Controversial toilet paper rain on Viet Tri Stadium: The captain of the VGS fan team spoke up

For the first time, sports activities that are interested by friends from other countries are organized, an opportunity to promote Viet Tri and Phu Tho to Southeast Asia and the world. Therefore, it is not possible to rely on each individual’s point of view to make an image. It was necessary to be professional to make a good impression on the audience, so the VGS team decided to make a paper rain TIFO and a big 3,000m2 TIFO on the field, creating a spectacular cheer for the audience.

TIFO is the Italian word for cheerleading during a football match. TIFO is created by passionate fans with banners, posters, images filled with vivid colors to cheer and energize their favorite team.

The 3,000m2 wide flag leaf weighing nearly 500kg was unfurled on the field

To prepare for the controversial paper rain screen on the evening of May 8 at Viet Tri Stadium, Ms. Hoang Yen – the captain of the VGS fan association – and the entire VGS association had to prepare many stages in advance. From getting permission from the SEAGAMES organizers as well as the yard management, to ordering a large number of toilet rolls and activities on the field. At first, the whole team had the idea to make a paper rain TIFO on all the stands, but due to lack of funds, it could only be done in a small corner of stand B.

“Those who sit at home condemning yesterday’s act of throwing paper have not really put themselves in the position of professional fans, cheering for the team because of the colors of the flag,” said the captain.

Yen said: “The estimated cost is 60 million to buy toilet paper rolls to distribute to all fans to cheer at all stands B, C, D on the field. However, the funding to call for support was only 9,500. Therefore, the fan association spent more money to buy 6,000 rolls of paper with a total value of 18 million VND to perform an impressive cheering show on a corner of stand B.

Previously, the VGS association used to do many professional cheering activities using TIFO on stadiums in Vietnam such as TIFO folding the big flags with pre-installed plastic bags on the audience seats of My Dinh stadium. However, because these activities are so new, many spectators who come to the field are still not familiar, do not know how and are not ready to coordinate to perform those professional cheers, so they have not really made an impression.

Previously, rolls of fabric with a length of 20-30m were used

When the Infonet reporter discussed the opinions of the online community about why not use cloth or silk ribbons to use for the next time, the VGS leader said: “The VGS association has used it before. fabric. Go buy red fabrics and cut them yourself and sew them into strips of 10cm wide, 20-30m long. Must have such a size to create a beautiful effect, but if used short and small, it will not be effective. After creating a beautiful image on the field, I cried a river.”

Yen’s hoarse voice after the passionate cheering on the evening of May 8 confided: “If you think that using a scroll is a waste, you need to make it clear to everyone like this. Previously, when using fabric, the cost of making and transporting 1 ton of fabric from Ho Chi Minh City to My Dinh stadium was 90 million. It only takes a few seconds to toss a spool of fabric, but it takes 10-15 minutes to untangle, and then rewind that spool of fabric. Tens of thousands of rolls of fabric are thrown up at the same time, the wind and the height will cause the rolls of fabric to be tangled together, stuck in the seats, fences …. Each roll collected takes 10 -15 minutes. So who will be the one to collect and roll 5,000, 10,000 rolls? Expensive and takes a lot more time than using toilet paper. Countries around the world do not do that. And moreover, using this way, the coverage will not be widespread for tens of thousands of spectators in each stand, will not be able to create a beautiful and impressive effect on the professionalism of the fans.

Use your bare hands to pick up the scrolls that have fallen in the yard

Use your bare hands to pick up the scrolls that have fallen in the yard

It is known that after the first and only time tossing red ribbons on My Dinh Stadium, the whole fan association could only recover 200-300 rolls “it’s already built up”.

Therefore, this time the VGS association decided to use toilet paper, which is both compact and economical. Unfortunately, after the paper rain, there was real rain, so it made the cleaning work a little more difficult.

“Before everyone condemns the actions of fans during the Vietnam vs Philippines match on May 8, it proves that people do not fully understand professional football fans, do not understand TIFO, do not know how to cheer professionally and Not standing from the perspective of professional fans” – the woman born in 1981 with a passionate passion for football shared.

The responsibility for these TIFOs is the members of the fan club, the spectators who come to the field will not understand and are not responsible for and cannot force them to follow the cleaning tasks, props, representatives. strange… They themselves left tens of thousands of raincoats all over the stands. “That’s why, the idea of ​​using TIFO paper rain is the most economical and effective option because it can be done easily with the audience.”

The motto of the association VGS can be played, must be done. Wherever they were, they moved there, so at the end of the game, the members of the VGS association stayed to clean up, clean up the scrolls on the stands and under the pitch.

The stadium management team has a professional cleaning team, but the entire fan club still stays with the volunteers to clean up at the end of the game. The cleaning team has industrial tools, a blower, a broom… and the fans come to the stadium with only bare hands to clean up. So after cleaning up, turning off the lights on the yard, everyone is “wet hands and feet”.

Yen also added: “Only 6,000 rolls of toilet paper were thrown out gathered in one corner of stand B, not comparable to the raincoats of more than 15,000 spectators across the stands. When the members of the association were collecting paper and raincoats, there was a group of people who at first stopped and then asked them to take the wet toilet rolls and raincoats left on the yard to sell bottles.” Therefore, Yen’s group only collected them into bags and piles for the other people to bring back.

“Looking at the pictures of the countries they make, do you think it’s beautiful? That’s called TIFO. They use paper, plastic bags to do that. And to do it on a large stand for the entire audience in the yard is very expensive. Professional football cheering stands it should be. Spending hundreds of millions just for one use and only to show 5 seconds, 1 minute to promote to the world”.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to advise the SEAGAMES organizing committee as well as the management boards of all football fields as well as the fans. If possible, please issue more regulations banning the use of trumpets in the yard like the ban on firecrackers banning bottles, jars, sticks into the yard. Neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand… They have been doing it for a long time. Maybe I can’t do it in Vietnam. If you can do that, the first person to be grateful for is the coach and the players on the pitch. Players have also called out to ask not to bring that trumpet into the field because when they blow it, they can’t hear the communication with the coach 100%.”

VGS Fans Association (Vietnam Golden Star) was established on May 3, 2017 with the desire to build a team of professional and methodical fans. To become the number 12 player who is always behind and supporting the Vietnamese team wherever possible. And the VGS team will have beautiful TIFOs on the stands like the fan associations of Southeast Asian countries or around the world have done during the past time. Up to now, VGS association has more than 600 members in all provinces and cities nationwide.