Rob Dickson at Dead Cat Stadium, Hanoi

The Age newspaper has reported the tragic news that Rob Dickson’s eldest son dies after South Africa car crash.

“Gabriel Dickson, 8, died in the Unitas Hospital yesterday from injuries sustained in the smash that also claimed the lives of former Hawthorn player Dickson and his younger son Byron, 5.

“Dickson’s wife Dusty was also injured in the crash, which occurred on a road between Sun City and Pretoria.”

In a statement released by the AFL, “The families of Robert and Dusty Dickson regretfully and with great sadness wish to inform relatives and friends that their beautiful boy Gabriel passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Tuesday April 14.

“A memorial service for Rob, Gabriel and Byron will be held at a future time back in Melbourne. Dusty and her family are thankful for your support, thoughts, prayers and love through this horrific time.”

Earlier in the week, World Footy News published a story titled, Vale Rob Dickson. In the story, it refers to another post on their website about Rob Dickson and the tour to Vietnam by several AFL players in 2006, CARE AFL All Stars meet Hanoi Swans for HIV/AIDS awareness.

The Vietnam Swans Blog wasn’t alive in 2006. However, we have found the original email that was sent out the day after our match at Dead Cat Stadium, Hanoi on 26 October 2006. In the tragedy of the South African car crash, we reproduce the email below, which bubbles with enthusiasm, to remember and celebrate the time that Rob and his friends dropped into Hanoi. They gave us a Thursday night we will never forget.

Guys, what an absolutely sensational evening last night was.

For those who couldn’t make it to Dead Cat, we did a couple of training drills led by DT and MJ. Then the AFL Giants took a training run.

Game on.

This was followed by “Game On” which consisted of two 10 minute halves. Everyone played wherever they wanted and there was no such thing as “Pagan’s Paddock” as we had opted for the flooding technique. Someone said the Swans had 28 players (which included a number of rugby players which was great) on the ground at one stage. But that’s fair.

That may have helped with the score line which was very respectable. The visitors kicked 4.2.26 to our 2.6.18. For our team, it was APEC Growds who kicked AGOAL followed by another. Tragedy occurred after the second goal when the footy cleared the fence and ended up in the lap of a passing motorcyclist.

Then it was off to the Embassy for a couple of refreshers where we were met by the netballers who had just finished a match.

At the Australian Embassy, triple AFL Premiership player, Clark Keating, describes the lead up to the 2007 AFL Grand Final in which the Hanoi Swans will play

The Director of CARE gave a short speech about the role that the AFL players had played in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness which was backed up by a couple of the players. Then triple premiership player Clark Keating got up and spoke about the 2007 Grand Final in which the Hanoi Swans would play. He described the week and the feelings and the emotions that we would face – right through to the final siren (see It’s Today. It’s now.).

Then it was off to the Dragon Fly and the New Century nightclubs. If we weren’t in the land of the midgets, you might not have noticed the 190cm (average height) of the AFLers on the dance floor.

This morning, Chan the Fruiterer received a visit from Clark Keating and Dylan McLaren, CARE, MJ and Phil Johns  to buy some bananas and cabbage – and to have their photo taken (see picture in the Herald Sun – “Chan was thrilled until the boys picked up one of her lettuces and started kicking it around like a footy”).

It was an absolutely cracking night.

Thanks Rob.