HMAS Huon (pictured) and HMAS Yarra will play the Swannies for the Phoenix Cup Perpetual Trophy next Tuesday, 11 October, 2011.

Next Tuesday, 11 October, 2011, the Vietnam Swans will play a combined team from the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) HMAS Huon and HMAS Yarra.

The twilight match will be played at RMIT University, D7, Saigon between 5pm and 6pm. The Swannies and Yarra/Huon will play for the Phoenix Cup Perpetual Trophy. The Trophy is a spent shell donated by HMAS Darwin when we hosted a match against her on 29 September 2009. The Vietnam Swans are the custodians of the Trophy which is played for whenever an Australian warship visits Vietnam.

So far, the Swannies have played the RAN Fleet Units twice (HMAS ANZAC (Aug, 2008) and HMAS Darwin (Sept 2009)) and have been lucky enough to win on both occasions.

Huon and Yarra are both Huon class minehunters built in Newcastle.

Coincidentally, in January 2011, Huon was one of three RAN vessels deployed to survey Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River for submerged debris as part of Operation Queensland Flood Assist, the Australian Defence Force’s response to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods. The Vietnam Swans were proactively involved in Hanoi’s and Saigon’s efforts to raise $45,000 for Queensland’s flood victims earlier in the year.

Bring on next week’s match against the Royal Australian Navy!