The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has slapped a coach and his player with a fine of VND15 million (US$645) and a two-match suspension each for strangling a player of the opposing team in a V-League 2 game earlier this week.
The incident happened in the second-tier tournament’s sixth round where the Hung Yen Province-based Pho Hien FC had a hard-fought 2-1 win over An Giang FC on home turf on Tuesday.
In the first minute of the second half’s injury time, when An Giang’s Vo Van Huy was about to have a throw-in, another ball appeared to enter the pitch.
As his team was being led by one goal, Huy quite impatiently kicked the extra ball toward the direction of Pho Hien’s bench and technical area, causing the ball to hit assistant coach Le Phuoc Tu.
Soon after, Pho Hien’s head coach Hua Hien Vinh rushed forward and appeared to strangle Huy by pinning his elbow against the player’s throat.
A Pho Hien player, Trinh Quang Vinh, also approached Huy and strangled the opponent with his hands.
The referee gave Huy a second yellow card and sent him off, while doing nothing to punish Pho Hien’s coach and player for their actions.
However, VFF’s Disciplinary and Ethics Committee disagreed with the referee’s decision, considering coach Hua Hien Vinh and player Trinh Quang Vinh’s actions as intentional inflicting bodily harm on player Vo Van Huy.
The Vietnamese football governing body thus fined the Pho Hien coach and player VND15 million each and suspended both of them in the next two games.
The V-League 2 is the second-tier professional association football league in Vietnam controlled by VFF, with 12 teams competing in this season.
The tournament restarted on June 6 after having been delayed since March because of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, with supporters allowed to enter stadiums to cheer for their clubs after Vietnam has kept the coronavirus at bay.
Pho Hien are in third place with 12 points while An Giang, four points adrift, rank fifth following six rounds.
Source: Tuoi Tre News
