Irish John’s Top 10 Learnings from the 2013 Asian Champs’ Weekend.
Irish John (Redmond) was part of the Swannies touring crew to the Asian Champs. Being a teacher, he was keen to find 10 things that we all learned.
See if you can recognise any on his list below.
It was a an awesome weekend with lots of footy and team bonding, so, here are 10 things we learned in Thailand:
- “You can leave the country but you can never leave the club”, as proven by four heroes this weekend: Manu, Dave O’Shea, Timmy Pickert and Dave Kainey.
- The Swannies have some of the best girlfriends in Asian footy. Aside from supporting the Club throughout the year, attending home matches, washing uniforms and basically taking care of their Swannie husband/boyfriend, standout performances came from Josh Daly’s lovely girlfriend, Mary, who came and ran water for the team and Ben Kilsby’s missus who is currently providing for Ben at the moment while he is jobless. Awesome stuff ladies.
- We have the longest kick in Asia – nice one, Ben – and a good footballer to boot!
- Without Irish Brian, no one can understand a thing that Irish John says.
- Billy lived up to his role as captain superbly. He selflessly sacrificed himself in games when he knew his opponents’ strengths would see him lose his individual battle. He gave some great speeches and led by example. And in true Dukesy style, he can’t handle his beer, as proven by his no show on Saturday night. Big thanks to Josh ‘little head’ Lee who tucked him up in bed. (Explains why no one was slapped on Saturday night also.)
- The Swannies are a kind bunch – deciding to wake Matty while he was sleeping in a tuk tuk rather than leaving him to fend for himself. One for all, and all for one!
- The Swannies are an inclusive bunch as we adopted Marty ‘Lurch’ Beercroft’s younger sister as an honoury Swannie for the night.
- Malaysia are going to be a great test for the Swannies at next year’s ANZAC Friendship Match. They look like a strong squad who truly recognize the significance and honour of playing in the Anzac Friendship Match. It looks set to be a great match and a brilliant opportunity to bounce back from this year’s narrow defeat.
- It happened to American Micheal (Dave O’Shea’s boyfriend) when he wore his bandana all day in Cambodia and now it’s happened to Matty T who had a very impressive sunburn display on his forehead. Hope you enjoyed work on Monday, mate!
- The Swannies may have lost a few great players this year but the overall squad is looking awesome at the moment. There are arguably two players vying for each position which is a great problem for coach, Andy, to have.
Go you Swannies!
2013 Asian Champs’ Tourers:
Adrian Seal, Alex Lewis, Andy Glendinning (Coach), Bill Sullivan, Billy Crang (Co Captain), Damien Judd, Dan Morrison, David O’Shea (Jakarta), David Skowronski (Co Captain), GUS McEwin, John Redmond, Josh Daly & Mary, Josh Lee, Kevin Hornblower, Kyle Hackenberg, Luke Philpott, Manu Devant (Frenchie from somewhere), Mark Stennett, Matthew Townsend, Michael Johnston, Nathan Milner, Nicholas Shiells (Saigon President), Nick Voight, Paul Koch, Phil Johns (National President), Phil Ghasseb, Rowan Luke, Sean Milner, Tim Clements & Asha, Timmy Pickert (Adelaide), Travy Fallon, Trent Davies, Adam McDonald (field umpire), Ben Kilsby (All Asian and Lonkest Kick) and Dave Kainey (Singapore).
Special mentions to five Swannies playing for other clubs: Stewart Davies (Thailand Tigers), Kris van der Meer (Jakarta Bintangs), Drew Franklin (Jakarta Bintangs), Michael Growder (China Reds) and Sam Conroy (Singapore Wombats).
