Nat Payne takes a screamer in Saturday's clash between Gaels and Swannies on St Patrick's Day in Saigon. Photo, Asha Phillips.

The New Willy, Dave “Wotcha” O’Shea, from Binh Duong, reports on the latest Swannies’ function: the Inaugural Combined Aussie Rules and Geaelic Football Match that was held on Saturday – St Patrick’s Day – in Saigon.

Is it just me or do the Swannies functions seem to get bigger and better each week?

To celebrate St Patrick’s day, the Vietnam Swans combined forces with the Irish Gaels to take part in a football match. This was no ordinary Swannies’ Football Match. Well, half of it was; the other half was some strange game played in Ireland called “Gaelic Football”. What a way to celebrate St Patty’s Day.

With a large number of Swannies and Gaels turning up to RMIT in Saigon, the teams were split up evenly before the match.  We had the Australian-Irish Swans against the Irish-Australian Gaels. With a huge crowd of about 200 at RMIT, we were set for a blockbuster.

Before the Bounce

The warm up consisted of a quick stretch with a debrief from one of the Irish boys about the rules of Gaelic (no tackling and you must solo or bounce the ball every four steps); and then a debrief on the rules of Aussie Rules from one of the Swannies and we were ready for the first bounce.

First Quarter – Gaelic

Some of the action! Photo, Asha Phillips.

The first quarter was with the round ball and the standard was quite good considering it was a new game to the usual brand of Aussie Rules that the Swannies are used to. From the Aus-Irish Swans team, Damo Judd and Phil Jordan were getting a lot of the pill and were using it effectively. From the Irish-Aus Gaels team, Nick Moger was controlling the goal square and not letting anything through. He has obviously been a “goaly” before in a previous life before the Swans. By the end of the quarter, the teams had worked out the rules and strategy of the game known as Gaelic Football.

Second Quarter – Aussie Rules 

The second quarter was played with the egg shaped ball. The Swans’ team was getting a lot of the pill early but not making the most of their opportunities. The Gaels’ team finished off the quarter a bit stronger with the likes of Dukesy and Nick Shiells finding targets up forward. By the end of the quarter and the first half, the scores were locked at 15-15. The crowd was certainly getting their money’s worth, with an exciting evenly matched contest.

Third quarter – Gaelic

The third quarter was played with a lot less confusion than the first quarter as we all had a better understanding of Gaelic Football. The game was free flowing from one end to the other and the score continued to be close. Again The Gaels finished the quarter a little stronger and nosed ahead by kicking a “super goal” late in the quarter. Nick “Goaly” Moger continued to dominate in the goal square not allowing one goal through all match.

Fourth Quarter – Aussie Rules

The Gaels went into the final quarter with a 1 goal lead. The Swans’ team was getting a lot of possession at the start of the quarter and clawed their way back into the lead with a few behinds and a great goal from “New” Josh, who came to Vietnam to study University, however, has since found the Swans and has been on a constant high from Swannies’ Functions ever since stepping foot in this country.  He has learnt nothing at university but has learnt a lot about the Vietnam Swans. Again, it was the back end of the quarter that saw the Gaels finish better, with late goals from Timmay and Nick (I can do it at both ends) Moger. The gaels edged in front and never looked back.

Well done to the Irish-Australian Gaels who ended up winning the match by a couple of goals.

Post Match

Perhaps due to the hot weather, all the water ran out by half time and therefore we had no water to drink after the match. But that doesn’t matter on St Paddy’s day, because Murph, the president of the Irish Gaels brought an esky full of Guinness. So we drank that instead.

At the presentations, Billy Cranger cleaned up winning two prizes in the raffle. Phil Jordan was awarded Best on Ground for the Swannies. If Phil continues to win BOGs he will need to work on his skulling. He needs to realize that the beer needs to go into your mouth and not all over your face.

Bring on the next Swannies’ Function…