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.

The after match event is equally important and just like the bygone era there will be a gentlemen players curry and tiffin dinner at the former Shanghai Club (Waldorf) which will be attended not only by the players but also a couple past Presidents of Hong Kong Rugby and Cricket, some of the protagonists involved in the first proper competitive cricket fixture of the modern era in Shanghai back in 1994, a couple of relatives of former players and few key figures in Shanghai Rugby and Cricket’s modern era. The Bashers Club Captain, who has graciously agreed to officiate at the cricket match, will of course be reprsentating Shanghai’s finest cricketing institution at the dinner in all his Bashers pomp and finery.

Although I have hung up my cricket boots this year I have noticed a couple of the Bashers teams have got off to a winning start so all things considered it looks like a decent year to be a sponsor. Good luck everyone for the rest of the season… particularly the gentlemen of the Leisure.