Matty Townsend, pictured at last year's ANZAC Friendship Match, encourages the Northerners to make the trip south to Vung Tau for this year's match. Photo: Courtesy, Drift Photography Tours.

Matty Townsend, pictured at last year’s ANZAC Friendship Match, encourages the Northerners to make the trip south to Vung Tau for this year’s match. Photo: Courtesy, Drift Photography Tours.

Matty Townsend is the MC of the Vietnam Swans’ ANZAC Friendship Match and McMillan Dinner. He’s based in Hanoi and has just sent out an email to his fellow Hanoians about the “highlight of the Vietnam Swans calendar”.

Northern Swans and Swan supporters,

The highlight of the Vietnam Swans calendar each year is the ANZAC Friendship Match MATCH, scheduled this year for Saturday 27 April in sunny Vung Tau, just a quick hydrofoil ride from HCMC!

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, the Vietnam Swans are privileged to host a weekend of football and festivities each year to commemorate and build on the relationship between Australia and Vietnam.  In addition to hosting an international team from around the region in a cut-throat game of footy at the Greyhound Track – this year, our friends the Jakarta Bintangs – the Swans also put on a Legends Vs All-Stars match in the lead-up and bring the weekend to a climax with an ANZAC Friendship Match Gala Dinner, the McMilland Dinner. This year’s keynote address, the Middleton Address which is held during the McMilland Dinner, will be delivered by Stan Middleton. Stan is the official historian of the Vietnam Football League which was played from 1966-71, mostly at the Dog Tack (then known as the Lord Mayor’s Oval).

Every year, more and more visitors from Australia join the weekend, including an increasing number of Australian veterans returning to Vietnam for the first time. As well as playing a great game of footy, you can also take tours of the battlefields and learn more about Australia’s history in Vietnam. For those who’d like to complete the experience, you can come down a couple of days early and attend the dawn service at Long Tan, the site of Battle of Long Tan & the Long Tan Cross.

The Vietnam Swans use the occasion to raise money for local orphanages and swimming initiatives that save young lives. In Vietnam, more children currently die from drowning than road accidents, and by contributing our efforts each year, we can all help to build the friendship between Australia and Vietnam in a collective and meaningful way.

We warmly invite people to attend the ANZAC Friendship Match in the spirit of friendship and respect – and to have an amazing day at the footy.

For further information about playing in one of the matches on the day, accommodation, tours etc:

  • Contact Alex Leonard, Club Secretary, of the Vietnam Swans’ Hanoi Committee
  • Contact National President, Phil Johns
  • Visit the dedicated ANZAC page on this website by clicking here.