Bossink goes for a mark at the Asian Champs in Bangkok, 2007

Pieter Bossink was there in 2007 when the Swannies made our first appearance at the Asian Champs in Bangkok. He’s now in Bangladesh and is playing a leading role in establishing a presence for footy in that country. The article below is from the Bangladesh newspaper.

Aussie Rules Football comes to Bangladesh.

The big men flew in Bangladesh on Friday 21 January (2011) as Australia’s national game, Australian Rules Football was played at the International School Dhaka (ISD) in Bashundhara. “Aussie Rules”, a fast, physical and exciting game is like nothing else, but has some similarities with Gaelic football, rugby and caveman fighting.

Students from ISD and members of the Australian expatriate communities took part in the match, divided into two teams representing the Australian State of Victoria and the Rest of the World. The match coincided with the Australian community’s celebration of Australia Day this week.

The footy article in Bangladeh's newspaper

Victoria started the match strongly with the bald behemoth Pieter Bossink kicking goals from all over the park, only to be well held by ROW Captain Mark Favre in the second half as the World slowly exerted its authority…

Talented Bangladeshi students including Tawsif “the bulldozer” Wahid and Parimal Aryal were among best afield. Jaideep Salil, two goals and Ahmad Ferdous, one goal also starred showing Aussie Rules might have a bright future in Bangladesh…

To read the original article, click onto Aussie Rules in Dhaka.

Back on 5 July 2008, when Pete was playing footy in France, he said, Eat a baguette if you love footy. You can’t help but get the feeling that if you were in Bangladesh and you loved the footy, you’d probably eat a curry.