V-League faces football violence storm: Referees and VAR under scrutiny

The match between Dong Nai FC and Hanoi Police (CAHN) on September 20 left many scars on V-League 2026-2027. Not goals, not tactical moments worth remembering — but two blatant violent incidents in a single match. Defender Le Van Son (Dong Nai) elbowed forward Nguyen Dinh Bac (CAHN). More shocking, centre-back Huynh Tan Sinh of the same club repeatedly kicked from behind targeting Dinh Bac's legs — a classic "leaving the ball to kick the man" foul. These two ugly moments occurred just days after Round 2 of V-League 2026-2027, where centre-back Doan Van Hau (CAHN) broke midfielder Doan Ngoc Tan's leg (Thể Công Viettel), and foreign player Ezequiel Santos Da Silva (Nam Dinh) stamped on Vo Huu Viet Hoang's abdomen (SHB Da Nang). This chain of incidents has put V-League on high alert: football violence is showing signs of recurrence in a more severe form than last season. Immediately after these hot incidents, representatives from VFF, VPF and V-League BTC met directly with the VFF Refereeing Committee. The meeting was summarized in one phrase: "enforce the rules correctly." But this seemingly simple phrase reflects a much deeper problem than the surface of the story suggests. Referee Le Vu Linh was the man in the middle for the Dong Nai — CAHN match. In the situation where Huynh Tan Sinh committed an obvious "leaving the ball to kick the man" foul on Dinh Bac, Le Vu Linh only issued a yellow card instead of a red. Former VFF Technical Vice Chairman and former VFF Refereeing Committee Head Duong Vu Lam directly named this: "Referee Le Vu Linh missed the card. Huynh Tan Sinh's foul was too blatant, but he did not receive a red card." This is not the first time V-League referees have been criticized for penalties disproportionate to the danger of the play. However, what makes this situation particularly serious lies in the second layer: beside the main referee's decision, there is the role of the VAR team. According to Mr. Duong Vu Lam, the VAR team in that match consisted of referees Vo Hoai Thuong and Nguyen Thanh Son. If the VAR team advised the main referee to issue a red card but was overruled, then the VAR team had fulfilled its duty. Conversely, if the VAR team did not intervene in an obviously dangerous "leaving the ball to kick the man" situation, then the VAR officials themselves must face proportionate disciplinary action. It is important to understand the context: "offline punishment" is the mechanism the VFF Disciplinary Committee uses when the on-field referee misses a serious foul. Violent players will face additional suspension after the match. But according to Mr. Lam's logic, if this mechanism applies to players, it must have equivalent effect on referees. A referee who misses a red card in a life-threatening situation cannot simply receive an internal reminder and continue officiating the next round. Normally, disciplinary actions against referees within the VFF system are not publicly announced. But Mr. Lam revealed the signal-reading method that insiders commonly use: "Just look at the referee list for the next rounds. If they are not assigned to consecutive rounds following the match, the high probability is that they are being disciplined." This is the layer of information that analysts often overlook when focusing on the hot play on the field. The essence of referee disciplinary handling in V-League is a system element — reflecting how the governing body reads and responds to its own mistakes. And that is precisely the point that needs monitoring in the coming days. Looking at the full picture, V-League 2026-2027 is facing three layers of problems stacked on top of each other. The first layer is player violence — requiring the Disciplinary Committee to act quickly, transparently, and with deterrent effect. The second layer is the competence and courage of on-field referees — those who must make split-second decisions under the pressure of millions of eyes. The third layer, deeper than both, is the VAR monitoring system — supposed to correct human errors but itself becoming a silent loophole if there is no independent check mechanism. The question for VFF and VPF is not just "who will be suspended," but also: Does Vietnam's refereeing system have enough competence and independence to discipline itself, or will all disciplinary actions end at the level of internal reminders and an unexplained match assignment list?