It’s Friday at 10.30am in Saigon – exactly 24 hours before the bounce of the ball tomorrow at Saigon’s RMIT University for the clash of Vietnam’s Titans, the Saigon Geckos and Hanoi Swans.

It’s a keenly anticipated match.

The sensationalist tabloid press is asking:

Will we witness the Fall of Saigon to Hanoi’s Swans? Or will we see the Liberation of Saigon as it frees itself from the shackles of its rugby heritage and starts playing decent footy? Either way, there’s a real buzz around this town today.

Click on the link below for details for the exclusive, official promotional poster for the massive match,

Saigon Vs Hanoi Swans

Saigon Vs Hanoi is just another week away. It’s on Saturday 21 April, 10.30am at RMIT. It’s on at 10.30am to beat the heat and finish in time for the start of the Big Day Out at 2pm – and to test those who didn’t sleep the night before.

Saigon Saints/Geckos/Wannabes/Whatever

Phil Crouch has promised to polish his footy boots tomorrow and bring along Brendan and Chris (Danny, the ANZ can smell a banking vacuum in the Saigon footy club. You might be well advised to make the big comeback for the sake of CBA). Last week we had 11 self-described adults turn up to training and 4 Korean students. As you can see, the numbers are now starting to grow exponentially.

Disrupting our momentum a little bit is tomorrow’s Saigon Touch Tournament. It will push our footy training back to about 5pm (we will have to play it by ear. Start time will depend entirely on what time the touch tournament finishes). If you can, come out earlier and support the Touch – and encourage them to support us the following week so we can get the numbers to fill a Saigon side and to supplement numbers for the Hanoi Swans.

The high flying Matt Wenkel who flew out to Sydney last night has suggested that Saigon has a high powered meeting to discuss tactics (eg name a coach, a captain, a field umpire, a goal umpire etc etc) and “other stuff” prior to the big clash on 21 April. Stay tuned for details on that one but it will probably be Wednesday night.

Hanoi Swans Footy Tipping Comp

It seems like the Hanoi Swans footy tipping comp is rigged. I logged on yesterday to and I’m allegedly coming last out of 29 tipsters in the Swans comp. To put that in perspective, the website claims that of all the competitions registered, I’m coming in at a competitive 187,053 out of 197,052 tipsters. Unheard of.

Gaelic Football in Singapore

Patty’s brother, Brian O’Reilly from Saigon RMIT is wanting to put a Vietnam Gaelic football side together for a tournament in Singapore from 22 – 24 June. If you’d like to be part of that, whether you’re from Saigon or Hanoi, I’ve attached the details. For further info, contact Brian directly () or myself.

And finally, today’s Saigon Report

Weather: Hot. Damned hot.

Traffic conditions: Still. Damned still.

Saturday March 21^st, 2007

“Where are you?”

“In a taxi with half the team.”

“Which half - the good, the bad or the ugly?”

“The ugly, and we’re pumped! Where are you?”

“In another taxi with the jumpers and shorts. How many players do we have?”

“8 plus whatever they give us.”

Thus ended Hanoi Swans pre-match tactical discussions.

Thanks to the infusion of talent from HCMC, both sides ran on to the ground with 12-a-side plus 2 interchange. The occasional scudding cloud helped keep the sun off our nude scones but 10.30 in HCMC is still bloody hot for northerners (note to self: remember to sunscreen head – red GT sunburn stripes through the helmet are not a good look).

Derby 2 started at a furious pace. Saigon Geckos kicked the first goal within seconds of the bounce. Swans replied with Scottie’s first for the day at the end of a well-timed lead, and it was on. It may have been sunny, but it was raining goals. Movement of the ball from one end of the RMIT pitch to the other was amazingly precise with both teams playing a style of football that belied the lack of match practice.

In the first half, Captain Gus and Euan were getting first touch of the pill in the ruck for the Swans, but the Saigon lads were clearing it from the bounces. This put pressure on our defence, but a hastily thrown together back line lead by Matt G at Centre Half Back and Eddie in the goal square did a great job. If the Geckos long bombs didn’t go through for a goal, these lads and their cohorts on the wings, “Thailand Tiger” Chris and Gaelic Bernard, propelled it into the forward line.

Fabbo was leading well from full forward and wrapping his strong plates of meat around the leather. A nice little toe poke from Scottie near the end of the second quarter saw MJ kms clear to dob an easy sausage roll and give us some hope going into the long break.

Half time scores were Gekkos 53 - Swans 37

The premiership quarter was highlighted by the emergence of our Rastafarian import. Naom was impassable on the Back Flank and won a number of free kicks by being first to the ball. The Damo twins were also putting their bodies on the line to clear the ball. This enabled Chris B and Matt W to find a bit of space in the forward line for some uncontested chest marks.

Unfortunately, our captain was unable to take the field for the second half due to a crippling shoulder injury and we missed his height in the ruck. We also failed to take advantage of the slight breeze blowing to the river end and fiddled around with the ball a bit too much. Unselfish play does not always create goals!

Phil Crouch at Centre Half Forward for the Geckos took a strong mark against the play, and against 3 opponents, and slotted one through on the siren as a steadier.

At three-quarter time, scores were Geckos 66 – Swans 51.

The final quarter was all Gekkos as their rugby training came to the fore. Their tackling and hard approach to the ball meant they kept things moving their way. Long kicks with the wind were rewarded with a few big goals for the Geckos, especially Jamie’s pick-up and goal from the centre bounce.

A positive aspect of the Swans last quarter was the introduction of our Vina member, Vu, who promptly found himself in the right place a few times. Where were you at the start of the game, mate?

Full time: Gekkos 99 – Swans 57.

Thanks heaps to the umps, Ashley from Ha Noi and Rob from HCMC, as well as to Landon for doing a great job preparing the RMIT “oval”.

Keen to get dirty in Hanoi? Come and have a run with the Hanoi Swans. for details