All eligible businesspeople have refused to take on the chairmanship of Vietnam’s national federations of sports due to difficulties in finding sponsorships and unsuitable regulations.

But there is an exception in the case of football (soccer), where candidates have to compete for a seat on the management board of the Vietnam Football Federation.

The Vietnam Federation of Volleyball (VFV) is a bright example of everyone’s shunning the leadership positions at sports federations in the country although it is one of the favorite sports in Vietnam.

The VFV has had to delay its congress for two years even though its five-year term ended in 2013.

Thus, the current leaders of the VFV have no choice but to have kept their roles for seven years as yet.

At a press conference on Thursday, Tran Duc Phan, general secretary of the VFV and deputy chief of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, admitted that his federation has been unable to persuade anyone to take the roles of the chairman and general secretary.

The VFV has to convene its congress late next month because it has been postponed for two years and the interior ministry has reminded the organization of it, Phan added.

During the fifth term of the VFV from 2008 to 2013, Phan was appointed general secretary and Le Minh Hong, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Corporation, was voted chairman.

Soon after the appointment, Hong withdrew from the post since “[he is] so busy that [he] can’t hold the position any longer.”

Phan also asked to step down in 2012 for the same reason but he was requested to stay until new leaders are selected.

In the last three days, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training has asked many businesspeople to take on the roles at the VFV but none have accepted the offers.

Businesspeople have been targeted for their influence, which can be used to attract sponsorships to organize tournaments and training courses for players.

Till now, Phan has been the only candidate for the leadership role in the new term.

Phan said that he cannot turn down the offer because he is a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam and a state official, so he has to take up the appointment as required by his seniors.

He has been encouraged to assume the leading role in the new term for two years before new leaders are appointed.

The situation is similar to that at the national federations of other sports in Vietnam.

Reasons

Le Quoc Phong, chairman of the board of directors and general director of the fertilizer company Binh Dien, mentioned the method of organization as one of the reasons leading to his refusal to lead the VFV.

“I was offered to lead the VFV in two recent terms but I refused all because the current regulations prevent me from doing the leadership role as effectively as I want,” he told Tuoi Tre yesterday.

He said that he is willing to recruit any people who are talented and work effectively to develop his volleyball club. Phong is the owner of the well-known Binh Dien Volleyball Club competing at the top league in Vietnam now.

But as the leader of VFV, he said he won’t be able to recruit those important people and has to appoint current staffs of the agency.

As the leader of VFV, he said he will not be allowed to decide the expenditure for organizing a certain event.

Phong argued that the Vietnamese sports are now straddling two models of development at the same time – under both State subsidy and private investment, and so, the development and the management of sports in Vietnam now is halfway between the two.

Now, Vietnam’s sports clubs are managed by State authorities and partly invested by individuals and private firms.

The halfway stance fails to create the motivation for development of Vietnamese sports, he added.