Vietnam Swans

Dear Swans and Supporters

The Kainey Cup

Tomorrow at 12 midday, the Vietnam Swans and Jakarta Bintangs will run out onto the field at the UN International School in Hanoi to play for the inaugural Kainey Cup.

It is a measure of the respect for Dave “Flyer” Kainey that both the Bintangs and the Swans have wanted the Cup named after him.

Dave started off his Asian Footy career with the Bintangs and was formally voted by them as a “Club Legend”. He had a major role in introducing and developing Auskick into the country which has now had 10,000 go through its program.  In 2003, Dave moved to Hanoi and was a lead organizer in shifting Aussie Rules from the couch and onto the paddock.

Since moving to Singapore in 2005, Dave has remained actively involved with both Clubs. For example, most recently he played for the Swans in our ANZAC Day match against Thailand in Kanchanaburi last month, he attends the Asian Champs with either (both) teams and he attends the Jakarta Bintangs AFL Grand Final Event. He even attends the Swans Annual Golf Classic in Melbourne on the 4^th Day of the Boxing Day Test Match.

Dave will fly into Hanoi tonight for the weekend’s activities. The Jakarta Bintangs started arriving last night and were greeted by the Hanoi contingent with a Cyclo Pub Crawl through the Old Quarter! Tonight it’s JASPAS. Tomorrow afternoon is the match with Auskick at half time. Then it’s off to JAFA.

This will be the Vietnam Swans first match in Hanoi since 31 May last year when we played Singapore – in our new jumpers.

Loscam Sponsorship

In further fallout from the global financial crisis, as reported in yesterday’s Financial Review, Loscam has advised that it will not be able to renew its sponsorship with the Vietnam Swans. The Vietnam Swans thank Loscam for their valuable contribution over the past 12 months. The last 12 months has seen us: develop the new jumper, create the photo opportunity with Miss Australia in our new jumper, play in our second Asian Championships, put on a cracking match event for the time that the HMAS ANZAC ship came to Saigon, host our first ever AFL Grand Final Party in Saigon (in addition to our established event in Hanoi), host a Bushfire Match and Fundraiser for the victims of Australia’s Black Saturday Bushfires and play the ANZAC Day Match in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

The Vietnam Swans acknowledge and thank again our ongoing sponsors – Linfox (which has just resigned as a jumper sponsor), Odyssey Resources (shorts), Crown Relocations (training singlets), Jim Beam (product), renow.com.vn and Whitemint (in kind creative), SOS International (match day attendance by medical staff), Pest Free (goal posts, Saigon) and La Vie Water (product).

ANZAC Day speeches

A number of people have commented on the various speeches and articles that have been written on the ANZAC Day weekend in Thailand. Most of them are now on the Swans website at vietnamswans.com The list is detailed below.

• New Zealand Ambassador’s Speech at Dawn Service
• ex POW, Bill Haskell’s speech at the War Cemetery
• New Zealand Ambassador’s Speech at War Cemetery -
• Patrick Stringer’s “Finding Dad in Siam”
• -
• What does it mean to be Australian? A tribute to ex POW, Ernie Redman