south melbourne?

[tombomb83]

I am the son of a south melbourne supporter. MY father was a member of what was known as the "southerners" basically it was the South Melbourne Social Club. He has no interest in football anymore.


I don't know the pain of losing a football club....only south melbourne, and fitzroy fans could know that.


But.....


Do we have a chance to mend some wounds


For years, we have heard of the pain felt by old South Melbourne fans and Fitzroy fans.


At the moment Sydney reserves are an embarrassment, playing in a substandard league.


Bring back South Melbourne to the VFL. The support is there. Sydney could play there reserves in melbourne as South Melbourne.


Am I crazy?

[Glenn]

Definitly not crazy and prehaps a solution to the reserves problem.

Sydney are trying to retain the links to the South Melbourne history and to a certain extent it is working.
If you get a chance to read the book "Plugger and the Mighty Swans", it gives a bit of a insight into how some South Melbourne supporters are slowing coming around to the Sydney Swans.
Have to remember at the time of the move from Melb, there was alot of division between supporters (even getting to the stage of having a Sydney and South Melbourne coach for a while)

[robbieando]

Re: south melbourne?

Originally posted by tombomb83
At the moment Sydney reserves are an embarrassment, playing in a substandard league.

Bring back South Melbourne to the VFL. The support is there. Sydney could play there reserves in melbourne as South Melbourne.

That is the best suggestion so far of improving the quality of the competition for the Swans reserves and could very well be an idea that could be looked into. However there are two key reasons why such a move would be unlikely to happen

a) the amount of money it would cost the Swans (the biggest issue why we left the Port "merger" in the first place)
b) and lack of a suitable ground (its not something we couldn't overcome, but we should all but rule out using TEAC Oval, we aren't popular there)

A great idea, but the cost of flying a team down each week, plus the wages of the top up players we would need to employ and the VFL's licence fee system that made us leave in the first place at the end of the 2002 season are issues that would make this idea a long shot to happen. But if we could figure ways to get around all those matter, the idea would be a good one.

The support in the area and around Melbourne would be there and it would improve greatly the quality of the opposition the reserves are up against each week, while still staying together under a system that is approved by the Swans coaching staff.

So no your not crazy at all.

[liz]

Just over a year ago the Swans warned that they might be technically insolvent by the end of the year.

The idea has romantic appeal but financially it wouldn't get off the ground.

If the amount of money required is available, I'd have thought it better spent on local facilities, like a pre-season training venue that doesn't double as a public park.

[ScottH]

Yep, great idea, but as said above, $$$$$$$ is a big problem. flying 22 players, + coaching and support staff, to Melbourne every week, (accomodation sometimes), would be expensive.

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by ScottH
Yep, great idea, but as said above, $$$$$$$ is a big problem. flying 22 players, + coaching and support staff, to Melbourne every week, (accomodation sometimes), would be expensive.

They all have cars.

With regard to the Swans reserves situation, people have very short memories. In the few years the Swans have been playing in the ACTFL they have not played in a grand final. I have seen them get spanked on occassion. Belconnen have lost some very senior players this season, both to retirement and bigger leagues. I am no sure what is going on at Ainslie. In the match I saw over at Queanbeyan, the local were right in it to well into the 3rd qtr. The Swans have been very ucky with injuries this year, and as has been mentioned plenty of times elsewhere, recruited blokes with plenty of senior footbll experience, most from stronger leagues than the ACTFL. If the Swans want a more competitive local league then perhaps they could inject some cash into the ACTFL.

[stellation]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
If the Swans want a more competitive local league then perhaps they could inject some cash into the ACTFL.

I think that is a good point. The Swans, the NSW/ACT AFL and the AFL should (and hopefully are) be looking at the costs of fostering a stronger local competition, not just for the Swans but for the growth of the sport; whether that is a competition based in the ACT or NSW/ACT wide, perhaps with weighted conferences to save on travel costs, I don't particuarly mind. Hopefully this is being looked at, but there seems to always be a big focus on junior football (rightly so) development in NSW but not much effort put into senior competitions. The NSW/ACT AFL keeps suggesting they are going to fix senior footy but every change is a quick win* instead of a long term solution.

That said though, I would not mind seeing them in the VFL! I am still sold on splitting a team with the Brions.



*quick win: buzzword bingo value doubled today only

[barry]

The combination of the rerserves recruiting really well in the off season (Spriggs, re drafting James) and the very low injury count we have, have made them a very strong unit.

Hopefully clearing out some dead wood at seasons end, and a normal injury count will see them back in the mix at ACT level. I'm not concerned about it.

Lets remember the swans have been in Sydney a quarter of a century now. It disturbs me that we are focussing on Melbourne again, when our efforts are far better focussed on Sydney/NSW.
Over focussing on Melbourne will hurt our reputation here.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Glenn
Definitly not crazy and prehaps a solution to the reserves problem.

Sydney are trying to retain the links to the South Melbourne history and to a certain extent it is working.
If you get a chance to read the book "Plugger and the Mighty Swans", it gives a bit of a insight into how some South Melbourne supporters are slowing coming around to the Sydney Swans.
Have to remember at the time of the move from Melb, there was alot of division between supporters (even getting to the stage of having a Sydney and South Melbourne coach for a while)

There was very little division between South supporters in Melbourne. The majority by a long way were against the move. It was the illegal votes cast by the last minute Sydney signed members of the likes of Ita Buttrose and her dogs, cats and budgies that made the vote close, and then the vote was to stay in Melbourne.

The Southerners you mention were those hard working older brigade of volunteers who did a heck of a lot of fundraising and work around the club who were let down by an appalling wasteful administration that included a current AFL Commissioner. They got no thanks and were devastated by the way they were treated after the decision to pack them off to Sydney.

On keeping the links to South Melbourne, it is a pity "those" at the club who kept up the lip service to the "link" didn't do something about the derelict stand ages ago. Why, because they couldn't give a stuff.

It was only when they realised that they needed to pull back some of the Melbourne membership funds during the woeful early 90's, that they started to grovel to the Melbourne supporters.

[adnar]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
They all have cars.
. If the Swans want a more competitive local league then perhaps they could inject some cash into the ACTFL.

Or more sanely, the SydneyAFL.

[undy]

I saw the Footy Show last night, being temporarily in Melbourne. One of the guys being bought back into another team had picked up 47 disposals last week in the VFL....

If we are going to go down this route, why not go for the SANFL instead...

[Foreign Legion]

Where is the Melbourne Storm feeder club? Not in Melbourne, in Brisbane because the local comp is crap!

The ACTAFL or Sydney league will NEVER be at the same standard of the VFL....possibly the Sydney league COULD be in about 20-30 years - long time to wait.

Gee the big cost of flying players around - what is it about $10000 a week? Peanuts for an organisation turning over $20M.

How do the players get to Wagga or Canberra when they play there - please don't tell me by bus or car!!!??

[stellation]

Originally posted by adnar
Or more sanely, the SydneyAFL.

That would take a lot more money!

[liz]

Originally posted by Foreign Legion


How do the players get to Wagga or Canberra when they play there - please don't tell me by bus or car!!!??

I seem to recall being told a couple of years ago - on a weekend when the senior and reserve teams were both down in Canberra - that the senior team had flown and the reserves travelled by bus.

[robbieando]

Originally posted by Foreign Legion
Where is the Melbourne Storm feeder club? Not in Melbourne, in Brisbane because the local comp is crap!

The ACTAFL or Sydney league will NEVER be at the same standard of the VFL....possibly the Sydney league COULD be in about 20-30 years - long time to wait.

Gee the big cost of flying players around - what is it about $10000 a week? Peanuts for an organisation turning over $20M.

How do the players get to Wagga or Canberra when they play there - please don't tell me by bus or car!!!??

The big difference between the VFL and the ACTAFL is the licence fee. The VFL's licence fee was ten times the amount we are paying the ACTAFL now. Plus also we travel for only half the season in the ACTAFL compared to every week in the VFL.

The ACTAFL move was done to cut costs and until this season the competition was so good, we failed to make two GF's in a row. Nothing is going to be done at the end of this season, but we'll see the Swans look into things if this form continues next year.