The Vietnam Swans have just received an email from the London Swans. In short, if you are going to London, you are more than welcome to join the London Swans (the email has been reproduced below).

Hi Vietnam Swans,

I got your email off a website that lists Australian Rules Football Clubs.

I am Recruitment Manager of The Swans Australian Rules Football Club – one of the founding clubs in the British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL).  We have teams based in London and in Brighton, UK.  We also have links to a Ladies Gaelic Football Club based in London.  We have a great club atmosphere, proud players and are always looking to make the game bigger here in the UK and globally.

As such, we are looking to establish links with other Footy Clubs worldwide and in particular Swans Footy Clubs!

So if any of the lads (or the ladies) heading to London and want a great place to start London life, the Swans always welcome new players and can help provide a welcoming base to get amongst European Adventures and enjoy playing footy in the UK.

Best Wishes and a Happy New Year

Peter Cridland

www.theswans.org.uk

In Breaking News from 1 September, our early morning friend, Mr Rooster has recently and selflessly reported, “Rooster wins German Flag”. 

The match was also won by the Rheinland Lions over the very strong and very Australian Munich. Rooster says the Lions are “mostly German, and our best players are all German…  the Aussies are too old.”

“This was the toughest match of footy that I have ever played in Europe…  the ground was full size (at least as full size as the SCG is), and the pressure and tackling was amazing… the crunching tackles were relentless with some of our German players showing real footy nouse.

“The win took place on September 1st in Koln, Germany…  just 5 years and 1 day since I lead the Lions onto the paddock for the first time in Dusseldorf when we hosted a tournament at the end of August 2002.”

To read more on the Grand Final – and to see a photo of the often-heard but mysterious Rooster handing out some European Rep footy jumpers in Finland (supplied by Big Rooster Footy), click on World Footy News.

For more background info, check out the Rooster update.

Finally, Rooster concludes… “By the way, it’s about time I had my own category on your blog too”.

It’s official: The Laos Elephants will tour to Hanoi and play against the Vietnam Swans and Thailand Tigers in a 3-way tournament on Saturday, 17 November in Hanoi.

The Swans sent our official photographer, Iva Biggin, to Laos to capture the reaction of the Elephants. As you can see from the photograph, the Elephants were very excited to hear that they would be playing in their first international tournament.

“And why wouldn’t you be excited?” asks Bill Lawry. ”It’ll be the first international to be played in Hanoi since March of last year, the first time the ‘Vietnam Swans’ have ever played in Hanoi, the first time the Elephants have ever fielded a team and the first time the Tigers have been seen in Vietnam since November 2005. I’m as excited as an Elephant right now”.

Thailand Tigers Coach, Mr Fish has said that the Tigers will put up the Burke-Roos Cup for the tournament. The Swans and Tigers have played for the Cup twice and both times it has fallen into the hands of the Tigers. The Swans will be keen to redress that situation in November.

Fish is a supporter of a tournament without a Grand Final… “Given how well the Swans host (a tournament) and how well the Tigers take advantage of Hanoi as good hosts, let’s keep it to two games each and then top of ladder wins tournament”.

Fish could be a lawyer for Grand Final Platinum Sponsor, Allens Arthur Robinson. He presents a very convincing and succinct case.    

The Laos Elephants were threatening to tour Vietnam on the weekend of 24th November – just one week after Thailand’s tour.

But that fell over for two reasons: it’s unlikely that anyone from Saigon would make two flights to Hanoi in as many weeks. Secondly, the UNIS oval is unavailable that weekend.

So, now the prospect of a round-robin between Vietnam, Thailand and Laos on the 17th November has been raised. Marty Sharples from the Elephants describes it as a potential “veritable football feast”.

The proposal is now being discussed at the highest levels – but is not expected to have any influence on the timing of the next federal election in Australia. 

Saturday, 20 October, RMIT, Saigon: Vietnam Swans V Brunei Sharks – Game off.

Earlier in the week, the Swans received an email from the President of the Brunei Sharks, Justin Kennedy, requesting that their tour to Vietnam be postponed. The Sharks have a problem that the Swans are all too familiar with – that it’s difficult to travel.

Justin says that “we only had a small squad as it was. With some injuries (3), people heading home for birthdays (2) and some bad excuses (2) (including the guy to the side who was eaten by his mother)  we’ve been decimated down to a bare and weak dozen”.

No worries, Justin. Sharks often succumb to Swans…

The Brunei Sharks have an open invitation to tour to Vietnam whenever you can.

World Footy News has reported that last Tuesday night (4th September), ”Melbourne-Vietnam… defeated Japan in what is becoming an annual match between the two sides. Around 50 people braved very cold conditions in Melbourne to see the home side run out 13-7-85 to 6-9-45 victors, at Elgar Park in Box Hill.

“The Vietnamese squad, comprised mostly of Elgar Park Dragons players performed strongly, but were frequently tested by a Samurais outfit keen to avenge last year’s 103 point drubbing. Recognition should be given to the Japanese players, their coaching and support staff and Troy Beard on the side’s continually improving performances. A full report on the Samurais tour will follow in the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile: a reminder to Vietnam Swans players… If you would like to travel to Japan at the beginning of October and play in the Narita Cup, we have an invitation from Box Hill North (the Mother Club of the Melbourne Dragons) to join them. More details about the Narita Cup will be posted shortly.

Thanks very much to the Swans photographer, Landon Carnie, who has taken some fantastic photos from last weekend’s block buster match between the Vietnam Swans and the Hong Dragons.

If you like the look of the photos and are hungry for more, Landon has put the rest of his photos on his website (just click the hyperlink). 

Special thanks to Kev Dacey – who goal umpired and played (no official complaints have been received yet from the Hong Dragons about that!) – for preparing the following match report from yesterday’s game between the Vietnam Swans and the Hong Kong Dragons.

Following on a hard night of partying at The Office and sundry other bars round Saigon as part of the Jackal’s farewell tour the Hong Kong boys plus one soon to be wife arrived at RMIT by bus and immediately started a serious warm up.

Coach Scotty Stacey was looking worried. Not only were we playing in the Saigon Geckos jerseys, the shorts had still not arrived and at 1.45pm he only had about six or seven players. Eventually Daryl Taber arrived with the shorts from Hanoi and players drifted in, or in some cases were coerced into having a run.

President Phil almost didn’t make the starting side as the coach was considering benching him for his late arrival. With the assistance of the rugby boys, a number of new debutants in Danny Armstrong, Matty Johns and Tom Shanahan, Scotty was able to announce a starting side and had four on the bench.Prior to the match the umpire called both sides into a huddle and Pago did his usual MC trick and presented the Jackal with a women’s wig and liberally applied lipstick to his mouth. Not a good look but set the tone for a good afternoon.

The game commenced under leaden skies with the rumble of thunder in the distance accompanied by some viscous lightening, causing some nervous glances at the sky. The heavens opened up just as the match got under way and the game understandably suffered. The Dragons jumped to a early lead with a couple of quick goals from Besty and the Swans / Geckos replied with a neat soccer goal from the Pres and another from BJ and went to quarter time only four points down.

The second quarter developed into a hard slog in the wet conditions with the Dragons kicking three goals whilst Vietnam managed a couple courtesy of Tom Shanahan and Daryl Taber. The sides went to half time with the Dragons leading by one goal three behinds. Not a bad effort considering we were missing many of our better players and some of the troops had only met as they ran on to the field.

Super Coach Scotty gave his usual morale lifting speech at half time and implored his players not to worry too much on the lightning which was hitting the ground just over a mile away and to concentrate on making sure the Dragons hit the ground just as frequently.

The third quarter belonged to the Dragons as they kicked four goals to a solitary sausage roll from the Pres to give them a comfortable four goal buffer at three quarter time. The Dragon’s ring in from the WAFL continued to impress and had obviously played some good football in his day. Just too classy for the Swans.Scotty rung the changes at the short break but it was not enough to halt the rampaging Dragons. With Besty holding strong marks at full forward and Mals roving the packs well the Dragons kicked seven goals in the final quarter, including one by the Jackal to the delight of his team mates.

Vietnam’s sole contributor was Scotty who neatly twisted and turned his way through a big pack to slot home a goal. The goal umpire and the Pres swapped jerseys for the last five minutes and even this wasn’t enough to add to the Vietnam total and the Dragons eventually ran out winners by ten goals to send the Jackal out in style.

Final scores: Hong Kong Dragons 16/14/110 Defeated Vietnam Swans / Geckos 6/7/49 

Goal scorers: Dragons Best 7, Mals 4, Davis, Knights, Lips, Jackal, Matty.  Swans Johns 2, BJ, Shanahan, Taber, Stacey

Special thanks to the central umpire Richard Beecher. And to goal umpires Biggles and KD for putting up with the wet conditions.

Amazing scenes last night could spell disaster for the Swans today in their keenly awaited match against the Hong Kong Dragons.

Swans Micky Johnston was scheduled to take a Vietnam Airlines flight last night at 9pm from Hanoi - with the Swans shorts. By 11pm, VNA were saying his delayed flight (and the flight before his) would leave at 2am!

At 11.30pm, Vietnam Airlines decided to just cancel the flights and try again this morning after a good night’s sleep. That wasn’t enough for Mick who had reached the end of his tether.

Mick’s given the shorts to Taber who is scheduled to fly to Saigon today – subject to the timely arrival of the aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Dragons were in fine form last night. The Jackal, enjoying his farewell tour, was punished by his team mates with a frightening selection of drinks.

As one Dragon said to the Swans Blog, “if the Jackal gets one kick today, the Swans will need to take a long, hard look at themselves”.

Hearin’ ya loud and clear.  

With less than 24hrs before the Hong Kong Dragons fly into Saigon using a more conventional scheduled commercial flight, Saigon is abuzz. What do the Asian Champs look like up close?

As well as playing footy this coming weekend, the Dragons will farewell long serving player, the Jackal.

More seasoned players at the Swans are privately saying that while there is no doubt that it will be the Night(s) of the Jackal, they are yet to be convinced it will be the Day of the Jackal come 2pm Saturday at RMIT when Tommy Sherrin is bounced.

One of the tough talkers is Taber, our hard hitting opinionated columnist on Monday mornings. Taber, a former Father of the Year, will make a long overdue return to international football this weekend. He hasn’t been seen in the international arena since May of last year when the Swans were smashed by the Tigers in Thailand and he bagan focusing on the Fatherly Gong.

Meanwhile, Coach Savvy Stacey will return to the ground as a player this weekend in his 129th come back game.

In other news, controversially, Vietnam will not play in the Swans jumpers. It will play in the Saigon Geckos strip. This is sure to stir up strong debate amongst the games conservatives. No doubt Taber on Monday, like on Saturday with the Umps, will have plenty to say.

With this much interest and controversy, we’re set for a cracking weekend.

Important times:

Friday night from 7pm, The Office (Cafe Latin) - Having just arrived from Hong Kong, the boys on the Jackal Tour will still be well on the way.

Saturday, 1.30pm, RMIT – Players arrive at RMIT for a 2pm start. 14 players on field. 4 x 15 minute quarters. All welcome.

Saturday, 5pm-ish – Pacharans - $20 food and drinks. All welcome.   

The Dominating Hong Kong Dragons are just 4 days away from hopefully, a jolly good slaying in Saigon. Meanwhile, Vietnam is abuzz with rumours about a blitz of Johnsies taking the field for the big match.

Club President Phil Johns, renowned for his inspirational 30 second bursts before falling to another soft tissue injury has declared himself fit.

Newcomer to Vietnam, Matty Johns (no relation) will make his international debut for Vietnam this weekend. With blonde tips, this surfie look-alike has a good head on his shoulders. Unlike the Bali Gecko Surfers at the Asian Champs, Johnsy could very well be the difference between the two teams that makes us cross the line first.

This morning, the Swans had a “near miss” (or is that a “near hit”?) We were looking good for a flying ace as our goal umpire – the very lovely Kathryn Biggles. For those of you who need your memories refreshed, Biggles was the flying ace in the novels written by Captain W. E. Johns (no relation).

Alas, K. Biggles has advised that she will only be a spectator on the day.

In other dramatic developments, Vietnam will play without their Hanoi Captain and their Saigon Captain. G Train and Beazley will both miss. A Captain for the day is still to be appointed.

The injured Micky J will assume the coaching responsibilities with Savvy Stacey electing to lace up the boots and take the field to shoot a few sneaky goals.

The long awaited match between Vietnam and Hong Kong will commence at 2pm on Saturday 1 September at RMIT’s grounds in Saigon. There will be 4 x 15 min. quarters with 14 players on the field for each team. 

You just can’t help but get the feeling that this could be an absolute cracker of a humdinger of a match.