Quick processing from VFF, VPF
After the 0-0 draw between PVF-CAND and Ho Chi Minh City Youth Club in the 4th round of the National First Division (November 14), the official fanpage of PVF-CAND posted an article with the description: "Striker Nguyen Xuan Nam was beaten by an opposing player (Vu Van Son - PV) right in front of the away team's locker room after the match", along with pictures and videos of his bloody face.
Before the camera was released, Xuan Nam and Van Son both had discussions with the press about this conflict. As for Xuan Nam, he said that the cause came from being provoked by Van Son on the field. "He punched me without any time to react and then ran away. After that, I also jumped in to hit back but was stopped by my bodyguard and teammates" - Xuan Nam said.
On the other hand, Van Son asserted that Xuan Nam was the one who provoked, threatened him and then had the first physical contact. In the end, Van Son pushed Xuan Nam away and was punched by the opponent, so he fought back.
As soon as this incident occurred, the match organizers immediately extracted the camera footage before sending it to Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) and the tournament organizers. The quick handling of the situation helped fans have a visual view of the origin and development of the conflict between Vu Van Son and Nguyen Xuan Nam.
A day later, the Disciplinary Board of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) immediately imposed penalties on these two players.Based on Clause 1, Article 39 of the VFF's Disciplinary Regulations, both players were banned from the next four matches and fined 20 million VND.
Communication lesson for the club
In this story, the media team from PVF-CAND did not handle the issue well, creating negative public opinion. First, as soon as Xuan Nam was seen bleeding from his face, the club's official fanpage hastily posted photos, videos and the status as mentioned above, instead of having verification from Xuan Nam, the opposing players or those around him and the tournament organizers. This is also the source of the conflicting information "dancing" on social networks.
Even when the video was posted on Facebook, the majority of fans confirmed that Xuan Nam (PVF-CAND) was the aggressor in this brawl, the PVF-CAND homepage still made excuses for the home team striker’s unprofessional actions. This caused the PVF-CAND club to “lose points” in the hearts of fans.
Finally, PVF-CAND had to delete all information related to the incident with an apology: “Under the chairmanship of the chairman, PVF-CAND Football Club held a meeting to learn from experience and seriously review the recent unfortunate incidents. PVF-CAND's policy is to always be aware of building a dedicated and beautiful playing style for the common development of Vietnamese football. After the unfortunate incidents that occurred, PVF-CAND Club would like to send its sincere apologies to all fans for affecting the image of Vietnamese football.”
Even with famous clubs and top football leagues, stories of players having conflicts and collisions in the tunnel are not uncommon, but the home club does not post these incidents on social media. They choose to send messages based on statements from the head coach or players in official interviews. If anything, an internal, low-profile disciplinary action will be issued by the team, similar to what happened to Bayern Munich's Mane when he punched a teammate two years ago.
On the part of the European tournament organizers, they also rely on documents and reports from match supervisors to come up with reasonable penalties. In particular, in cases where players and coaches act inappropriately towards the tournament organizers or referees, the penalties will be heavier. Jose Mourinho probably understands this better than anyone.
