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Breaking news
The Super Tuesday committee meeting to decide a new president and any other contested committee posts has been again been moved, and will now take place on Tuesday night, Feb 12. The venue, LKF Bulldogs at 7.30pm, remains unchanged.
The late change was made in the hope more new members will be able to get along, unhindered by Chinese New Year holidays or Valentines Day (VD). The meeting had been put back to Feb 14. In a positive development, the Dragons email list of 200+ failed to pick up on the fact it was VD. It had been thought VD would be a great way of putting potential committee members under the microscope by seeing who would attend the meeting rather than some over-priced dodgy curry house with candles and their Mrs.
President steps down
After a rollercoaster two years in charge of the Hong Kong Dragons, President Nathan Byrne has announced he will be resigning from the highest office in HK sport.
Byrnes-eye has been instrumental in resurrecting the on and off-field fortunes of the Dragons, overseeing an increase in membership, access to grounds when needed and our ascent to our rightful place as Asian Champs. He has also usurped the role of tour manager, a time-consuming and sometimes thankless task yet arguably the most important in the club.
Treasurer Chris Nicolay, a tireless back-room servant of the club since taking over the bankbooks from Corky last year, had announced his retirement but on Friday told the media the resignation was the result of a misworded press release. He has also been a key figure in the membership drive, as he faced the most onerous task confronting any sporting club - coaxing money from players.
Regardless of incumbents own intentions, all positions will be open to nomination from all Dragons. All positions, including the presidency and the media, treasury, social and tour manager positions are open to application and contest at the Feb 14 committee meeting. It will be held at Lan Kwai Fong Bulldogs at 8pm. Support your club.
THE FIREBREATHER
Oz Day Post feature
In a major media coup for the club, the Hong Kong Dragons featured in an exclusive story (with photo) about the best footy club in Asia. The Dragons were the centrepiece of the South China Morning Post's Australia Day liftout on Jan. 26.
Full story as it appeared in the paper in news section of this website.
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 a December 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.
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Firebreather archive
All Firebreather columns are now archived every now and then. See News menu for all previous stories and columns.
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