The day was Saturday, 14th July, 2007. The event was the 8th Annual Asian Championships in Bangkok. The significance was that Vietnam, with its first National AFL Team, was making its first appearance at an Asian Championships.

The touring party came from far and wide – Hanoi, Saigon, Quang Ngai (yes, Sam, because you played so well, your city now gets mentioned), Laos, Cambodia, Tianjin (China), Singapore, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne

Best wishes for the team were being received from triple Brownlow medalist, Bobby Skilton, triple premiership player, Clark “Crackers” Keating and Swans Team of the Century player, Tony Morwood.

Even though we were still introducing ourselves to each other on the morning of the game, expectations were high. The feeling was huge.

Alas, despite leading in three of our 4 games at half time, we just weren’t able to cross the line in any of our matches which was incredibly frustrating. But, an amazing foundation has been laid. Vietnam is well and truly on the footy map.

Detailed match reports from the coaching panel will follow.

Congratulations to Drew Franklin (Saigon) for picking up the Best Player trophy as judged by our co Captains.

Congratulations to Kris Vandermeer (Saigon) for picking up the Best Player trophy as judged by our Coach.

Congratulations to everyone else on this tour for making it such an outstanding success. We have made a piece of history.

So how does it feel?

“Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome!”

Congratulations to the Hong Kong Dragons on their well deserved victory.

A massive thank you to Rhino and everyone else at the Thailand Tigers for organising and hosting such a hugely successful tournament. It was really outstanding and we very much look forward to returning the favour when they tour to Vietnam in November. 

A selection of photos will be posted soon and then a heap will be put on our “flick-r” account later.