Swans' National President, Phil Johns, accepts a framed jumper from the Guangzhou Scorpions' President, Jon Hopper, last Saturday night.
In November 2003, the then Hanoi Swans hosted a tri nations tournament between Hanoi, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Last month, the then Hanoi President, Mick Francis, explained on this website the philosophy behind hosting the tour:
“We wanted the visiting teams to love us and to love coming to Hanoi” (click here for full story).
Fast forward eight years and not much has changed in terms of the culture that underpins the Swannies who believe that the off field is every bit as important as the on field.
That’s one of the reasons why we make up new match day banners. Last Saturday, we gave the match day banner to the Guangzhou Scorpions to take home with them. The Swannies were thrilled to have the Scorpions tour and we wanted to do what we could to support them in their endeavours to become a well established club in Asia.
The Scorpions’ President, Jon Hopper, presented the Swannies with a framed jumper at the after match function which was greatly appreciated. It will be hung at the Boomarang Bistro.
Nathan Lieschke, coach of the Guangzhou Scorpions, wrote to the Swannies during the week:
On behalf of the Scorpions, we’d like to once again thank the Swans for such a great weekend and for helping get the game up and running. We were blown away with the Club’s professionalism and hospitality. It’s great to have a game of football when living away from home. We are all looking forward to repaying you guys when you come up to Guangzhou next year.
The Swannies are also very much looking forward to touring to Guangzhou in May of next year.
