A very strong turn out of clubs is expected for Saturday’s inaugural Asian Presidents’ Summit in Bangkok.

A very strong turn out of clubs is expected for Saturday’s inaugural Asian Presidents’ Summit in Bangkok.

A huge turn out of Asian Presidents and Club representatives is expected to attend the Inaugural Asian Presidents’ Summit in Bangkok next Saturday, 27 July 2013.

Confirmed clubs attending are:

  1. Cambodian Eagles
  2. China Reds
  3. Guangzhou Scorpions
  4. Hong Kong Dragons
  5. Jakarta Bintangs
  6. Malaysian Warriors
  7. Philippine Eagles
  8. Singapore Sharks (Auskick and Masters)
  9. Singapore Wombats
  10. Thailand Tigers
  11. Timor Leste
  12. Vietnam Swans

Each club around Asia, irrespective of whether they were able to attend the meeting on Saturday, was asked to nominate approximately five key things they would like to see in Asian footy in five years time (the figure of five was not rigidly enforced. Some clubs submitted four points while others submitted six points).

Clubs had the freedom to choose absolutely anything they liked.

When the lists were compiled, they basically fell into seven different categories (in situations where there was considerable overlap between categories, the point was put in the category that seemed most relevant/appropriate). The number in brackets refers to the number of times a point was made that fell under that particular category.

The categories and number of times issues were raised are:

  1. Coordination and structure in Asian footy (20)
  2. AFL involvement (11)
  3. Auskick (7)
  4. Local development of nationals (6)
  5. Sponsors and sponsorship (6)
  6. Asian Championships (4)
  7. Venues / grounds (1)

It would appear at this stage that the Asian clubs have similar perspectives on what is important for Asian footy.

Swannies Footnote:

The Swannies submitted six points on what we would like to se in Asian footy in six years’ time; namely,

  1. A regional Asian Football Council / League that coordinates within (including constitution, standard of conduct, rules, hosting etc) and offers a single point of contact for the external world on regional matters.
  2. Regional Kangaroo Football (Auskick) with appropriate training, resources, marketing.
  3. Regional and leagues sponsorships
  4. Regional complementary leagues that allow joint marketing (eg all clubs wearing Asian Footy badge, playing on Super Saturday – esp before Champs), resourcing (eg footballs, playing kit) and the possibility of games between leagues (eg play off between each league’s winning teams).
  5. Ensure that the Asian Champs remains the FA Cup of Asian football. Consideration to be given to its timing (ideally, after the regular season) and the logistics of hosting the event.
  6. Regional standards and support for umpires and coaching personnel to raise the overall standard.

The Vietnam Swans will be represented at the meeting by Club President, Phil Johns and Mark Stennett who will chair the meeting.