Yesterday, Kevan Dacey who had been the Acting Austrade Commissioner (Saigon) for the previous 6 months, departed Vietnam for Australia for the last time in that position.

Kev first met the Swans when we participated in Austrade’s Australian Schools Open Day back in May. Since then, Kev has become a keen and loyal participant.

When we were raffling mega bottles of Jim Beam to raise money for our Asian Championships campaign, he was there buying tickets for himself and selling tickets to everyone else. When we asked him to draw one of the raffles, he drew his friend Kerrie. Kerrie had won the previous week and kindly donated the bottle back to the Club. Kev drew again and this time drew his own name – and ‘kindly donated the bottle back to the Club’! We didn’t ask Kev to draw any more competitions after that…

Kev spoke with his contacts at M-Gard mouthguards who agreed to sponsor a mouthguard for every Swans player at the Champs. The mouthguards are the best fitting and most comfortable you will ever find.

At the Champs, Kev was everything. Wearing a Brisbane Lions shirt, he ran the water for the Swans. When he tired of that, he pulled on a jumper and played for us against the Thailand Tigers. The following day, wearing a China Reds shirt at the Fines’ Session, he was unexpectedly fined for continually wearing shirts not approved by the Swans hierarchy.

When the Hong Kong Dragons toured to Saigon on 1 September 2007, Kev was there again; this time as goal umpire. In the last quarter, he decided he could offer the Swans more help at full forward rather than as goal umpire. Accordingly, he told the Swans full forward to swap jobs! (See Kev Dacey’s match report.)

Kevan Dacey, you have been a super star. Good luck for your return to Australia. The Vietnam Swans hope to see you again back in Vietnam some time soon – or at the next Asian Champs.