A place to keep sports memories

Over the past 30 years since its establishment, Quarter 5, Gio Linh Town, Gio Linh District, has always been considered a unit with a strongly developing sports movement. Local people love sports, have a spirit of solidarity, and work together to build the movement. More specifically, there is also a place to preserve all the memorabilia, images, and memories of the traditions and sports achievements of generations of athletes, football teams, and local children over many decades...

Each souvenir associated with passion and youth is cherished and kept by former player Nguyen Nhat Tan - Photo: DC

Maintain impressive performance

Mr. Le Nhat Minh, Party Cell Secretary, Head of Ward 5, said that the ward currently has 254 households with 1,020 people. The vast majority of people, especially from young people to the elderly, love sports. This is also the springboard to help the local sports movement develop quite sustainably with strengths in football, tug of war, stick pushing, etc.

Currently, the area has 4 volleyball courts, 1 sports training area for many sports, 2 youth and veteran men's soccer teams; 2 men's and women's volleyball teams; 1 folk dance and sports club. In the sports tournaments organized by Gio Linh town, Ward 5 is always considered the leader when it has won many high achievements in soccer, tug of war, and stick pushing.

In particular, the two events of tug of war and stick pushing almost “dominated” the tournaments organized by the town when they continuously won first prize for many years. The tug of war and stick pushing team of Ward 5 was selected by Gio Linh town as the town team to participate in the district tournament. Next, Gio Linh district also selected many members of the stick pushing and tug of war team of Ward 5 to join the district team to participate in the provincial tournament.

Over the years, achievements in mass sports have become the pride of the cadres and people here, in which football is a strong sport with a long tradition and impressive achievements.

In 10 times of Gio Linh town’s traditional youth football tournament held on the 11-player field, the football team of Quarter 5 won 7 championships, 2 runner-ups and 1 third prize. Notably, the football team of Quarter 5 has never lost during the official match, only 3 times being tied and losing in the penalty shootout.

In the amateur football tournaments, the Gio Linh town-level movement organized on the 7-a-side artificial turf field, the Quarter 5 football team continued to maintain and affirm its form with many championships. Along with the youth men's football team, the veteran football team of Quarter 5 also made impressive achievements when winning 1 championship, 1 runner-up title at the Gio Linh town Veteran Football Tournament.

Besides collective titles, the amateur football team of Khu Pho 5 also owns many titles for individuals such as best player of the tournament, player with the most goals of the tournament and best goalkeeper of the tournament...

The corner of preserving sports memorabilia is the passion of many players in Ward 5, Gio Linh town through generations - Photo: DC

Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh, a former football player who has made many contributions to football in Ward 5, shared: “About 30 years ago, my brothers and I in the ward had a passion for football. Despite the difficult conditions and lack of everything, whenever we heard that people were gathering to play football, we all joined in.

Sometimes, we rode our old bicycles with rice balls and sesame salt to the communes in Dong Vinh Linh to play football. We interacted a lot so we learned many good things and gained valuable experiences to play football better.

At that time, I, along with players Nguyen Nhat Tan, Mai Phuoc Tan and many other brothers, vowed to join hands to lay a solid foundation for the development of football in Ward 5. When we got older, we joined the coaching staff to lead the young players.

Currently, Ward 5 is proud to have many talented players in amateur and amateur football tournaments in Quang Tri such as Bui Ngoc Chung, Le Phong Phu, Nhan Ngoc Rin, Nguyen Duc Tue... These will be the ones to continue writing football achievements for the locality."

Preserving tradition, nurturing movement

Many players and residents of Ward 5 said that football connects people with the same passion and strengthens solidarity in the community. Whenever Ward 5 football team participates in a tournament, the residents put aside their work to accompany and support the team both materially and spiritually. In response, the players also play their best for the team to bring back impressive results.

Although it is just a grassroots team, the coaching staff has set strict rules, ensuring a high level of discipline for the players such as staying focused, not drinking beer or alcohol from practice until the end of the tournament... There are players who work far away who also ask for a temporary leave from work, return to their hometown to serve and leave unforgettable memories with their hometown team.

Appreciating those good things and the achievements of the team, many people, including Mr. Nguyen Nhat Tan and the players of the Khu Pho 5 team, always want to keep memories and preserve traditions through specific actions. Mr. Tan said that at first, he arranged a small room in his house to keep the team's achievements such as cups, medals, title boards, jerseys...

For many years, his house has been a place for his brothers to chat and discuss sports. However, what Mr. Tan wanted was to have a storage corner in another location, in a larger, more convenient space so that everyone could watch and "review the past and learn the new" in the most comfortable way.

Let's review memories through each souvenir - Photo: DC

Mr. Le Nhat Minh said that when he learned about the wishes of Mr. Tan and the football players in the neighborhood, he discussed with them and agreed to choose a location in the Cultural - Sports House of Neighborhood 5 to place the souvenirs. Because this is the place where the football team gathers to meet, eat, rest, and discuss tactics, it is quite convenient for the players to come and admire and remember the beautiful memories through each image, trophy, and jersey...

This small corner will also have a great impact on the players, giving them the motivation to compete better, worthy of the tradition of their predecessors. With the joint efforts and contributions of many individuals and organizations, in November 2022, the corner preserving traditions was inaugurated and put into operation to the joy of the people of Ward 5.

All the sporting achievements of many generations, time-worn memorabilia such as photos from 20 years ago, old jerseys, goalkeeper gloves, and even bandages and medical supplies for the tournament are also placed in a prominent position.

Player Le Phong Phu confided: “After nearly 20 years of dedication to local football, I am very happy to put my mementos such as the title of best player of the tournament, the ball, the captain's armband, the medal... here. It can be said that now the passion of former players and brothers has become a reality when everyone has a place to admire the achievements of the neighborhood football team through the generations and also the images of a part of their vibrant youth in it.”

Mr. Le Nhat Minh said that in the coming time, the locality will focus on developing the strength of football and maintain training for other sports teams such as tug of war, folk dancing, volleyball... to improve achievements in grassroots tournaments.

We will also actively mobilize resources and arrange other important locations to preserve the memories of other neighborhood sports. Through this work, we want to remind the younger generation to continue to contribute, preserve traditions and nurture the passion that previous generations have passed down...

Hoai Diem Chi

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa-the-thao/noi-luu-giu-nhung-ky-uc-the-thao/181944.htm