swans home games in melb

[Bear]

Is this thread still going??

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Bear
Is this thread still going??

Should there be an expiry date?

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by cruiser
That's not a good reason to take Swans home games away from Sydney. Instead, why not negotiate to play less games at Telstra Dome and more at the MCG?

That would be nice, but the teams (like StKilda) who like to play at TD are unlikely to do so.

The rd 16 game against Melbourne should really be at the MCG though.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by cruiser
I disagree with you Wil about SMFC. It is a very important part of the Sydney Swans' history and is rightfully acknowleged on the players' guernseys. Its also great for the Swans to still have so many Melbourne based supporters and great for us Sydney based supporters when we go down to Melbourne to watch a Swans game surrounded by so much red and white. I'm looking forward to that.

So am I. About a third of the crowd in the ground will be Swans supporters. And we will be up there 50-50 in terms of atmosphere and chanting. If I had 10000 Melbourne-based Swans barrackers or 10000 Sydney-based barrackers beside me, I know which ones would give better support. And which ones would not leave early when the game is boring/if it is raining etc etc

It seems that the only people who constantly slag off our club's Melbourne connection are people who don't go down there to see games down there with them. In my opinion the dual cultures of the club are its best asset. Not only does our Melbourne supporter base give great support at matches, but having them a part of the club has not only opened many of us sydneysiders to traditional Victorian footy culture.

Wil, we ARE a Sydney club. we are the SYDNEY Swans. we have NSW-based players playing for us. And all our players live here. Had we been a start up club, we'd have been as gimmicky and crass as the Brisbane Bears were or even the Camry Crows are still now. We'd probably still have cheer girls and music after goals. Because that is a Sydney thing to do, right?

In short, when you move from one city to another for work, you don't change the person you are. You just evolve. The Swans are no different.

I think ALL Sydney-based Swans supporters should learn about our South Melbourne heritage & history. It enriches the club immensely. Get to a game down there and hear the stories of watching matches at night at the Lake in the 1950s etc etc. Cazaly Clegg and Skilton all played for one club, mine! It certainly gives you some perspective about your footy.

I thought we had gotten over this sort of crap.

JF

[Matt79]

Having the support of Melbourne based members is one of the club's strongest assests.

It makes me more proud as a Sydney Swans supporter when I fly down south of the border and attend a Swannies game in Melbourne with 1000s of other Swans fan cheering the team on with the same purpose...to win the game, to ultimately win the premiership!

Having 6000 odd members in Melbourne is an assest that I would suggest not any other interstate side (perhaps for Bris.) enjoys when they play there. Watching any Fremantle games in Melbourne is quite funny as you could count their supporters in the stands...no wonder they seem flat more often then not when they play there!

Looking forward to seeing all the Melbourne based Swans fans on Saturday night and hearing them cheer their lungs out!!

[robbieando]

Right, I'll begin by saying that while I would love as many games in Melbourne as possible, I don't want them at the expense of the 11 home matches we get in Sydney. Second of all if we did do it, the only way we would make money on the game is if we played a Melbourne based club and therefore gave away any home ground advantage we get from a home game, thus not worth while doing regardless of "any" benefits we would get from it financially.

Play it against Freo, Port, West Coast or Adelaide and the club would LOSE money on the deal because we would stuggle to get the 17000 to brake even at the MCG and certainly wouldn't get the 25,000 to brake even at the Dome. Sure we have a large group of fans in Melbourne, but not enough to make a "home" game in Melbourne against another non Victorian side brake even.

The idea is well-meaning (considering it comes from a Sydney based fan) but one that would hurt the club more than it would benefit it. So rule out moving our home games South, that would just be a huge backwards step regardless of the amount of Swans fans living in Melbourne. Plus as pointed out the Bulldogs are moving to play their home games against us in Melbourne once again. I'm happy with 6 matches and so are most Swans fans. Any less and we get pissed off.

Right, now second of all. Wil or anyone who agrees with him if you don't like the Swans link to South Melbourne, its tradition, its history and the fact we wear SMFC on the back of the jumper and want us to cut ties with Melbourne, well your welcome to kindly piss off and find a club in Sydney that suits your needs. Who are you to say that 107 years of history, 3 premierships, 8 Brownlow Medals, 3 AFL Half of Fame Legends (more than any other club) is worth giving up to make "a new start" because you feel uncomfitable. Be like most Swans fans and live with it and move on with your life. I can handle the Swans are now a Sydney based team, but I still want some respect shown to where we have come from and thats how things should be.

The club decided that the history is worth embracing and a SMFC on the back of the jumper is a just sybolic gesture to show the clubs fans where we came from and to follow simular moves by the Lions (BBFFC) and the Western Bulldogs (FFC) to show where we came from. Its just four little letters.

Sure - no Sydney Swans but probably a Sydney -insert name here- instead. Which, thanks to priority picks and without the hopeless *cough* tradition *cough* we inherited, would of won the premiership by now!

If it wasn't the Sydney Swans, it would of been the Sydney Lions or the Sydney Saints. The only way the VFL at the time would of entered the Sydney market is via a club relocating. They tried to get Fiztroy to move to Sydney in 1978 and no doubt if we didn't move they would of decided to chase St Kilda next. So regardless of who went in you would of got a club that had a "hopeless tradition" and most likely still would be without premiership.

If Sydney got a brand new team from the get go and not one with links to its history in Melbourne, you just have to look at the Brisbane Bears to see how that would of turned out.

But this is a very old topic... though I believe the SMFC links does not help the growth of the Swans in Sydney.

But the SMFC links don't harm the growth of the club in Sydney either. To say otherwise is the biggest load of bull**** I have heard.

[mocaholic]

Let me declare:
- Melbourne based Swan supporter;
- Followed Sth Melbourne since early years (8yrs before the move);
- MCC Member.

Right.

I WANT more games in Melb. FFS this year is the best for the last three as there are 6 games down here - as opposed to one in Geelong. I WANT more games at the MCG. I'd love to see a Pies / Swans game at the G (Freakin' Bris PF 2003!!!!! Bastards!!)

But it ain't gonna happen. I've come to the realisation long ago that I follow an 'interstate club' (Melb xenophobic-speak, that's what all my mates tell me, anyway, despite my argument of an Australian league). I believe most current Sydney fans in Melb are the same. I've gotta say too that the red membership cap is a fantastic initiative, and going to games it's terrific to see, particularly when my history growing up is of fans very few & far between (I could tell you the names of the three Sth Melb fans in my year at secondary school - and two across ALL years in primary) and that warm 'fellow feeling' I get looking at the red caps.

We MUST retain the Melbourne history (as disappointing as it may be) but we must marry this with growth in the NSW/Sydney market. "SMFC" on the back of the jumpers is nothing more than a fashion statement to my mind (see Bulldogs, Lions). I'd be more impressed with dispensing with these letters but playing in the Red V (or, god help us, the red sash) in Melb. I love the fact that Sydney-based supporters fly down to see games in Melbourne. I love going to see games in Sydney. I've influenced my ex-neighbours to follow the Swans.

I had a thought that an additional game in Melbourne could be a Heritage week where we play Brisbane down here - we alternate our home games on a yearly basis - wearing the old FFC & SMFC guernseys. It's wishful thinking though.

And given that our first game in Melb for the year is this Sat night, against the team my best mate follows, I just can't wait.

Except I'll be laid up in hospital. Bugger. I'll have to take my cap to Knox.

[Wil]

Originally posted by JF_Bay22_SCG
I thought we had gotten over this sort of crap.

Originally posted by bloodboy
Oh, yeah, and until you get your team Wil, don't forget to keep your memberships up to date with the mighty Bloodstainers! Cheers mate.

Yeah I am over it. Just putting my views on record. It was great to hear everyones side of this. I am a member and I own a guernsey with SMFC and I tried very hard to find Lake Oval when I was last in Melbourne but I do not have any idea where a "South Melbourne" could possibly fit if not in the middle of the bay.

I still think there is a LONG way to go until there is a true AFL. The evolution of the game has been too slow since the VFL-AFL change-over. With the much better television coverage and internet coverage the league should catch up. But, hey, I also think it is an abomination that there only two home grounds in Melbourne for, what, six teams so what do I know?

I still think it is emasculating to not have a "true" Sydney team. I can see the advantages of it to be sure, but don't think they make up for it. Though its pretty cool the nickname we got is The Bloods!!

[monopoly19]

Originally posted by JF_Bay22_SCG

I think ALL Sydney-based Swans supporters should learn about our South Melbourne heritage & history. It enriches the club immensely.

That is such BS. Most people go to the footy to watch the footy. I understand that the Swans as we know them wouldn't exist without SMFC, but it certainly shouldn't be a requirement that I go and learn everything about the club as it was back then. You may love knowing about the history of the club, and for you, that's fantastic, but your involvement with the Swans runs much deeper than most fans. Most Sydney fans, I suspect, just want to watch a good game of footy.