I’d never been to Vietnam before. I found myself on a flight there after two weeks in Japan. The previous part of my trip had been half work, and half personal, so Vietnam was meant to be a break. One of the places I visited with my partner was Da Nang, a coastal town close to the middle point of the country. Neither of us had any experience before so we booked a hotel that seemed to have the best free breakfast.

What became clear quite quickly was that Da Nang is a city in transition. There are far smarter people than me who can explain why the city, and country as a whole is still considered a “young” country which is in the midst of pulling away from its traditional roots, in search of more western style commercialism. Because of this, Da Nang had one area for tourists, about mile or so of beach, and 3 blocks inland and you could have been in any English speaking beach town. Signs were in English, all the bar staff said hello and wanted to help you with a smile, every single business in the area was catered to ensure that you didn’t need to go anywhere aside from the beach, back to your hotel room.

We didn’t stay in this part of town. We stayed in an area that travel guides would describe as “authentic”. It was just a normal part of modern Vietnam, not made to please westerners, but to serve the population who live there. Restaurants and bars barely had any signage, just a bunch of small plastic chairs. Its clear that the locals know which on gif their favourite, so there is no need for menus outside. Our hotel was clearly a new addition to the area, it stood out as the only sky scraper amongst a sea of low rise buildings. I was told that the roof had a pool, and considering it was above 30 degrees celsius all day long, I wanted to try it out. What greeted me instead was a uninterrupted view for miles around. But ever whilst looking out towards hazy mountains, the things that dominated my eye was the huge, abandoned looking football stadium below. You couldn’t easily tell it was a stadium by from street level because each nook and cranny had been taken over by business’ and people. It just looked like an old office block, overgrown and set in it’s ways. There are trees quite literally growing gin the stands, and not just small sprouts. Actual trees. So I was even more surprised when later that night, I was treated to my first Vietnamese football game. Referees, scoreboards and ball boys included. I couldn’t believe it so I had to know more.

I got in contact with a local who was able to find a local football team who play games there. I went to a meeting with the manager at a cafe and as is traction in Vietnam, sat on one of the tiny plastic stools. I convinced the coach that I was cool, we shared a cigarette and I was invited to attend their next match at Chi Lang.

Before the game I went around the stadium to document the state it was currently in. I met a security guard who didn’t trust me, but my fixer got him to calm down and allow us to stroll around uninterrupted. A dog was sleeping in the tunnel to the pitch. It seemed like this was a good analogy for what the stadium had become. A home for some, business for others and a local community spot. Even as diggers surrounded it, waiting got tear it down. I asked a taxi driver about this. In broken English he explained that it was due to be torn down, but those plans fell through. He hinted that money and gangs were part of the issue. So for now, the stadium still stands.

My team arrive and they’re all looking over at me sheepishly. A few of them know some English so we say introduce each other and I try to explain what I want to capture. One of them has the brilliant idea of expelling who each player is by using a famous player they are similar to. This becomes an easy way for me to put names to people. I’m introduced to Micheal Owen, Benzema, Ronaldo, Beckham to name a few. The game is about to start. It’s a league game so it actually matters. My team go 1-0 down before storming back to a 3 or 4 - 1 victory, there was a contentious goal which I’m not sure counted.

I ask them what they do after a gam usually. The captain smiles at me and says one word in English.

“Drink.”

So thats how I found myself outside a tiny locals bar in some backstreet of Da Nang. The team know the staff so we get the biggest and best table outside. The start bringing beers over by the crate. One thing to know about drinking inVietnam is that they often don’t bother to cool the beers themselves, rather you have a large bucket of oversized ice cubes. You chuck a fresh cube in with each beer, it actually worked quite well. The food starts coming out and various rice dishes, som noodles nothing I’m scared of. Towards the end of the night the boys decided to test me a bit and dishes such as Sheep brain and friend egg start landing. I think we worked our way through 4 crates of beers, each time just dropping the cans on the floor and crushing them down so under the table became one large metal sheet. It was time to go. I get a group shot with the boys and wish them well for the rest of the season. I’ve made friends here now, we barely know each others names but I feel like I’m part of the team.

Boy am I happy I didn’t stay I the tourist part of town.