Vinh Long’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is seeking permission to recognize cockfighting as an art form in the Mekong Delta province.
According to Tuoi Tre, department officials have requested permission from the provincial People’s Committee to hold gambling-free cockfights during the holiday season in order to encourage local tourism. The practice, which is illegal in Vietnam, would be preserved as traditional “folk entertainment”, reports the news source.
If approved, the cockfights would take place at Vinh Sang Resort in Long Ho District’s An Binh Commue. The resort's deputy director, Le Truong Giang, told Tuoi Tre the first fights would be held during Tet if all goes according to plan.
Given that 2017 will be the Year of the Rooster, Giang hopes to hold a total of 23 additional days of organized cockfighting throughout the year on public holidays, including western New Year, Tet, Hung Kings Day, Reunification Day, Labor Day and Independence Day.
Each day of cockfighting will feature six 30-minute competitions between 9am and 4pm.
According to Giang, roosters will be bred by the resort, which plans to charge admission fees for cockfighting spectators. There will be no clear winner or loser in each competition, he told Tuoi Tre, and all roosters will wear iron heels during competition. Vinh Sang Resort will also impose a strict no-gambling rule on the premises.
For his part, Vice Chairman Lu Quang Ngoi of the Vinh Long People’s Committee supported the view of cockfighting as a folk competition, however the politician is also keen to prevent the practice from turning into a hotbed of illegal activity. Vice Chairman Ngoi has since asked local authorities to figure out a plan to make legal cockfighting a reality.
For now, government officials are working out the details. Tran Minh Triet, chief of the Vinh Long Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism office, told Tuoi Tre the games would be heavily monitored by undercover officers to prevent betting.
“If the activity is well organized and managed, it could be carried out in other tourist resorts in the country, contributing to the preservation of the folk game,” Triet told the news outlet.
[Photo via Flickr user Adam Cohn]
