Welcome to the Saigon Australian Football League

With travel still a pipe dream the Swans are looking to grow internal opportunities to play competitive football. 2020 saw the launch of the Hanoi Australian Football League (HAFL) and now 2021 sees the birth of the Saigon Australian Football League (SAFL). Saigon has seen several leagues over the year with the infamous Reds vs Whites series of the mid 20-teens seeing some spiteful Thu Duc grudge matches much to the dismay of then Club Treasurer and Moral Compass Rowan Luke! Then came the end of year mixed leagues with up to 70 players from the Swans and Saigon Gaels taking to the field over several weeks at RMIT to close out a few seasons. In recent years the Saigon Cup has been played twice and the franchises from that tournament will form the new league with the addition of the Vung Tau Vipers.

The Concept

The Saigon AFL (SAFL) competition is aimed at inclusion and fun. It is an opportunity to play AFL and enjoy being part of the Vietnam Swans families, no matter your age, skill level, gender or nationality.

The SAFL will comprise:

Australian Rules Football
Mixed League – Men’s and Women’s players
4 teams, Ben Than Bears, Crocs, Thu Thiem Tigers and Vung Tau Vipers
The competition will play for the Saigon Cup which has been contested twice before in a single day tournament format

Match Rules & Important Information

Games will be 9 aside. Each team will have a min of 2 girls for the game. An equal number of girls and boys on the field at any one time. Any team breaching this during the game will have their score wiped for that quarter.
All interchanges must occur through the “interchange gate”.
25-meter penalties will apply
Maximum of three players per team in the center square for a bounce.
Last touch out of bounds – opposite team kicks in like out on the full.
Sendoff rule: A 10-minute sin bin will apply for what would be a reportable offence including abusive language and time wasting. The player cannot be replaced during the 10 minutes. In the case of a particularly serious offence, the officials will have the right to ban a player for the remainder of the game.
Games will consist of 4 x 10-minute quarters.
1st and 3rd quarter time breaks will be 3 minutes in length.
Half time break will be 5 minutes in length.
Games will start on time – teams must be ready and in their starting positions for the start of the game. Any team that is not ready will be penalized 1 goal per minute.
Goals by female players will be worth double.
A non-playing team will be allocated to officiate. The officiating team need to be ready 10 minutes prior to the commencement of the game. They will be required to provide the following:
- 2 Central Umpires
- 2 Boundary Umpires
- 2 Goal Umpires
- 1 Scorer/Timekeeper
- 2 Water Runners

Tentative 2021 Season Schedule

Please join SportEasy Saigon Swans to keep up to date on time and field info. As we know in these times everything is subject to change!

The Teams

The Bến Thành Bears

Strong on leadership but do they have the legs? If the Walsh girls are on the park the Bears look to have a huge advantage on the female side of the ledger!

The Chợ Lớn Crocs

Plenty of key position strength anchored by Swans stalwarts and club captains Sean Milner and Naomi Ni Riada. The wild cards could be the rarely sighted in day light duo of Chris Niccoletti and Jimmy Teague.