Section 4

Translation getting murkier and murkier but the substance of the book is starting to emerge.

When the country was at war [post ww2?], all sports activities in general were limited to a minimum. However, sports still had their place. In the areas temporarily occupied by the French army, a number of Sports clubs restored and developed football teams. Areas controlled by the Resistance Government, especially in 12 resistance zones from North to the Red River Delta provinces, Inter-zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Central Highlands... South Central Department, Control point D, Control point Dong Thap Muoi... our people maintained the sports movement which included football. Soldiers, militia, guerrillas, youth volunteers, young people, students... practice and compete, mainly as a form of "physical training". Moreover, because of the need to avoid enemy aerial attack, the conditions for gathering in large numbers were not existent.

In the North, a number of football teams of French expeditionary soldiers played in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Kien An, Dap Cau, Son Tay, Ninh Binh, and Nam Dinh. The French teams, played friendlies–from casual to competitive, from self-organised to official–a process named "Doi Bong”. 

Many of the teams were named after Le Duong regiments (REI) and they adopted regimental colours–for example: REI 5, REI 7, REI 9, REI 12. They were littered all over the country, especially in North Vietnam in the early 20th century. A joyful atmosphere accompanied games in places such as: Đồn Thủy, Ha Noi kingdom (Hanoi), Thị Cầu (Đáp Cầu, Bắc Ninh province), Ninh Giang (Hải Dương province), Uông Bí (Quảng Yên province, now called Quảng Ninh), Phùng (Hà Đông province), Phủ Lý (Hà Nam province), Tông (Sơn Tây province, now Hanoi), Việt Trì (Phú Thọ province).

Between 1908 and 1909 the press reported the founding of a number of football club. One was the Round Ball Club of Hanoi (Cercle Sporit Hanoi) which gathered the Vietnamese and French players, notably Bonardi, Bernard, Mesgy…

The Le Duong French 19th Regiment’s team had players such as Luer, Beye, Marinelli, Lauroix,... who fought in World War I. Many French expeditionary regiments based in Indochina, especially the central regions, were sent back to the homeland to fight in Europe. The number of football teams composed of members of the French Army decreased for that reason. Moreover, a few Vietnamese people were drafted to France for the war. Football communities in the North temporarily subsided, with only working people and young people, playing informally on available spaces or on designated soccer fields in labor areas in Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, and a number of smaller provinces such as Hải Dương, Kiên An, Bắc Ninh, Sơn Tây, Ninh Bình, Phủ Lý, Nam Định, Thái Bình,...

In the third and fourth decades of the 20th century, our country's football was born and developed continuously, broad and strong. The birth of Southern football teams in Saigon such as Victoria, Khanh Hoi, Paul Bert, Port de Commerce... along with the original teams created an exciting environment for sports lovers, attracting the passion of "trendy" people in the Central and North region-ers who "have to do something”. While the Northerners were still trying to develop football, the South Vietnamese football community already had a "four heroes" group: Cercle Sportif Saigonnais, Saigon Sport, Stade Militaire and Etoile de Giadinh (Gia Dinh Star). 

This group organised tournaments such as: Coupe de L’Est (Eastern Football Championship), and Coupe de L'Ouest (Western Football Championship), with the presence of dozens of football teams from the six provinces of the Southern region, creating even more opportunities to promote football.