59 Facts About Sydney Swans

Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales.

On grand final eve, 1935, as the Sydney Swans prepared to take on Collingwood, star full-forward Bob Pratt was clipped by a truck moments after stepping off a tram and subsequently missed the match for South.

Under significant pressure from a rugby league junior development push and fearing the impact on its strong local competition of entry of a Sydney Swans team made a formal bid for license to enter a Canberra team into the VFL.

Aylett however, determined to pursue the entry of a Sydney Swans team, dismissed the Canberra bid publishing a scathing report on the development of football in the ACT, stating that the VFL might consider Canberra for a license in another 10 years.

Aylett's view was that Sydney Swans offered a much bigger television audience and the most potential to add to the league's lucrative television rights.

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The Swans experienced success in the 1982 Escort Championships with 1,000 supporters packing out the Chevron Hotel ballroom in King Cross in response to the win, however Channel Seven did not broadcast the match in Sydney.

In 1983 average crowds in Sydney continued to plummet to 12,000 and Swans supporter packages dropped to as low as 100 members.

The Sydney Swans were the league's most reliant on sponsorship and subsidies from the VFL to stay solvent and meet player payments due to its continued poor crowds, public apathy and poor TV ratings.

Public support for the Swans in Sydney was so bad that by the start of the 1985 season, the VFL began to backflip and the league's administrators, having sunk large amounts of money into the club began looking to offload it.

In 1987, the Sydney Swans scored 201 points against the West Coast Eagles and the following week scored 236 points against the Essendon Football Club.

The Sydney Swans remain one of only two clubs to have scored consecutive team tallies above 200 points, the only other being Geelong in 1992.

The Sydney Swans won eight games – as many as they did in the previous three seasons combined – and finished with a percentage of over 100.

The Sydney Swans ended the minor round on top of the premiership table with 16 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw.

The Sydney Swans lost the grand final to North Melbourne, which had been their first appearance in a grand final since 1945.

Sydney Swans then made the finals for four of the next five full years that Rodney Eade was in charge.

In 1998 they finished 3rd on the AFL ladder; despite beating St Kilda in their first final the Sydney Swans were then beaten by eventual premiers Adelaide in the semi-final at the SCG.

Sydney Swans was able to recruit another St Kilda export in the Lockett mould, Barry Hall.

Sydney Swans flourished in his new surroundings and eventually became a cult figure and club leader in his own right.

In 2005, the Sydney Swans came under enormous public scrutiny, even from AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, for their unorthodox, "boring" defense-oriented tactics that included tightly controlling the tempo of the game and starving the opposition of possession.

Sydney Swans faced the Eagles in a rematch in the AFL Grand Final on 24 September 2005, and this time, they prevailed by four points, final score 8.

The Greater Sydney Australian Football Foundation Limited was formed, which would later become the Sydney Swans Foundation aimed initially at raising $5 million in funds to develop the Swans and the code in New South Wales.

Sydney Swans finished the 2007 home and away season in 7th place, and advanced to the finals, where they faced and were defeated by Collingwood by 38 points in the elimination final.

Sydney Swans spent the middle part of the 2008 season inside the top four, however a late form slump which yielded only three wins in the last nine rounds saw the Sydney Swans drop to sixth at the conclusion of the 2008 regular season.

The loss signalled the end of the Sydney Swans coaching career of Paul Roos as well as that of the playing career of Brett Kirk.

Sydney Swans led the club to a seventh-place finish at the end of the regular season, therefore qualifying for the finals for the 13th time in the past 16 seasons.

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The Sydney Swans defeated St Kilda in an elimination final at Docklands Stadium before losing to Hawthorn in the semi-finals the following week.

The Sydney Swans were the only team to defeat the West Coast Eagles at Patersons Stadium during the regular season.

Subsequent wins over Fremantle, Port Adelaide, North Melbourne and Hawthorn saw the Sydney Swans sit second behind West Coast on percentage after Round 5, but the Sydney Swans would proceed to lose three of their next four matches before embarking on a nine-match winning streak between Rounds 10 and 19 inclusive.

The Sydney Swans eventually finished the regular season in third place after losing three of their final four matches, all against their fellow top-four rivals.

Sydney Swans defeated Adelaide by 29 points in their qualifying final at AAMI Stadium, thus earning a week off and a home preliminary final, where they then defeated Collingwood by 26 points to qualify for their first grand final since 2006, ending an eleven-match losing streak against the Magpies in the process.

Sydney Swans lost their first game against Greater Western Sydney Swans and then to Collingwood before becoming the first non-South Australian team to win at Adelaide Oval defeating Adelaide by 63 points with Lance Franklin and Luke Parker kicking 4 goals each.

In Round 17, the Sydney Swans defeated Carlton to match a winning streak set three times in club history, the last of which came way back in 1935, and eventually closed out the season with their first minor premiership in 18 years and a club record 17 wins for the season, eclipsing the previous highest of 16, which was achieved on six past occasions in 2012,1996,1986,1945,1936 and 1935.

In 2014 the Sydney Swans were minor premiers, and qualified for the 2014 AFL Grand Final.

Sydney Swans started the 2015 AFL season well, winning their first three, before losing their next two games against Fremantle, where they trailed by as many as 8 goals before half-time, and the Western Bulldogs.

The Sydney Swans lost their first game after the bye, their 3rd of the season to Richmond at the SCG, 11.

The Sydney Swans rebounded with unconvincing wins against Port Adelaide and Brisbane Lions, before suffering their heaviest defeat for 17 seasons against the Hawks by 89 points.

The Sydney Swans bounced back against Adelaide with a convincing win 52-point win, but lost their next game to Geelong at Simmonds stadium; a close affair that Geelong blew apart in the 3rd quarter.

The Swans won their final 4 games to secure a top 4 finish, against Collingwood, Greater Western Sydney, St Kilda and Gold Coast.

Sydney Swans faced minor premiers Fremantle in the first qualifying final, their first finals match without Franklin, who had withdrawn from the finals due to illness.

Ultimately the Sydney Swans would go down in a low-scoring affair, effectively kicking themselves out of the game after losing Sam Reid to a hamstring injury midway through the 2nd quarter.

The following week the Sydney Swans were knocked out of the finals in a one-sided contest against North Melbourne, struggling to score throughout the first half with the game effectively over by half-time.

The AFL changed the sanctions so that the Sydney Swans could replace a player that leaves the club as either a free agent, or through trade, with another player on a contract up to $450,000 per year.

Sydney Swans started off the 2016 season with a convincing 80-point round 1 win against Collingwood, with new Sydney Swans recruit Michael Talia suffering a long-term foot injury.

The Sydney Swans only kicked 2 goals after half-time with Giant Jeremy Cameron outscoring them in the third quarter alone with 3 goals.

The Sydney Swans kept the Cats goalless for the first quarter, and were never really challenged in their 37-point triumph.

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Sydney Swans had an indifferent 2018, compounded by their struggles at home, losing 5 out of 11 games at the SCG.

In 2022, the Sydney Swans backed up their meteoric rise up the ladder with another promising start, winning five of their first six matches.

The Sydney Swans played Collingwood in the preliminary final and won by a single point, qualifying to play in their fourth grand final in 12 years under Longmire.

On 24 September, the Sydney Swans were defeated by Geelong by 133 points to 52 in the 2022 AFL Grand Final.

Club's on-field nickname, the Sydney Swans, was suggested by a Herald and Weekly Times artist in 1933, was inspired by the number of Western Australians in the team, and was formally adopted by the club before the following season 1934.

The Chicago Sydney Swans are affiliated with the club and share a similar logo.

The Sydney Swans compete against their cross-city rivals twice every season.

The Sydney Swans have played the Giants in three finals matches, losing each time.

Sydney Swans developed a famous modern rivalry against the Perth-based West Coast Eagles between 2005 and 2007, when six consecutive games between the two teams, including two qualifying finals and two grand finals, were decided by less than a goal.

The Sydney Swans beat Hawthorn in 2012 by 10 points to claim their fifth premiership.

Sydney Swans has fielded its reserves team in the Victorian Football League from 2021.

Attendances and memberships in Sydney Swans grew dramatically during the Lockett era, helped out by the Super League War plaguing Rugby League.

Nevertheless, the Sydney Swans continue to have a substantial supporter base in Victoria, with attendances for Sydney Swans games in Melbourne being much higher than other non-Victorian teams.

Sydney Swans announced its team of the century on 8 August 2003:.