Section 8

In which the author (bizarrely) narrates the development of Vietnamese football separatism in reverse order.

During the 1930s, the Bac Ky Football Federation (North Region) not only selected the top team from their region to travel to compete in the Dong Duong Championship, they also participated in some very significant competition such as the First-tier Football Championship (1ère Série Pho Duc Mai) and the Second-tier Football Championship - “2ème Série” ; the Trinh Van Bich Printing House (38 Hang Tre street, Hanoi) Cup; and many other football tournaments that were continuously held all year round.

From 1935 to 1939, before World War II broke out, football in the Indochina region developed rapidly. According to the handwritten notes of Mr. Tran Van Quy, as of August 1939, the North region had up to 300 first and second-tier football teams. Many top football teams participated in the Toan Quyen Championship; the Hanoi Ambassador Championship; and the Cup of Western and Local merchants of the nation.

Northern sportsmen gathered to establish their own Vietnamese Round Ball Tournament, hosted by Mr. Tran Van Quy. Chaired by Éclair, the meeting took place on a Sunday evening in April 1934 at 27 Rue Ronbony Street. The Northern Football Federation of Vietnam founded with all the apparatus and executive board as prescribed by the Law of the French government. However, the French refused to recognised it, leading to the merger of the North Football Federation of Vietnam and the Northern Sports General Departments, supervised and operated by the French people's government two years later. As it turned out, through the establishment of the Northern Football Association of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people sounded the warning bell that the French government could not ignore and overlook the spirit of the Northern sports fan community, especially the national culture of the Vietnamese people in general, and of Uncle Ho's compatriots in particular.

In the winter of 1931, during a Manzin Stadium match between Le Duong Number 9 Regiment (REI 9) and Stade Hanoien (all Vietnamese players), a watershed transformative incident occurred. Stade Hanoien players were much more technical and organised; in comparison with Le Duong’s players who were short-tempered and violent. Stade Hanoien were reluctant to give up, so they responded tit-for-tat, resulting in a brawl between players. The match was cancelled. Immediately, the President of Hanoi issued a decree banning of all matches between French and Vietnamese teams. This incident, and the act of "pouring fuel on the fire" by the government personnel, led to the separation of Vietnamese footballers from the French-managed Northern Football Federation. Subsequently, the Vietnamese players established a separate organization to manage and operate the native football teams across the whole of Vietnam.