Watch the AFL on your computer

Watch the AFL on your computer

Want to watch the AFL on your computer - without the “no good” connectivity issues of Bigpond?

Aussie Sport TV is now offering packages for the AFL (and NRL and V8’s) that “include extended match highlights as well as feature content on a team by team basis, round by round analysis and specific news desk programs for each sport. Fans living overseas can get a better view of the action than ever before.”

For an AFL Package, it will cost USD 1.95 per day or USD45.95 for 12 months. If you also want the NRL and V8’s, it will cost USD3.95 per month.

If you go via World Footy News and click on the Aussie Sport TV logo, WFN will get a very well deserved commission. If you can’t find the actual story, click on Aussie Sport TV direct.

The Word shows the Swans

The Word

This month, The Word (a magazine for expatriates in HCMC), published an article on “Miss Universe and the Swans”. there was a brief article and a photo of Miss Australia with us. Miss Australia, of course, finished in the Top 10 of the Miss Universe competition.

Also, on the same page, is a photo of Miss Venezuela who went on to win the competition. Talk about the Swans being famous by association!!   

To see the the article, download the pdf version of the-word-july-2008.

Swans prepare for Elephants

Footy is like a religion in Lao

Hanoi and Saigon are about to enter their final week of preparation prior to the long awaited clash between the Vietnam Swans and Lao Elephants.

Yesterday, Charlie, the coach of the north was imploring the “brave mighty Swans” to get to training. WIth only last night’s and next week’s training sessions in Hanoi, “it’s time to step up and get out and support the Club on the track”. Stirring words.

Charlie then added that for anyone who missed footy training the previous week, “Mr Tuong showed us an excellent German Bia Hoi on the lake opposite the stadium. Spot on Tuong - a footy player if ever I saw one.”

Meanwhile, in Saigon, the last training session will be held at RMIT tomorrow at 3pm.

Confirmed players from Hanoi include: Mark Willy Williams, Patty Nickol, Charlie Williams, Mick Francis and Daniel Kindness.

Joining them from HCMC are: Drew Franklin, Sam Grigg, Gus McEwin, Scott Stacey, Phil Johns, Shannon Leahy, Nick Shiels, Greg Armstrong and possibly Matt Johns.

Kutch Takes Stage 15, The Bloke Keeps Yellow Jersey

Geelong's Cameron Ling, king-hit by Dean Solomon who copped 8 weeks

It looked like an easy round of tipping - or so we thought.

Kutch was the only tipstar to grab all 8 and took this round’s tipping honors in style. Muzza snagged a lazy 7 and el presidentai, “uncle crow” got 6 and the third spot on the podium with the best margin selection of the round for those with 6.

The overall standings are still tight at the top with no change. “The Bloke” out in front, followed by Deesboy and the Troggs. “Becareful” you are only “1 Dean Soloman brain-fade” away from throwing your season, so hang in there and watch the teams before putting in those tips.

Good luck with this week’s tips. There are some shockers. City of Churches derby (who cares); Richmond V Essendon - both on the up, but never far from a down; Kangas vs Pies - only a brave man bets against the Shinboners; and the top of the table clash at Kadina Park - Cats v Doggies - will Ablett play???

Miss Venezuela kicks a universal goal

Miss Venezuela throws caution to the wind

Miss Venezuela is saying “Thank you very much, Mr Umpire!” after winnning the coveted Miss Universe  pageant in Nha Trang yesterday. And why wouldn’t you?

At Halong Bay, judges had questioned her level of professionalism when caution was thrown to the wind and Miss Venezuela said, “Land rights for gay whalers is more important than world peace!”

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry Springer was visibly stunned with the stunner’s publicity stunt. He said that it was arguably the most controversial comment he had heard since the filming of his previous show, the day before: What were you thinking when you slid between those two homosexual whales?”

Never mind. Clearly a fantastic performance by Miss Venezuela and a very worthy winner.

Meanwhile, congratulations to our mighty Miss Australia, Laura Dundovic, who finished in the Top 10. First the pool of contestants was narrowed down to 15, then to 10 and then to 5. Laura was there for the 15 and the 10 - but not the Final 5. Awesome work to the woman who generated so much publicity for the Vietnam Swans new jumper.

You can see photos of the Top 10 at missuniverse.com . Globalbeauties.com has some more detailed results. A news article appears in Thanh Nhien News.

Willy and Missy Australia

Willy after performing his own lobotomy

Willy has written to the Blog to advise that he is worried about other people being worried about his hammy and his level of preparedness for the match against the Lao Elephants next weekend.

Willy has forwarded photos to the Blog, like Miss Australia, wearing the Swans jumper - except he’s already begun strapping both his hammy and his head. That’s how serious he is.

The Swans Blog does caution all readers against practising their own lobotomy at home. Lobotomies should be left to the experts.

Miss Australia, Nha Trang, 5 July 2008

And speaking of experts, they are the ones who will decide tomorrow morning at 8am Vietnam time whether Miss Australia will be crowned Miss Universe 2008. The Blog can advise that already 3 private jets have landed in Nha Trang (Cam Ranh Bay airport) so the heavy hitters are landing and showtime is about to commence. Hopefully, the judges will be as impressed with Miss Australia as the Vietnam Swans.

Good luck to Laura Dundovic from all of the Vietnam Swans and friends.

Just imagine, this time in two weeks, Laura will be back in Australia wondering if the Vietnam Swans were good enough to knock off the Lao Elephants - and whether Willy has successfully unbandaged himself.

The Blog issues apology

The photo from the offending story

In literally unprecedented scenes for the Blog, we would like to issue our first ever apology. We owe an apology to the Saigon Saints (who host a very successful AFL Grand Final Brunch in HCMC).

You may recall that the Blog ran a story on the 6 July entitled, Jumper sales to swamp Swans with the photo to the left. The story invited people to purchase one of our new Vietnam Swans jumpers for $65.

To demonstrate the clear value of our jumpers, the story then cheekily added that, “For those living on Struggle Street, Dimmeys in Richmond is selling unofficial jumpers for just $9.99 (see un-named girl wearing unofficial jumper). Your choice.”

The Saigon Saints have advised the Blog that they took considerable offence to this story, believing it was “quite tacky and disrespectful of the (Blog) to represent a (”Saigon”) Saints jumper and (to then add) ‘for those living on Struggle Street, Dimmeys in Richmond is selling unofficial jumpers for just $9.99′ “.

The source of the misunderstanding

The Blog sincerely apologises for any offence caused as this was not the intention or purpose. The story was feeding off an article that appeared in The Age newspaper on 19 June entitled, Outraged AFL gives Dimmeys legal shirtfront.

The Age newspaper’s article explained that the AFL will sue Dimmeys (a discount retailer in Melbourne) for selling unlicensed football products.

The article carried a photograph of a young girl wearing an unlicensed jumper that resembled St Kilda’s jumper (which is also similar to the Saigon Saints jumper). Being unlicensed, it does not have St Kilda’s, the AFL’s or sponsors’ logos.

The caption beneath The Age’s photo says, “A $19.99  unofficial AFL guernsey from Dimmeys (not $9.99 as reported in the Blog)”.

Given the Blog was wanting to promote sales of our new jumper, and the girl in the unlicensed St Kilda jumper had a similar pose to Captain Gus in the Vietnam Swans jumper, we thought it would be a novel intro to a sales pitch. We thought it would be topical, light hearted and different.

It was not meant to be interpreted as a story about the Saigon Saints in any way, shape or form.

Again, the Blog apologises to any Saigon Saint who mistakenly thought the story was either directly or indirectly related to them.

Swans Blog on song!

Swans Blog Stats

In the last week of last year, the Swans Blog recorded 524 hits. In the first 2 and a half days of this week, we have already achieved 519 hits. Last week, with a little bit of help from Miss Australia, the Swans Blog achieved a record of 1,416 hits for the week which is an average of 202 hits per day. The trend line for the Swans Blog is definitely upwards.

Importantly, the About Us page (lower graph) is also in an upward trend. People are logging on to the Blog and are wanting to know more about the Vietnam Swans. This is good news for us in recruiting new players and for giving our sponsors greater exposure.

It’s all good. Bring on the Lao Elephants on 26 July! Bring on the Asian Championships on 6 September.

Vote for Miss Australia. Now!

Miss Australia and her National Costume

Things are really hotting up for the Miss Universe Pageant with the Grand Finale happening next Monday morning at 8am in Nha Trang.

Jerry Springer will be the host of the show to be screened live on NBC (you may remember Jerry from the Jerry Springer Show with such hard hitting episodes as Midget’s Big Problem, I’m Pegnant by a Transexual, I’m Marrying my Sister and A Cross Dresser wants My Gal).

Miss Australia, Laura Dundovic, has been absolutely magnificent for the Vietnam Swans (to see how much media coverage we’ve had, click on vietnam-swans-and-miss-australia-in-the-news). And now we can help her by voting online for her “national costume”. Yes, now!

Click onto the NBC website. Then click on the button that says, “Vote Now for the Best National Costume”. You will then be taken to a screen where you simply pick your 3 favourite national costumes.

The Blog understands that Miss Australia’s “National Costume” looks a lot like a costume and nothing like a national dress - but it dosn’t matter. One you’ve chosen Miss Australia and your other two favourites, close your eyes, imagine Miss Australia in the Vietnam Swans jumper - and click “Submit”.

Now, let’s return the favour to Miss Australia and go to the NBC website!

Damo on top of Round 14!

Adelaide are gone, so is Barry Hall, but Damo is on top of Round 14. Tipping 6, there was nothing but daylight separating the rest of us. It was another tough round where not doing your tips was better than doing your tips. It is pretty hard to find the positives, but I will try.

New City Committee men in Saigon, Gus and el Presidente’ Scotty Stacey came in stone motherless with a score of 2! Can you beleieve it!

“Becareful” was, you guessed it, too careful. Mr MBA, Brian O’Reilly was probably hitting the books too hard all week, and “Snaggs” probably should stick to, well, cooking. All scored a total of 3 for the round.

Overall though there was little change at the top of the leaderboard. I might be calling the winner from the clocktower at Flemington (any Spring Carnival man know this to be foolish), but only those in the top 10 can win.

“The bloke” out in front by two on 87 is flying. “Deesboy” and “Troggs” on the podium either side, are going to have to do something creative. Matty Johns and Tony Morwood are in touch, but are known for getting the yips late in the season.  A host on 81, “The Boz” just could have the luck. Micky Francis is up and down like a yo-yo. “The Stray” moving to month-on month-off out on the oil rigs off Vung Tau will run into a logistical nighmare, and Mr Armstrong might just get a call from the bank! On 80 and rounding out your Tipstar Top 10 is Chris Batchelor. Like any Collingwood supporter, Chris will get the “wobbles” the closer we get to September.

All the best for the next round - Vietnam Swans Tipstar

Jumper sales to swamp Swans!

The Mighty Vietnam Swans are pleased to announce that our magnificent jumper is about to go on sale!

The Vietnam Swans are selling the official jumper for just USD65 (see Captain Gus to the left - or Miss Australia below). Gee whiz, out they go at those prices!

For those living on Struggle Street, Dimmeys in Richmond is selling unofficial jumpers for just $9.99 (see un-named girl wearing unofficial jumper). Your choice.

If you’re after a particular number in a particular size, we are about to order another batch of 50, numbered 1 to 50. Orders close 20 July 2008 and will be taken as they are received. Delivery is expected mid August. Payment will be required prior to delivery so please advise how you will get the the money to us.

Jumper sizes are M (95cm), L (100cm), XL (105cm), XXL (110cm) and XXXL (115cm).

For enquiries and orders regarding the jumpers, please email Scott Stacey, President of the HCMC Vietnam Swans.

Miss Australia and the Vietnam Swans

Peter Pierre plays for the Phrench

Peter Pierre plays for the Phrench

Remember Peter Bossink who starred in the Asian Champs last year (see left and middle picture above)?

Like the jumping frog, he’s kicked on and landed in France.

Last weekend, Peter Pierre played in “La Coupe de France”, which is the French National AFL Championship. The match was played in Paris and as you can see in the photo above on the right side, Paris set aside one of its finest paddocks for the boys to have a kick in.

Their paddock is actually a rugby field (”read concrete covered with patches of dirt and rocks”, according to Pete) just outside of Paris. Teams came from Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Montpellier and Paris. Because of the small size of the paddock, they played with only 9 per side.

Pete says, “It was no Asian Champs but for a game only new to French soil, and the fact that from the four teams that played, there were only 7 Australians and one South Australian - the quality was very high. The Frenchmen played very hard football. The skills were not so good but the effort they put in made up for that. The ambulance was called twice - both times for players on the Paris side (a very bad ankle injury and a neck injury)”. 

Paris eventually won the competition.

There will be a game against the orange people in Amsterdam on 12 July 2008.

According to Peter Pierre, over in France, everyone says, “Eat a baguette if you love footy”.

Extraordinary.