When the footy, supplied and signed by the Sydney Swans, landed in Vietnam, Ms Trang posed with the bundle of joy in front of HCMC’s statue of Tran Hung Dao.

Tran Hung Dao is revered as a National Hero in Vietnam after repelling 3 major Mongol invasions, led by the formidable Kublai Khan, back in the 13th Century.

After the photo shoot, Ms Trang returned the footy whereupon it was quickly put on a plane and whisked to Hanoi for the Grand Final Party. Unfortunately, the Grand Final was a fizzer as Poor Port didn’t seem capable of repelling even one of the Cats’ invasions of their porous defence.

Never mind. The Vietnam Swans cranked up the auction for the footy. Bidding was intense going dollar for dollar. Eventually, Dave from Vamed Engineering (a Gold Sponsor of the day) came out in front with a USD500 bid and collected the footy.

After the game, Dave was invited to wear a Swans footy jumper for the traditional photo under the TV as the Premiership Cup is presented to the winning team.  See Dave in the photo above proudly holding the Sydney Swans footy aloft.

For the record: Dave the Welshman is a rugby fan. He’s very much “still learning to love footy”.

Thank you very much to the Sydney Swans for supporting footy in Asia.