Calling all Swannies!
With Christmas and New Year in the books the Swannies now turn their eyes to 2024, give the boots a clean and get ready to hit the track again ready for another year of Swannies Football!
Departures
Following another successful year there were a couple of departures. Notably Russell Clarke our inside bull and Saigon Vietkick coach moving home with his family to Australia and Luke Turner / Billy ‘bang bang’ Crang stepping down from their respective committee roles. Though Bill will still be around, and no doubt pull on the boots from time to time, we take this moment to say thanks to all and remind Rusty that you may leave but you’ll always be a Swannie!
Committee 2024
With a lack of volunteers for 2023, the committee still succeeded with pulling off one of the most internationally packed Swans calendars in a while, including 4 home games, 1 away game, 1 away tournament and hosting the return of the ICC. Following the AGM with restocked volunteers we should see a more cohesive approach, the 2024 committee volunteers are:
Matt Barton – President
Will Sandman – Treasurer
Karilyn Gower – Communications
Paul Villanova – Operations Manager North
Jonno Mackay – Operations Manager South
Please get around them and help out in any way you can!
An action-packed year awaits, and with the core pillars of the season already falling into place we wanted to announce what we can as soon as possible to give you all the opportunity to plan your calendars accordingly! Listening to the members feedback from 2023 has been a priority and with one eye on inclusivity of all members and one on our development pathways (more on this in a bit!) the 2024 schedule has started to take shape.
Asia Cup
Speaking of our development pathways, these become even more important in 2024 with the Asia Cup on the horizon in November which will be held in lieu of the International Cup in Melbourne. The Asia Cup will see nationals from different Asian countries descend on Saigon in a men’s and women’s 12-a-side competition and compete for the title of best team in Asia. The Swans intend to support wholeheartedly by fielding men’s and women’s Vietnamese teams for the first time. More to follow throughout the year!
Domestic footy
On top of the Swannies core international fixtures and the Asia Cup is of course plenty of fun to be had throughout the year, the SAFL and HAFL leagues will also be running throughout the course of 2024 (Tentative South calendar below, North to come soon), and a few more matches/tours following Asian Champs should be locked in over the coming weeks.
OUR CURRENT INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES ARE BELOW:
Saturday, April 6th CONFIRMED – Malaysian Warriors (Men’s) – Saigon
Friday, April 19th CONFIRMED – Long Hai orphanage and School visits – Vung Tau
Saturday, April 20th CONFIRMED – ANZAC Friendship weekend vs Hong Kong Dragons (Men’s and Women’s) – Saigon
Saturday, May 18th CONFIRMED – ICC (Men’s and Women’s) – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Summer break – Late June – July
Saturday, August 3rd CONFIRMED – Singapore Womabats (Men’s and Women’s) – Saigon
August 31st CONFIRMED – 2024 AFL Asian Championships – Pattaya, Chonburi Thailand
September/October (dates TBC) – Cambodia Cannonball Runs
November (date TBC) – Asia Cup
PLEASE NOTE “Dates TBC” ARE AT ADVANCED PLANNING STAGES AND WE ENCOURAGE ALL TO PLAN FOR THESE.
SAFL CALENDAR:
Saturday, March 2nd
Saturday, March 16th
Saturday, May 11th
(These dates are confirmed for the first half of the calendar. More games will be announced for the second half.)
Everyone is welcome to training and events – Whether it’s just for a casual kick and catch at training, perhaps to participate in the local mixed leagues, or maybe you’re a keen footballer and looking to quench that competitive thirst against other countries in the region – there’s a spot for everyone so get involved!
Current players, please put these dates in your calendars and start planning where required. The club has retained the huge majority of its cattle from season 2023, which is fantastic and we want to make a big push this year for recruitment to attack this season showing strength in numbers! While touring numbers were down this year we want to rebound from this to see as many of the broader Swannies family involved as possible for the events we have planned!
The start of the footy season is always an exciting time!! Please keep your eye on the Vietnam Swans website and social channels for updates, be sure to support our club sponsors, and remember that you get out what you put in!
Looking forward to a big 2024 ahead!
