Swire and a bit of history FYI
In a moment of madness my company Swire Group agreed to be a Bashers sponsor this year. Having said that there is method behind the madness. Swire has a history in Shanghai going back 147 years during which it has provided a number of former Past Presidents of the Shanghai Cricket Club and Shanghai Rugby Club as well as a few Interport team captains. Up and until 1948 we played cricket, football and rugby matches on a regular basis. Our greatest sporting rivals at the time were HSBC, Jardines and British American Tobacco. This year Swire ("Taikoo") and HSBC ("Wayfoong") celebrate a Centenary of sporting rivalry on the rugby field (the cricket goes back to 1899) and to mark the event we are rekindling the old Taipans Trophy with a cricket game and rugby game against each other later this month at the SRFC. The significance of the event has not been lost on the Shanghai Govt as it looks like the Mayor will pop out for a while.
