Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

[The Undertaker]

Originally posted by Diego
You don't get the point he is making, thats the problem with the majority of you on RWO. You think anything negative about the swans is an instant attack on the club.

Let me ask you, when you done the red and the white, do you feel proud that our last flag was 1933?

Or does this not matter?

Well said mate!

I am getting sick and tired of the underachievement of this club.Having not won a flag since 1933 is truly pathetic.We are the North Sydney Bears of the AFL.

I appauld Diego,Beaussie and others for speaking their minds.

They are entitled to their opinions.

I am still looking forward to this season.

[footyhead]

Originally posted by Beaussie
Who the **** do some of you Swans fans think you are? My opinion is my opinion. If you don't like it fine, but don't sit there all high and mighty and go on about how I should have to go and support another team just because I'm critical of our history. I want my team to be successful and unlike some of you here, that does not mean just making the 8 and then bombing out with the "oh well next year attitude".

I wont give up on my team, however that doesn't mean that our last flag in 1933 doesn't embarrass me.

I agree here beaussie, the number of times I have had arrogant Swans fans tell me to "piss off and join another club", has really disturbed me... and all because I offerd an opinion slightly different to their trite and tired conservative one that went something along the lines of " I will always love this club, what right do you have to...."
You get my drift.
Keep agitating son.

[Nico]

Originally posted by ugg
I've always wondered whether there was an ulterior motive to Roos playing the kids in the likelihood we would not go far in the Wizard Cup. Not having to play on TV would make it harder for opponents is the first few rounds to scout our team and style of play. Having said that, we've bombed out in the last 2 years in the Wizard but done well in the regular season. I'd rather have that happened than the reverse.

I have to tell you Ugg, not being on TV makes not an iota of difference to the other clubs watching another clubs tactics. You can bet your life that Roos sat and watched the Hawks last night after our game or at least his deputies did, and you can be sure that the Hawks did the same. Next week one of the coaching staff from Hawthorn will be watching us play and vice versa.

There is no where to hide these days. Clubs are so geared up for spying these days, and you would be surprised how many volunteers from clubs spy on other clubs. I bet we have spies in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne watching games every week.

[swansrule100]

Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by Beaussie
You seriously think we'll win come September? FFS just look at our history. I'm certainly not confident going into this season. How about you?

I'll take anything at this stage and if that means a pre-seaon flag, so be it. As I said, our fans have already died waiting for a premiership in September.

Back to the pre-season, we don't deserve to have any supporters at the ground or watching on TV as our coach/team clearly doesn't give a ****. Why then should we as fans give a ****. Supporting this club ****ing drives me crazy.

go for another club then if its so terrible!

[footyhead]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by swansrule100
go for another club then if its so terrible!

We've already addressed this kind of response to other concernd posters opinions, if you had paid attention then you would have noticed that the concensus was it is rather a bore.

[swansrule100]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by footyhead
We've already addressed this kind of response to other concernd posters opinions, if you had paid attention then you would have noticed that the concensus was it is rather a bore.

yeh i read it all......and im giving my 2 cents .... what the point in worrying about the past, the past doesnt win flags.

i think we should forget about the past...

it counts for bugger all come round 1 2005.....
YEs it stinks the swans havent won more flags but even if we had of, its not as important as the future.

[footyhead]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by swansrule100
yeh i read it all......and im giving my 2 cents .... what the point in worrying about the past, the past doesnt win flags.

i think we should forget about the past...

it counts for bugger all come round 1 2005.....
YEs it stinks the swans havent won more flags but even if we had of, its not as important as the future.

Very happy were on the same page.
Signed ; just another Swans fans current paradigm enforcer.

[mocaholic]

Hang on FH, for a bloke who supports St. Kilda some of your comments are rich.

But:
I AM embarrassed by not winning a flag since 1933. The joke has worn exceedingly thin. I hate it. Whilst my greatest desire would be for a flag, I have almost got to the stage where I can't ever see it happening. The week of the PF in 2003 I was walking to work and started to vague off in thinking of what it would be like to be premier....I actually walked past my work before I woke up. (That awakening was not as bad as the last quarter of the PF, mind, which was worse as I thought at 3/4 time that .... well, I'd better stop torturing myself.)
When I grew up I just expected another team to win a flag. Early on it was Carlton and Richmond - and with the rest of the family Richmond that was hard to take. Christ we only made the finals in 1977 (snuck in by beating the two GF-ist in the last two weeks of the season) to be knocked out in the EF.
I also have good Hawk mates and it just seemed that every Sept in the 80's they'd win another premiership....which is why I HATE Hawthorn so much...the fact that they are crap now cannot detract from the fact that they have won 8 flags in my lifetime.

Do I believe that Sydney are in a 'near enough is good enough' mentality? No. Cautiously, no. Certainly their market is an interesting one, however they would be the first to agree that a flag would be the best thing rather than to be just thereabouts.
Do I want a pre-season cup adorning the halls? Yes, but not at the expense of long-term well-being of our keys. I remember the Escort Cup victory at Waverley (had to coerce my Rich bro to drive me there), and the lightheadedness the next day at school (This was pre-alcohol days).
Was I unhappy at Saturday's game? I would have loved us to win, especially against a full-strength opposition. At the end the margin flattered us to some extent as I thought the Dogs should have been miles in front at qr time. But overall, I thought the positives far outweighed the negs.
Can we win a flag in the short - med term (within 5 yrs)? Yes. But it's not easy. You can have the best team and not win, and it's very hard to win without the best team. And we haven't got the best team or are in the top 4 imo. Critical is the next two years, before BBBBHall well passes his prime.

[Sanecow]

I want to see the Swans win a Premiership, but I'm not going to cry and threaten to follow another team every time we lose a game or miss out. I missed the first 40 years since the last GF win so it's a bit easier on me than on the older supporters but if I go another 40 I'll be happy if the team is still alive and kicking.

I will not be changing teams. Ever.

If we don't win one until 2033 or later, big deal. It's sport. You can follow a team that doesn't win for 70 years and it's frustrating and disappointing but ultimately it doesn't affect your life. At the game or in front of the tv you have a yell, get your blood pressure up and it's fun.

I saw thirteen live losses on the trot over a few years (and I'm sure there are other who have suffered worse) and yeah, it gets boring, but as my old man said yesterday after the game: if you watch every game this year, you'll see some wins. I'll take that.

[cressakel]

Originally posted by footyhead
Exactly why the AFL would be stupid not to instal a second team :
The Swans have proved themselves to be quite good at drawing up a buisness plan and exsisting within the harbour city but not exceling.
They they have shown little stomach for the required faith in genius that wins AFL premiership flags.
It will help the Swans not hinder them.
Cross town rivalry always builds passion.
Left to their own devises, the Swans will probably always exist up here, but they are looking more and more like they could go a long long time to being close but having no cigar.
What actually has to happen in the Sydney culture needs to be able to enter into and alter the Victorian culture so that football can truely become national.

A second team in Sydney would destroy both the incumbent and new side to Sydney, due to the fact that Sydneysiders are not sports loving like there counterparts down in Melbourne and consequently both clubs would suffer due to some current unpassionate Swans fans jumping ship and supporting the other Sydney team.

IMO, the reason the Swans have been pitiful forever and a day is because of one of the three basics that make a football club successful. The three basics are players, coach and administration. If one of these basics fails, then the other two become irrelevant.

How many clubs have won premierships when the administration was below par and there was infighting involved behind the scenes ? Answer - ZIPPO......

Now that the Swans have strong and reliable administration led by Myles Baron-Hayes, Richard Colless, Andrew Ireland, Stephen Brassell and Ricky Braham, the Sydney Swans Football can finally aim for flag honours and not merely survive and/or hope to make the eight.

Added to the fantastic work of the administration is a great coach in Paul Roos - and believe me I have been very critical of our coaches, apart from T.Hafey who ended up getting the boot from an incompetent administration who listened to the players - and a solid group of players that are either still building up to the peak of there ability or have reached the peak of the ability due to Roosy and the coaching staff's influence, with not many players (if any, maybe Fosd***head....) on a downward spiral of there ability.

In the past and up to when Kelvin Templeton was recruited to the Swans to lead the administration, the administration of the South Melbourne/Sydney Swans Football Club was downright criminal and in turn led to the club being shunted to Sydney because of poor management (read. no money and infighting) and even worse on-field performances due to the basic three principles that make a football club successful being pitiful.

With the legacy of Templeton continued by Colless, Baron-Hayes, Barham, Ireland and Brassell on the admin side of the club and with Paul Roos being an outstanding tactical coach who gets the utmost out of the playing group, I can see Roosy leading the club to the promised land of a premiership or two in the next 2-3 years.

The Wizard Cup flag is not what I want this year, as unlike in 1982 when the Swans won the night flag and cared whereas the other teams didn't and knew they had no hope of winning the main premiership in 1982 due to poor administration, an ordinary coach and even more ordinary semi-professional footballers, the Sydney Swans Football Club have a red hot chance of taking home the big one this season and in the following two seasons.

Roosy will take the Swans to the promised land, whereas in the past I have NEVER been confident of a flag - although in 1998 I was hopefull before Kelly did his knee....

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Nico
I have to tell you Ugg, not being on TV makes not an iota of difference to the other clubs watching another clubs tactics. You can bet your life that Roos sat and watched the Hawks last night after our game or at least his deputies did, and you can be sure that the Hawks did the same. Next week one of the coaching staff from Hawthorn will be watching us play and vice versa.

They definitely watched the first half, because they (all of them) were sitting two rows in front of Robbie and I. They left at half-time though, unless they just went and sat somewhere else.

Roos, Lyon, Longmire, Jonas, Allison, Stone and some other guy were in the group.

[ugg]

There would be a difference having the ability to go through a tape of the game, and highlighting specific parts of play, compared to watching the game and scribbling notes. Don't pay too much attention to my theory though, its just one out of left field. Liz is probably closer to the truth with the fact that practice matches revert back to the regular rules.

[NMWBloods]

Rather than the TV aspect, I was thinking more along the lines of scouts not seeing our full team in action.

[Tooth Fairy]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by footyhead
We've already addressed this kind of response to other concernd posters opinions, if you had paid attention then you would have noticed that the concensus was it is rather a bore.

Go to another forum then if you don't like his post

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Our Clubs History Is Embarrassing

Originally posted by swansrule100
go for another club then if its so terrible!

For God's sake, this is the sort of attitude the great Beaussie is trying to fight against.

I think it was Mark Roberts who said it was a huge huge eye-opener to have gone from the Swans to North Melbourne. Up here after losses you'd get old ladies going "We'll be there for you boys. Don't worry." In Melbourne you'll be getting supporters giving it to the players if they felt the team let them down. It is their right to comment just as it is Brucey's right to comment if he feels let down.

Meanwhile I get letters of complaint to the club because I had the temerity to give Jason Ball a right razz because he refused to chase the footy near the boundary in Canberra a couple of years ago.

There is loving your club. And there is want to agitate to change a losing culture. Brycey IS definite passionate. He has been a Swans supporter for longer than probably 90% of the people of RWO. And has travelled upteem times interstate despite limited finances to support not only the club but the game.

He was frustrated at the general apathy towards the Wizard Cup, which he feels hurts the club and the game from a publicity and AFL visibility aspect. And I not only understand where he is coming from, but to a point I agree with it.

He wants us to win. Because in Sydney where so much else is going on winning is the only thing that brings you attention. AFL will no go underground AGAIN for nearly a month in NSW. As somebody passionate to the point of obsessiveness about the expansion of AFL in its growth states, I completely understand where he is coming from.

As Footyhead said, keep agitating. Keep challenging, keep questioning, keep discussing, keep the passion up. And keeping ignoring people who say "If you don't like losing, go and find another team."

If you feel strongly about this issue Brycey, why not send an email to the club indicating your thoughts? If enough members say "Hey, how about stopping being half-arsed in the Wizard Cup", maybe the club may look at amending its attitude towards it.

It is great that there are people like Bryce who do give a damn these days. As I said, I don't necessarily agree 100% with what Brycey has to say. But I feel pleased that he is at least wanting to agitate for change in this club, and indeed in the Australian sporting landscape.

Like it or lump it, the history of this club isn't one that fills many people with joy. Brycey has rights to be frustrated, unfortunately. And he aint swapping clubs. Not even to the Western Sydney Bulldogs!

JF