Vietnam Swans first time victors in Indochina Cup

Vietnam Swans play Thailand Tigers at Saturday’s Indochina Cup in HCMC. The Swans, who took the Cup, won all their matches against Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. - Photo: Adam Martin

The Australian Rules football team, Vietnam Swans, celebrated their first ever tournament victory on Saturday night after beating all comers at the Indochina Cup earlier that day.

The Swans  were joined at an over 200 strong party at La Cantine Restaurant in Dong Khoi St, District 1 by Aussie football players from fellow Indochina Cup teams, the Laos Elephants, Thailand Tigers and Cambodian Cobras, plus the Swan’s sister team, the Saigon Shooters, who also won a same-day netball IndochinaCup, and women’s netball teams from Hanoi and Thailand.

At the after-match function Vietnam Swan’s captain, Luke Creamer, said the Australian football Indochina Cup win was, “Epic.”

It was a very hard-fought-for win with several injuries early in the day including a broken jaw, a concussion and a badly split lip.

Before the game started Australian Consul General in HCMC, Graeme Swift, held a minute’s silence for the hundreds of Cambodians, who died in last week’s bridge tragedy in Phnom Penh.

The four Australian football teams played a round robin tournament with six 30-minute games played in total at the fields at RMIT in District 7.

“Not only the Indochina Cup, this is our first-ever tournament win. We’ve won a lot of individual games but never a tournament before,” Danny Armstrong, the Vietnam Swan’s national treasurer said.

Armstrong, who played his last game on Saturday, deciding to retire from playing after more than 30 years of footy, said winning the Cup was a terrific feeling.

“It was time for me to hang up the boots, whether we won or lost, so I asked the boys for a special effort to come up with a win. Couldn’t ask for more.”

Swan’s player, Matt Natalotto, who got his jaw, eyesocket and cheek bone broken in the first 10 seconds of the Swan’s first game against the Cambodian Cobras and had to get airlifted to Bangkok for surgery said from his hospital bed in Thailand on Sunday, “Great win for the Swans who definitely deserved it. So much hard work has gone into the team this year… and years past.”

Natalotto had also planned to hang up his boots after the Indochina Cup, but said that he couldn’t finish off a footy career like that, so he would continue to play at least until the ANZAC match next year once the injuries were healed.

Saul Morgan, captain of the Thailand Tigers, said the Indochina cup was one of the highlights of the Asian Football calendar. Morgan said the Vietnam Swans had organized the cup really well and he looked forward to next year’s Cup being held in Laos.

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Vietnam Swans fired up to win Indochina Cup

The Vietnam Swans Australian Football team is fired up for their first Indochina Cup victory this Saturday at the RMIT fields in District 7.

After winning two games at the Asian Football Championships in October the Swans are ready to end the season on a high note.

“We think we are in with a good chance, not underestimating the opposition, as they’ll be strong and fighting hard,” said Club President Phil Johns.

Johns said he thought the Cambodian Cobra’s were the major threat. “The Cambodians are a really good outfit and we saw a massive improvement last time we played them and there’s no reason that trend won’t continue.”

Australians will be descending on Saigon from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vung Tau, Hoi An and Hanoi to play in the four sided contest with Thailand Tigers, Laos Elephants, Cambodian Cobras at the Swan’s home ground.

There will be six 30 minute games in the round robin championship starting at 11:30 a.m. and finishing at 4:30 p.m. followed by presentations and a party at La Cantine in the city.

Australian  Consul General Graeme Swift did the draw for the Indochina Cup  on Tuesday at his office.

This will be the fourth Indochina Cup since 2007. Thailand have won twice and Lao once. The Lao side has a number of Laotian players that play for them including their captain.

Johns said with Swans players coming from Vung Tau, the Central and Hanoi to play at the cup, the Vietnam Swans really is a national team.

 “Footy is really starting to kick along in this region,” he said.

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Vietnam Swans win first game at Asian Football Champs

Vietnam Swans in Shanghai. They won two games out of four in the Asian Championships. Melbourne Demon’s Rohan Bail is in the red shirt on the right. Demons coach Dean Bailey is partly hidden in the middle. - Photo: Michael Smith

The Vietnam Swans Australian football team won two games at the Australian Rules Football Asian Championships in Shanghai, China, on Saturday.

“It’s the first time the Swannies have won a game at the Asian Championships, so it shows how much the club has developed,” Phil Johns, the club president said in Shanghai.

The team of expat players mostly from Australia, who live in Vietnam, has been competing in the championships every year since 2007 without a win until they got up on Saturday.

A 24 strong squad plus coaches and supporters all met in China on Friday to get ready for the biggest competition of the year in Asian Football with expat teams from 12 countries across the region.

The Swan’s victories were against a mixed team called the Barbarians and the team from Thailand.

In the morning the Swans were beaten by the other two teams in their group, Singapore and Malaysia, but came back in the afternoon against the Barbarians after being a goal down at half time to win by a goal, then took control of the game against the Thailand Tigers.

“It’s something that’s been coming for four years. It’s a good reward for training,” said team captain Luke Creamer after the win.

The Swan’s ruckman, David Hadley, said it was a great feeling to win two, after not winning any games in three previous championships.

Dubai won the final against Singapore to collect the cup. Vietnam Swans came seventh over all beating eighth placed Malaysia.

During the day, one of the team’s coaches, Josh Little, presented a Swans number 44 jersey to Rohan Bail, a player from visiting AFL team, the Melbourne Demons, as a symbol of cooperation between the two teams.

The Demons were in the Chinese megacity to promote the sport to China in an Exhibition Match on Sunday as part of the Australian World Expo program. The match which attracted 7000 was considered a huge success.

Bail said that he was overwhelmed when he knew there was a team in Vietnam that was throwing its support behind him and he and his team were glad that a jumper he had donated previously to the team had been used to raise money for the Tri Bob swimming program to stop kids from drowning in Hoi An.

Other AFL legends such as Paul Salmon, Brian Taylor, Paul Licuria and Steve Silvagni, who came to the Championships on Saturday to see what Asian football was all about, said they were very impressed by the play.

This year’s championships were organized by the two clubs in China, Shanghai Tigers and Beijing Bombers.

The Swans president, Johns, said he wanted to hold the Championships in Vietnam in coming years as the support base was growing.

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Aussie football club holds big party for AFL grandfinal

Vietnam Swans players (L and second L) play the Lao Elephants. The Swans football club in Saigon is organizing a big party to watch the AFL grand final between Collingwood and St Kilda this Saturday - Photo: The organizers

The Vietnam Swans in Saigon have sold nearly 200 tickets so far to their Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final party in District 1 set for next Saturday.

The president of the club, Phil Johns does not expect any tickets to be left for sale at the door on Grand Final day as interest has been so strong.

“Given the number of tourists, especially Australians, who will want to see the Grand Final and hoping to purchase tickets when they arrive in Saigon, I think they will be very disappointed. I am not expecting any tickets to be available on Grand Final day,” Johns said.

The event will be held at La Cantine on the corner of Dong Khoi and Ngo Duc Ke Streets in District 1.

The final between traditional Melbourne rivals Collingwood and St Kilda is tipped to go Collingwood’s way as they have had an almost unbeatable season.

“They [Collingwood] beat Geelong by a lot in the preliminary final and they will be tough to beat. I hope St Kilda win but you would have to think Collingwood will be too strong,” said Josh Little, a Vietnam Swans member.

“No-one wants to see Collingwood win, because if they do, you will hear about it for the next 20 years,” Little said. He said the party would be “the Swans biggest party yet” and watching the grandfinal in Saigon would more special than it would be in Australia

“In Australia, you would celebrate anywhere and it’s always going to be big. In Vietnam, it brings all the Australians together and who wins doesn’t become as important. It’s the fact that we are all together on such an important day and having fun.”

If there are any enquiries for tickets, please email vietnamswans@gmail.com or contact Jo on 0906 615 958.

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