2023 has seen yet another incredible year of progress for the Vietnam Swans! Trophies, community causes, celebrations and some great games give us some fantastic memories and plenty to look forward to in 2024.
Check out the top 10 highlights of our season and bring on a bigger and better 2024!!
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2023 Award Winners & AGM
2023 saw the Swannies men and women hit the track with a full slate of international footie and tournaments to build toward. The incoming National Committee members with the aid of the Ghost of Bill Crang, national men’s and women’s team coaches (Tim Pickert and Wayne McMahon), and multiple role players worked diligently to support both North and South in spite of being short handed and will no doubt benefit from the additional assistance and new blood offered up through the AGM committee nominations.
With a full slate of fixtures of course there were some stand out performances and we were pumped to be rewarding many more of these to wind up 2023, congratulations to all those who took out an award!
| Award | Mens | Women |
| Best & Fairest | Jono McKay | Aoife Brody |
| Runner-Up | Rusty Clarke | Katie Quinn |
| Most Improved (South) | Jakob Medlin | Molly Coleman |
| Best Local Player (South) | Vinh Le | Lucy Nguyen |
| Coaches Award (South) | Matt Barton | Alana Devenny |
| Rising Star (South) | Alan Power | Eimear Grealy |
| Most Improved (North) | – | Krista Hope |
| Best Local Player (North) | – | Layla Ng |
| Rising Star (North) |
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Kari Gower |
| Coaches Award (North) | Spence Whittaker & Paul Villanova | Louise Odè Bezuidenhout |
| Rick Trewavas Player’s Player | Ryan Tishler | Aoife Brody |
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Chris Lewis Trains the Swans
Early in the year the Vietnam Swans were pleased to welcome Chris ‘Lewey’ Lewis, dual premiership winner at the West Coast Eagles (1992 & 1994) to Saigon thanks to Andy Glendinnings purebred western australian heritage and footie connections in the state! Getting to hear insights on the pitch and stories from off it from a legend such as Lewey was a thrill for the whole team especially Rusty Clarke (pictured).
Lewey’s contribution did not stop there though, he very kindly sourced and donated a worn West Coast Eagles jumper signed by all but one of the premiership winning team of 1992! Lewy’s support helped our Grand Final event raise record funds in 2023 – read on for more on this!
We’re all hoping to see Chris back in 2024 with hopefully a slightly longer stay than this go round!
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Vietnam Charity Walk
The Vietnam Swans have always and always will have a high focus on supporting the community around us. It’s common for Swans players and members to undertake fantastic initiatives to do great things in this space and this is very much one of those times. Swans legend, Northern spiritual leader and long time midfield bull Jake Norris is currently with Sean Down walking the length of Vietnam in support of 2 of the best charities in the country. As this article goes to press they’ll be about a third of the way through their journey, with many, many blisters incurred and even more bias consumed! Remember where you can this holiday season to get around the boys and support a fantastic cause!
Follow, like, share their journey via their Facebook page and please if you can donate here – local bank info available if the link isn’t accessible for you…
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Amazing Sponsorship Support
It would be remiss of us to wrap the year without thinking about those who support us and enable us to continue to play the sport and develop the game in Vietnam. We truly do survive as a club purely because of these companies’ support and they come from our local communities. Great people offering great services so PLEASE SUPPORT THEM wherever you can!
If you can do 1 thing to help us at the end of 2023… please head to the Social Media pages (linked below) of our 2023 sponsors to make sure you’re seeing their updates!
2023 Platinum Sponsors
- The Al Frescos Group – Long time sponsors including fantastic brands Al Fresco’s, Jaspas HCMC and Jaspas Hanoi, Pepperonis.
- HMS Hospitality including our favorite airport pre tour carb load Burger King!
2023 Gold Sponsors
- April International – the insurance provider of choice of most Swans, contact us if you’re in the market as our affinity group helps you save 20%!!!
- Victory Bar Saigon – featured on the 2023 playing guernsey Victory Bar is one of Saigon’s best bars and a must for lovers of great whiskey and cocktails!
- The Jackaroo Bar & Grill –
- The Republic – Hanoi Grand Final Event venue and our official footy watching venue in the North.
- Crown Relocations – long time club sponsor and experts in relocation and business storage services.
- My Team & Tilling – new 2023 sponsors offering fantastic drafting and design outsourcing services with a growing team here in Vietnam!
- Wildside Custom / Dynamic Sports – who produced our fantastic 2023 membership merchandise and do some of the best golf and sports merchandise on the market!
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Grand Final Parties Reach New Heights
Our AFL Grand Finals act as our key social event in both Hanoi and Saigon, carrying on the momentum from 2022 and once again acting as our largest fundraiser for the year. Thanks to everyone who helped out in preparation and on the day!
The event at Jaspas in Saigon saw a solid return of 200 footie enthusiasts on the day bolstered by the brothers Glendining and about 10 true blue Western Australians. Who, despite having very little to cheer for in footie terms this year, were raucous throughout! With a bevy of some 30+ prizes on offer including some unmissable memorabilia Jaspas was once again jumping on grand final day in 2023!
You can read more about the day here…
In the North The Republic set the stage for the Northern contingent of Swannies and fans as always well supported by Micky Francis and his team ensuring a ripping day for all those involved!
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Vietkick Continues to Introduce Youngsters to our Game
Long term, the growth of AFL depends on getting youngsters into the game. Both Hanoi and Saigon had seen fruitful junior programs in the past and with the stalwart support of a few good Swans led by Rusty Clarke in the South and a combination of Eva Dunlavey/Paul Villanova and Trung in Hanoi managing to get good children’s numbers involved!
As we already look ahead to 2024 we will be planning to reinvigorate our Koto partnership in Hanoi and continue to create channels to participation in both cities.
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ICC Returns
After a 4 year hiatus stretching back to 2019 because of the dreaded “c” word the Indo China Cup finally returned in 2023! Unfortunately due to the lingering effects of “the Virus” scheduled hosts Laos were unable to put the event together at an earlier in the year timeslot, enter Molly Coleman (first year ladies player) and her band of merry men. Being next up to host The Swans took on the responsibility and despite some field issues (as all Asian clubs face) were able to put on a 12-a-side tournament even featuring a Malaysian invitational side and the Laos Elephants who were concern to make it at all if it weren’t for the hard work of Caroline Bottril. After a hard fought day with awesome typical rainy season weather both Swannies men’s and women’s team emerged victorious. However, the day couldn’t have happened without the involvement of the Laotian, Malaysian, Cambodian and Thailand teams participating to the fullest so a massive thanks to all and we can’t wait for 2024 in Cambodia!
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Swans Men Cement Place Amongst Asia’s Best
After a nail biting finish at theAsian Champs 2022 which saw the Swannies fellas miss out by percentage on a Grand Final appearance they were looking to reload and go again. With a full slate of international fixtures and despite a crushing home loss to Asian Champs grand finalists Indonesia the guys really did show their intent with wins over Hong Kong, Singapore (Anzac Day) and a cannonball run double over friends and neighbors Cambodia, again missing out narrowly at the big dance to eventual winner Papua New Guinea, before rounding out the season by taking home a fourth consecutive ICC. 2024 will bring new challenges and the boys will have to hit the recruitment hard, stay out of the hoi’s a little bit over Christmas and hit the track running if they’re to take the next step!
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McMillan Address (Anzac Day)
Anzac Day is always a vaulted day in any footie clubs calendar and its one that the Swannies take very seriously given the history of the sport in Vietnam. Given the issues with grounds this year the game had to be moved to Saigon, though there were no concerns to be had as first the legends then the men and women of Vietnam and Singapore took to the field for an awesome day. None of the action on the field though could compare to the after party event. The McMillan address always forms a key part of this, and the Swans were very fortunate to welcome Ailsa Vernon (supported by husband Ron) to speak to the crowd assembled. Ailsa had the crowd enthralled with insights including:
- How Stan became a part of the friendship weekend and connected the VFL from back in the war days to our modern day matches.
- How Ron’s involvement in the VFL then returning to Vietnam and wanting to make a difference, finding and bringing amazing support to the Vung Tau and now Long Hai Centre’s for Children’s Protection.
- How the centre’s have developed and the fantastic work they do in supporting children in need to this day.
- Some great context around the beginning and growth of the ANZAC Friendship Weekend and what it means to the Swans and our community.
It was great to hear such an insightful Address from someone who has been such a valuable part of our club and this weekend. Thanks both Ailsa and Ron for everything you have done and continue to do for our club!
We were also able to welcome 3 incredible contributors to our Life Membership ranks, congratulations to Tim Pickert, Shane MacFarlane, Jake Norris and Katie Walsh. Fantastic contributors that enable our club to achieve all these things!
See more of the write up from the McMillan Dinner here, view the 2023 ANZAC Friendship Weekend Record here and read about the Friendship Matches here…
Watch this space for info on the 2024 ANZAC Day Friendship Weekend and Matches!
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Swannies Ladies Are Asian Champs Again
With the departure of outgoing Womens stalwart player and coach Chia Sabbatucchi there were a few question marks over what 2023 would hold for one of the regions original female teams. How strong could they be? Who would lead on the field? Could they restock their cattle to make a go of it? All of these fortunately were answered. Men’s team half forward Wayne McMahon raised his hand and volunteered to attempt to fill the void left by Chia doing so with aplomb. Using his connections in the Gaelic football community coupled with returning experienced players the Swannies ladies were able to field a strong team of mainly first year players in 2023. Led by Canadian go getter Katie Quinn the team started with dominating incumbent womens champs Singapore in the Anzac day clash and barring a blip on the cannonball run in Cambodia would eventually take out the best in Asia and the ICC!! Congrats again to the Ladies and Coach McMahon on their success for 2023!
