no more
13-01-2008, 09:35 PM
Cheering LFC Victories From Vietnam
It's a long way from the streets of Liverpool to Vietnam, especially when the journey takes 25 years via Australia. But let me reassure anyone with a spark of adventure in their soul that it's well worth the trip!
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/images4/edit-0207letterfromvietnam.jpg
Letter From Vietnam
Football has only become popular in Australia fairly recently; prior to that it had played second fiddle to rugby league, cricket and the local game Aussie Rules. However, the advent of a more commercially-focused football administration and the simultaneous good showing at the last World Cup by the Socceroos has resulted in football finally coming of age in Australia.
That said, it's still only growing in popularity with most of the free to air television networks, so I've always enjoyed my business trips to Vietnam over the past decade or so because I knew I'd be in for a feast of football. And now we also have the unbridled pleasure of watching Liverpoolfc.tv on most Friday evenings, which really makes us feel a part of the scene back home.
OK, not many people in Vietnam remember my boyhood idols Billy Liddell, Alan A'Court, Roger Hunt, Ronnie Moran, Ray Clemence, Ron Yeats, Emlyn Hughes, Ian Callaghan, Tommy Smith or Ian St John – and they certainly wouldn't know the urban legend about the sign on a Liverpool church that said "What will you do when Jesus comes?”, and some wag had written underneath, "Move St John to the right wing”!
I was fortunate enough to grow up in the great Bill Shankly era – and they were halcyon days indeed.
What can you say about Shanks that hasn't already been set in stone?
Like him or leave him, there's no denying that he was speaking from the heart when he said he was only in the game for the love of football, and because he wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool!
I left Liverpool and England the same year Shanks called it quits to spend more time with his other family (his wife and kids, as opposed to the Kop!). But I still enjoy the look on people's faces when I start quoting him, especially the comment he made to a young Liverpool trainee: "The problem with you son, is that your brains are all in your head”. It never fails to bring the house down!
I'm living in Vietnam now, and enjoying every minute of the back to back football on various cable and satellite television channels every day of the week. Football has been a favourite sport in this country for many years, despite the popularity of various forms of martial arts in which both men and women excel.
And Liverpool has long been a favourite team here, with one reason being that the all red strip is the same as Vietnam's national team colours (red is a very popular colour in Asia, and particularly in communist Vietnam).
But there are other reasons too.
Ask anyone in the street, and I've done this many times, and they'll tell you that Liverpool fans are the best in the world and the team always plays "honourably” (a very important attribute in Asia, because to behave dishonourably is to lose face).
I'm no expert, but I take that to mean we don't have a team of divers or bad losers who engage in petty bickering with the officials whenever a call doesn't go their way. Pick up the ball and get on with it – that's the Liverpool way, personified these days by Carra "Gold” and Steven Gerrard MBE.
Vietnam are relative newcomers to the professional ranks of football, with players being paid only since 2001. Nevertheless, and despite the average wage in this country being only a fraction of that paid in other parts of the world, the national team rose an impressive 38 places to 134th in the last FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings.
When you consider that neighbour and regional powerhouse Thailand had such a head start in the professional ranks but still only ranks 10 places higher, Vietnam has made great headway. They've just finished third behind Singapore and Thailand in the ASEAN football championship and now they're training for the Asian Cup finals, which they will co-host, as well as the 24th South East Asia Games at the end of this year and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This passion for football is similar to that displayed by Liverpool fans worldwide, of course, and the Vietnamese love it when they watch the Reds in action and the cameras pan across the crowd. When they show the Kop, with scarves in the air and the fans singing YNWA, the Vietnamese go wild with delight!
And Liverpool's popularity can be evidenced in some of the most unlikely scenarios.
My wife and I were watching the Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Lopez movie Shall We Dance on TV recently, it was in Vietnamese with English sub-titles. I had a good laugh when JL talked about a dance championships in Blackpool and the sub-titler had automatically typed Liverpool!
Vietnam is the fastest growing economy in southeast Asia and is only now being discovered as a very different holiday destination. If anyone plans to visit, I can highly recommend it as a journey into something quite unlike the western world.
And for football fans, there are some very popular sports bars in Hanoi, in the north, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the south, and quite a few places in between.
The owner of my favourite sports bar in Saigon is a Japanese who came to Vietnam 13 years ago to export coffee. He became friends with a Newcastle supporter and the sports bar business developed rapidly. It's since grown in popularity with ex-pats, who often leave memorabilia when they return to their countries of origin.
"Tacker”, as the owner is known (because his Japanese name is unpronouncable!), speaks good English but has trouble remembering the names of his Vietnamese staff, so he stumbled across a remedy that has proven amazingly popular. He decided to dress the bar staff and waitresses in premier league strips and now calls them "Gerrard”, "Owen”, "Lampard”, or even "Number 6”, "Number 11”, etc.
Six of the girls have married ex-pats over the years, and one married a Liverpool supporter so probably stands on the Kop every fortnight – if you're reading this, "Chao em"!
Oh yes, and draught Carlsberg is a feature of the bar, as it is in a growing number of upmarket restaurants and bars throughout Vietnam.
The football scene is very much alive and well in Vietnam, and Liverpool is arguably the most popular team with the locals, not to mention the Scouse ex-pats. We know the early kick-offs are not popular in some quarters because they reduce preparation time for the teams, but they are with us because we're seven hours ahead of GMT.
But the 3 pm kick-offs are also OK, because we can just make it back to bed before midnight!
_______________________________________
Martin Ratia, Vietnam 26 June 2007
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff12/0977672201/LIVE06-CS-10Liverpool-FC-Crest-Smal.jpg
__________________________________________________ _______________
Hnay lọ mọ thế quái nào, đi vớ đi vẩn lại vớ đc bài này của 1 bác người Anh là Liver-Fan trong Sài Gòn, được đăng trên http://Liverpoolfc.tv (http://Liverpoolfc.tv). Bài viết về TY bóng đá nói chung cũng như với Liv nói riêng tại Việt Nam. Về con người Việt Nam, coi bóng đá như một món ăn không thể thiếu.
Cảm ơn bác, bởi vì chúng ta là LIVERPUDLIAN
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
Trích G's Blog (http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-9cqyFZAieqGGjFJg9t6hOnqtLs1lmtbjdtqe) :bye::th_086_64color::022::069::try:
It's a long way from the streets of Liverpool to Vietnam, especially when the journey takes 25 years via Australia. But let me reassure anyone with a spark of adventure in their soul that it's well worth the trip!
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/images4/edit-0207letterfromvietnam.jpg
Letter From Vietnam
Football has only become popular in Australia fairly recently; prior to that it had played second fiddle to rugby league, cricket and the local game Aussie Rules. However, the advent of a more commercially-focused football administration and the simultaneous good showing at the last World Cup by the Socceroos has resulted in football finally coming of age in Australia.
That said, it's still only growing in popularity with most of the free to air television networks, so I've always enjoyed my business trips to Vietnam over the past decade or so because I knew I'd be in for a feast of football. And now we also have the unbridled pleasure of watching Liverpoolfc.tv on most Friday evenings, which really makes us feel a part of the scene back home.
OK, not many people in Vietnam remember my boyhood idols Billy Liddell, Alan A'Court, Roger Hunt, Ronnie Moran, Ray Clemence, Ron Yeats, Emlyn Hughes, Ian Callaghan, Tommy Smith or Ian St John – and they certainly wouldn't know the urban legend about the sign on a Liverpool church that said "What will you do when Jesus comes?”, and some wag had written underneath, "Move St John to the right wing”!
I was fortunate enough to grow up in the great Bill Shankly era – and they were halcyon days indeed.
What can you say about Shanks that hasn't already been set in stone?
Like him or leave him, there's no denying that he was speaking from the heart when he said he was only in the game for the love of football, and because he wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool!
I left Liverpool and England the same year Shanks called it quits to spend more time with his other family (his wife and kids, as opposed to the Kop!). But I still enjoy the look on people's faces when I start quoting him, especially the comment he made to a young Liverpool trainee: "The problem with you son, is that your brains are all in your head”. It never fails to bring the house down!
I'm living in Vietnam now, and enjoying every minute of the back to back football on various cable and satellite television channels every day of the week. Football has been a favourite sport in this country for many years, despite the popularity of various forms of martial arts in which both men and women excel.
And Liverpool has long been a favourite team here, with one reason being that the all red strip is the same as Vietnam's national team colours (red is a very popular colour in Asia, and particularly in communist Vietnam).
But there are other reasons too.
Ask anyone in the street, and I've done this many times, and they'll tell you that Liverpool fans are the best in the world and the team always plays "honourably” (a very important attribute in Asia, because to behave dishonourably is to lose face).
I'm no expert, but I take that to mean we don't have a team of divers or bad losers who engage in petty bickering with the officials whenever a call doesn't go their way. Pick up the ball and get on with it – that's the Liverpool way, personified these days by Carra "Gold” and Steven Gerrard MBE.
Vietnam are relative newcomers to the professional ranks of football, with players being paid only since 2001. Nevertheless, and despite the average wage in this country being only a fraction of that paid in other parts of the world, the national team rose an impressive 38 places to 134th in the last FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings.
When you consider that neighbour and regional powerhouse Thailand had such a head start in the professional ranks but still only ranks 10 places higher, Vietnam has made great headway. They've just finished third behind Singapore and Thailand in the ASEAN football championship and now they're training for the Asian Cup finals, which they will co-host, as well as the 24th South East Asia Games at the end of this year and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This passion for football is similar to that displayed by Liverpool fans worldwide, of course, and the Vietnamese love it when they watch the Reds in action and the cameras pan across the crowd. When they show the Kop, with scarves in the air and the fans singing YNWA, the Vietnamese go wild with delight!
And Liverpool's popularity can be evidenced in some of the most unlikely scenarios.
My wife and I were watching the Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Lopez movie Shall We Dance on TV recently, it was in Vietnamese with English sub-titles. I had a good laugh when JL talked about a dance championships in Blackpool and the sub-titler had automatically typed Liverpool!
Vietnam is the fastest growing economy in southeast Asia and is only now being discovered as a very different holiday destination. If anyone plans to visit, I can highly recommend it as a journey into something quite unlike the western world.
And for football fans, there are some very popular sports bars in Hanoi, in the north, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the south, and quite a few places in between.
The owner of my favourite sports bar in Saigon is a Japanese who came to Vietnam 13 years ago to export coffee. He became friends with a Newcastle supporter and the sports bar business developed rapidly. It's since grown in popularity with ex-pats, who often leave memorabilia when they return to their countries of origin.
"Tacker”, as the owner is known (because his Japanese name is unpronouncable!), speaks good English but has trouble remembering the names of his Vietnamese staff, so he stumbled across a remedy that has proven amazingly popular. He decided to dress the bar staff and waitresses in premier league strips and now calls them "Gerrard”, "Owen”, "Lampard”, or even "Number 6”, "Number 11”, etc.
Six of the girls have married ex-pats over the years, and one married a Liverpool supporter so probably stands on the Kop every fortnight – if you're reading this, "Chao em"!
Oh yes, and draught Carlsberg is a feature of the bar, as it is in a growing number of upmarket restaurants and bars throughout Vietnam.
The football scene is very much alive and well in Vietnam, and Liverpool is arguably the most popular team with the locals, not to mention the Scouse ex-pats. We know the early kick-offs are not popular in some quarters because they reduce preparation time for the teams, but they are with us because we're seven hours ahead of GMT.
But the 3 pm kick-offs are also OK, because we can just make it back to bed before midnight!
_______________________________________
Martin Ratia, Vietnam 26 June 2007
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff12/0977672201/LIVE06-CS-10Liverpool-FC-Crest-Smal.jpg
__________________________________________________ _______________
Hnay lọ mọ thế quái nào, đi vớ đi vẩn lại vớ đc bài này của 1 bác người Anh là Liver-Fan trong Sài Gòn, được đăng trên http://Liverpoolfc.tv (http://Liverpoolfc.tv). Bài viết về TY bóng đá nói chung cũng như với Liv nói riêng tại Việt Nam. Về con người Việt Nam, coi bóng đá như một món ăn không thể thiếu.
Cảm ơn bác, bởi vì chúng ta là LIVERPUDLIAN
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
Trích G's Blog (http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-9cqyFZAieqGGjFJg9t6hOnqtLs1lmtbjdtqe) :bye::th_086_64color::022::069::try: