Swannie, Dave Hadley bumps into Vietnam Veterans in country Victoria who had played in the Vietnam Football League during the War.

With just over a month to go before the 4th Annual ANZAC Friendship Match, Swannie Dave “Angry” Hadley, who now lives back in Australia, bumped into some Veterans who actually played footy over here!

Dave explains below.

I was in Bright (country Victoria) for the recent long weekend (11 March) and saw some Vietnam Vets riding around.  It was their second year of doing VetRide which is organised by the Vietnam Veterans’ Association of Australia. There were about 50 in the group.

I chatted to a few of the Veterans as they had played footy at the same oval (the Dog Track which was formerly known as the Lord Mayor’s Oval) in Vung Tau as the Vietnam Swans for our ANZAC Friendship Match.

They also reminisced about the dog racing in Saigon when the track was covered in bomb holes.

I brought a bit of Swannie’s stuff in but the Veterans I talked to had been back to Vietnam in August last year for Vietnam Veterans Day.