THE FIREBREATHER
Oz Day Post feature
In a major media coup for the club, the Hong Kong Dragons will be featured in an exclusive story (with photo of a mystery Dragon) about the best footy club in Asia. The Dragons will be a centrepiece of the South China Morning Post's Australia Day liftout this Saturday (Australia Day, Jan. 26).
Be sure to pick up your copy from the nearest newsagent this weekend and check it out.
AFL.com praise Dragons win
The following article appears on the AFL's official website, under the headline, Steady Asia.
Elsewhere in Asia, growth was steady in Japan (celebrating 20 years of footy), and the Samurai won the football carnival at the Arafura Games in Darwin, undefeated. In many of the Asian one club countries junior clinics were conducted and tentative signs were visible of the game putting down roots with local participation. Indonesia was particularly encouraging, with plenty of junior development there, whilst Laos started up their first senior side.
The Asian Championships continued to grow in significance, with 11 teams attending in 2007. The Hong Kong Dragons defeated the Bali Geckos in the final, and as more locals take up the game across Asia, hopefully we'll see this tournament emerge as a showcase for star Asian footballers.
To go the article, the link is:
http://www.afl.com.au/InternationalCupNews/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=54700
Oz Day Party
Dragon groupie and self-acclaimed rock god Macca will be starring at the annual V13 Australia Day bash at the Vodka Bar. From 6pm - 9pm it is happy hour on Aussie drinks. There's a sausage sizzle and tunes from some accomplished muso types. A rendition of alternative club anthem, The Stinker 18, can be expected. As classic as the FE Holden.
The year in webstats
The successful year that was 2007 was also a success for the Dragons' portal to its fans, opponents and the world. The website had a huge year, recording 18,186 visits to the site, totalling 339,000 page views and 750,000 hits.
The website was launched in May 2006 and has proven a consistent magnet for readers of the Dragons' on and off-field success. More than half a million hits were recorded in 2006.
July towered above the other months this year, as readers lapped up the Asian Champs victory stories, player profiles (all still on the site under the News menu) and photo galleries.
September (Beach Party and more Champs reports) was also solid.
December was relatively quiet for web traffic, especially from the 13th of the month as the festive season gathered steam. Notable trends this month were the return to the top of the charts of US, Britains slide and the rise of Taiwan. The top ten countries to visit the site last month (after HK and Oz) is as follows:
November Top 10.......................December Top 10
Japan..........................................United States
Denmark......................................Japan
Netherlands.................................commercial
Indonesia.....................................unknown
South Korea................................Taiwan
Switzerland.................................Netherlands
China............................................Thailand
Philippines....................................Singapore
Germany......................................Great Britain
United Kingdom.............................UAE
Honourable mention to Malta, at 14 in the hit parade (The Maltese Falcon 500's rellies maybe?).
Local media coverage
The Dragons also received some unlikely publicity this month, with a prominent snapshot of their website appearing on page 21 of CityU Today, the magazine of Hong Kong's prestigious world top 200-ranked university.
Dadda Dave
Dave Rial, the winner of the Dragons 2004 Clubman of the Year, became a father on Saturday morning (Dec 22), with the arrival of 3.7kg baby girl Phoebe. Wife B (her nickname, not ranking) is in good health after the eventful 7am delivery that saw some late changes to the original schedule. The young girl now has Mama B and Auntie A, wife of former Dragons wingman Uncle Tim Keogh. Dave is pictured on the mainpage signing autographs in Chennai to his many international followers. (see all club honours under the History section of the website. Check out Tim's profile in the Past Players section).
The annals of history
Take a look at the History section of the website to read the 2006 and 2007 annual reports, encapsulating two of the most amazing years in the club's proud history - a spoon and a cup. As well as the kitchenware, also visit the Links in the Club Info section that have been updated to include a few of the newer teams on the Asian footy circuit. Great way to kill some down time once you've read all the papers at work.
Triplets, triplets, triplets
No stranger to defying the odds, Shannon Morgan is about to become a father of triplets! Shannon and wife Liz will be one of the one in 8,100 pregancies that result in triplets. The sad news is it looks like the amazing news will see the couple returning to Oz to take on the fun-filled challenge in the company of family and friends. The head-wetting celebration will have to be scheduled as a three-day blow-out.
Get a run on
Stoochy Junior Burger and Tommy Polk took part in the weekend's (Dec 2) run around Disneyland. The pair clocked in a half marathon in the more than respectable time of 1hr 42min. Peripheral Dragon tipster Woodsy did the 10km earlier in the morning in a reputed 51min.
|
Pending nuptials
Physio Faulks and Lisa Martin have both updated their Facebook status to .... is engaged. Awwwww
Dragon in baby shock
In one of the more surprising developments of the year, newly married former Dragon Garry 'Deuce Bigalow' Frenklah has become a dad. Kyoko delived a 3.3kg (51cm) boy, Jake Kou Frenklah (Nakamura) at 7.49am, November 14 after what the Bigalow described as a "short but intense one-hour natural labour". Short but intense sessions with Bigalow have indeed been productive affairs over the years. Wife, child and father are all doing well.
For those who don't know, Deuce is a club legend of long standing, his status being particularly impressive given he played one game and is rarely seen. He managed to break his wrist in the Dragons worst ever drubbing - but played on regardless. Relive those heady days by going to June 2002 Jakarta match report under Match Results section. It's a good read. Congrats to the Frenklah family.
|
November web traffic report
Very strange happenings on the web traffic radar this month, with Hong Kong and Australia no longer the most popular sources of traffic. This month it was 'Unknown' coming in at top spot! And in second spot was the previously unseen 'Commercial'. No idea what this means. 'Network' came in fourth. Australia outstripped HK for first time ever and the US, forever the top of the list after these two, came in 19th. So for what it is worth, here's the top ten after the strange ones and and HK, Australia are discounted.
November Top 10........................October Top 10
Japan..........................................United States
Denmark......................................Japan
Netherlands.................................Great Britain
Indonesia......................................UAE
South Korea.................................Singapore
Switzerland..................................Thailand
China............................................Vietnam
Philippines....................................China
Germany......................................Canada
United Kingdom.............................Malaysia
Mixed results for Dragons hikers
Faulks and Ronnie have once again conquered the MacLehose Trailwalker, marching the requisite 100km in 23hrs 40 mins, picking uip speed over the final stages once they had offloaded some luggage. A brave effort from Dicko saw him struggle to the 70km mark before bowing out of the gruelling event. President Byrne faltered early, falling by the wayside after 25km.
"We last saw him curled up on the track in foetal position," said the unflappable Faulks.
Byrnes had boasted that he would devour the distance with a training build-up to the event that centred around drinking heavily at the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne and avoiding any hiking in order to "save myself for the big day".
The main page website photo was taken during a basic level hike of the the Dragons Back, and should have served as a prescient warning of what was to follow in the Trailwalker.
Irrespective of the result, the four lads are worthy of high praise for raising lots of money for a worthy charity.
Subscribe