
The "difficult"... the "difficult"
"In fact, there are times when we cannot decide whether we can repair the stadium or not, because this is still the property of the locality. The team is not allowed to own the stadium.
Many major repair items at the stadium need to be permitted by the government, while Thanh Hoa Stadium currently needs to be completely renovated," a Thanh Hoa club leader shared with Lao Dong.
According to the reporter's research, in order for Thanh Hoa Stadium to be of guaranteed quality, the grass needs to be completely removed, the ground needs to be repaired before replanting a new one. Thus, the team needs to not practice or compete at home for 5-6 months.
In addition, when the new stadium is completed, they also need a practice ground to avoid using the main stadium too much. This is as difficult for Thanh Hoa football as it is for them to win the V.League.
Most recently, Da Nang football club has just had to borrow Tam Ky Stadium (Quang Nam) to compete and wait for the People's Committee of Da Nang City to repair Hoa Xuan Stadium.
The grass of Hoa Xuan Stadium is so bad that it has caused injuries to many players. In parallel with the move from the government, the team's leaders "asked" a sponsor to repair the entire training ground and some other facilities.
From another perspective, spending 10-15 billion VND to repair the pitch alone is not a simple problem for many teams. Currently, the difficult financial situation has caused many owners to "ring up their belts and belly", balancing and counting each transfer fee for each player. Some teams have to accept "squeezing" the bad grass to maintain operations.
At this time, V.League needs construction units and natural grass maintenance for professional football at an appropriate cost.
In addition, the management mechanism for fixed assets in the sports sector needs to be studied and amended to suit the actual situation. Teams need to be given certain authority to repair stadiums, avoiding the situation of waiting for the higher level to resolve in hopes.
