Sheedy's Open Letter to Swans Fans

[Jewels]

I reckon most of the Giants fans are new fans to the game or those who enjoyed the game without having any previous strong allegiance until a team turned up in their backyard.

At our home game against them at ANZ last year, I got to chatting with two GWS members sitting behind me and this was exactly how they became members.
They always enjoyed the game of AFL and enjoyed watching the Swans but never felt any great affinity to them, so when GWS came on the scene they thought why not? They loved the game and being from Blacktown felt more akin to GWS than the Swans. They also said that many of the co-members they had spoken to had expressed similar feelings.

I actually hope they do well enough for me to hate them one day but, at the moment, I find myself wishing them well whenever they are not playing the Swans. As an ex-pat Sydney-sider living in Melbourne, I'd go so far as to say that they are my second team.

That said, I'd love to see us pump them by 70-80 points on Saturday.

Yep, agree completely.

[Primmy]

The full moon has been playing havoc with my emotions. I just want to thump Sheedy. Quite happy to play the Giants, nice boys, but .....

[Wardy]

I'd rather listen to Sheeds have a rant and have a joke anyday - he has the runs on the board - he truly loves the sport and he has the kids at GWS's best interests at heart. He truly wants it to work. No one can question
his dedication to the cause- and besides if I was stuck on a long haul flight I'd rather it be Sheeds than Malthouse or McGuire,
He has a job to do and he's doing it well - he's getting AFL press coverage in NSW - it doesn't matter if it's the Swans if GWS -at least the word is getting out there.

[Triple B]

Sheedy's OK by me. He has the runs on the board as a player, a coach and now a publicity agent for a pioneering franchise. He's "done good, played strong". I like his "open letters". They always seem to create a news story and that has to be good for the game in Sydney and Greater NSW.

As far as the Swans fans being restricted to the eastern suburbs, well, that is just ridiculous. When I come to Sydney for games I stay at my parents' place in Chatswood. If catching the train to the SCG, there is always fans in red and white coming from the North Shore, North West, Northern Beaches, Central Coast and even Newcastle.

How do I know this? Because I chat to them when I see that they share my passion for the Swans.

In addition, when I catch the special events buses to Homebush, they are packed with fans that have been picked up from the Northern Beaches and Northern Suburbs along the Forest corridor. Just try to get onto a route 1A bus after a big game and there is a huge queue waiting to distribute fans back home in that direction.

I don't think too many AFL fans who were Swans supporters will be (or have) switching their allegiance to GWS, irrespective of where they live and that is the beauty of the new franchise. I reckon most of the Giants fans are new fans to the game or those who enjoyed the game without having any previous strong allegiance until a team turned up in their backyard.

I actually hope they do well enough for me to hate them one day but, at the moment, I find myself wishing them well whenever they are not playing the Swans. As an ex-pat Sydney-sider living in Melbourne, I'd go so far as to say that they are my second team.

That said, I'd love to see us pump them by 70-80 points on Saturday.

Good balanced post.

I find the demographic survey given by the public transport to and from ANZ a similar story. I live in the south west and for ANZ games drive down the M5, park at Roselands and get the bus which picks us up a footpaths width away from where we park. Two different routes go via Roselands, both originating from the Shire, one from Cronulla and the other from Miranda. Both are packed to the rafters going home, although the bus frequently half empties at Roselands where a whole heap of peeps get off and I presume head back down the M5 like us...

[Bloody Hell]

He is just doing his job, which is to raise awareness of the Giants and AFL in NSW and the Sydney market in particular. Make no mistake, the Swans also benefit from his rantings.

The real @@@@wits are the people who are continually affronted by his mostly tongue in cheek comments and rantings...

So the only way to raise awareness is to be a confrontational nob declaring war on everything and everyone.

Sheedy is using what he has - being a tool. It works, doesn't mean he's not a tool.

I ordinarily don't have a issue with what he says, but the bridge thing is just ridiculous.

[Triple B]

So the only way to raise awareness is to be a confrontational nob declaring war on everything and everyone.

Not the only way, but at the moment it's his chosen way of getting AFL in the news and it's working.

Of course the only people who think he is being a 'confrontational nob' are those who want to think he is being a 'confrontational nob'. The rest of us just laugh, at both Sheedy's stirring and the outraged minority's indignation...

[GongSwan]

horse.jpg
I think Horse can take him, somehow

[bodgie]

Well that half-arsed skirmish didn't live up to the overblown confection that is the Anzac Bridge. Perhaps something more appropriate might be the battle of the bridge at Powells Creek at Homebush or maybe pedestrian bridge over the drain that is Hawthorne Canal.Powells Creek.jpg

[Primmy]

LIKE your work bodgie. We need a stickie on this. I go for the Canal.

[CureTheSane]

I saw the link and read the first few comments expecting some kind of attack on the Swans.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that letter.
Most of it was tongue in cheek, the rest was just rivalry building.
Would be great to have a big rival.
Currently West Coast.
Teams outside of Melbourne get something which Melbourne based teams do not - derbys. Why not.
Like it or not, Kevin Sheedy has done more than most for the whole interstate game, and has always been a fair supporter of Sydney.

[DLBIA14]

I saw the link and read the first few comments expecting some kind of attack on the Swans.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that letter.
Most of it was tongue in cheek, the rest was just rivalry building.
Would be great to have a big rival.
Currently West Coast.
Teams outside of Melbourne get something which Melbourne based teams do not - derbys. Why not.
Like it or not, Kevin Sheedy has done more than most for the whole interstate game, and has always been a fair supporter of Sydney.

I'm a great believer in building a rivalry between the two teams; nothing like mutual hate to field passion for the game.

Nevertheless the best rivalries and the most successful have been organic and taken years to heat up. A succession of little things that suddenly manifests into a disdainful loathing of the other. It's hard to take a lot of what the Giants say seriously when they attention-seek so often - most Swans supporters, and I'm sure players, let it roll off.

2 things though that I think may have sparked perhaps the first kindle of a real rivalry: The Swans appear pissed off about GWS encroaching on their Western suburbs fans and trying to marginalize them to just the east of Sydney, and clearly we've taken exception to the off-hand accusation by Adam Treloar of being a 'bully'. KJ revealed a lot of true irritation by noting that the Swans were trying to 'teach respect'.

Sheedy's letter is pure @@@@-stirring. However clearly the little dig last night was taken to heart.

[AnnieH]

Ugg. I'm buying you a stamp so you can send that letter.
Loved it.

[AnnieH]

If they want a bridge, they can have the Duck River bridge on Parramatta Road at Auburn.
Sorry, I don't have a photo of it. Can't go near it, the water is radioactive.

[DamY]

Sheedy is having the biggest whinge on twitter, going off at Roos and Longmire. @@@@ is getting real now, and an article by Caro in the age and smh about how privately the club is seething about some GWS statements (it took Swans 16 years to get to 10,000 members, and us 2 years etc) when it is really comparing apples and oranges.

[Meg]

We seem to have two threads going with a similar theme (see also "Battle of the Bridge"). As I have said there in a longer comment it seems as if Sheedy and his ilk will only be satisfied when/if a brawl breaks out on the field or in the stands at a Swans/GWS match - or perhaps he would like to see shop windows smashed by rampaging supporters ? l? soccer hooligans. This attempt to manufacture a rivalry through childish insults is stupid and unnecessary in my opinion.