Andrew Ireland, Sydney Swans

In the lead up to the Vietnam Swans 2008 AFL Grand Final Parties in both Hanoi and Saigon / HCMC, the Sydney Swans have very kindly donated two autographed Sydney jumpers for auction.

One of the jumpers will go to Hanoi and the other jumper to Saigon. 

In other news, Andrew Ireland, the General Manager of Football for the Sydney Swans has written to the Blog expresing his wish that Vietnam “can post a good win against the HMAS ANZAC side” on 27 August. Andrew goes on to say that the Sydney Swans “have a bit of work to do starting this Saturday night (16 August) against the Cats. Let’s hope those Grand Final functions (of yours) can see the Sydney Swans running around on the big day.” 

For the record, Andrew Ireland played 110 senior games for Collingwood in the late 1970’s which included playing in 3 Grand Finals (1977, 1979 and 1980).  From 1999 – 2001, he was the CEO of Brisbane before he moved to Sydney.

Michael Voss in Spetember of last year, wrote an article “Unsung, often unknown, coach’s right hand man is a key player”. He describes the general managers of football operations in the AFL as the men who stand beside the men in the coaching hot seat. He says that Andrew – who, technically speaking, Paul Roos reports to – is “perfect for this all encompassing football administration role”.

But before we pump up Andrew’s tyres too much, you can place a bid on ebay for a 1978 VFL Scanlens footy card of him (see above). Bids start at $2. Postage is $1.50.

Thank you again to the Sydney Swans for your continued support of the Vietnam Swans.