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Thread: New Swans book: Days by the Lake

  1. #1

    New Swans book: Days by the Lake

    Not sure if anyone else has come across this book. I just found & bought it to add to my fairly voluminous Swans related catalogue. There are 2 more copies on eBay (apparently below cost & free postage. Just in case anyone collects Swans books.

    DAYS BY THE LAKE: A HISTORY OF THE SOUTH MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB BY MARC FIDDIAN

    http://bit.ly/1j1NQR5

    PS I'm not the seller

  2. #2
    It's Goodes to cheer!! ScottH's Avatar
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    It's available at other locations for $24.95 as well.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by ScottH View Post
    It's available at other locations for $24.95 as well.
    Yup I've seen that. On that eBay link, I paid $19.95 with free postage

  4. #4
    On the Rookie List tasmania60's Avatar
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    Any good ?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by tasmania60 View Post
    Any good ?
    I just finished reading Marc Fiddian's book "Days by the Lake". It's written in a similar style to his other Swans related book "The Swan Lake Spectacular" - a relatively dry recounting of facts, dates, statistics & events. It glosses over a lot of things (which I guess is expected when you're covering a 100+ year history in just 130+ A5 sized pages) and much of the information has previously been published (eg in any number of Jim Main's plethora of Swans' books).
    But the disappointing thing for me was the flat feeling I got as I read the last couple of pages. The impression I was left with was the South Melbourne footy Club died in 1981 and that there is somewhat of a distinction between South Melbourne and Sydney.
    I guess to many, there is. But to me, personally, there isn't. Clubs have relocated their bases in the past ... Collingwood from Victoria Park to The MCG. Essendon from Windy Hill to Etihad Stadium ... the Swans just moved considerably further. Sure some players didn't want to move, but players leave clubs all the time, sometimes of their own volition, sometimes at the behest of the club. I don't think there was a excessively massive exodus of South players when they initially moved, but what's the difference between a larger number of players leaving a club and a large number joining (eg the massive influx of players during the recruiting splurges by South in the 1930s and North of the 1970s)? Big changes of playing personnel, same clubs once the dust settled.
    Now, to be fair, Marc Fiddian doesn't specifically state it's not the same club, it was just a sentiment I personally felt as I concluded the book ... and my immediate reaction was that it did a bit of a disservice to the South players who committed to the cause of relocating north to save the Swans.
    But that's simply my impression.
    In all, it was a fair refresher of the Club's history that I was pretty familiar with from many of the other Swans related books in my collection. A sprinkling of new insight, I guess. I'm glad I bought & read it. But Jim Main's "In the Blood" is an easier read with better eye candy pictures. "Days by the Lake" does sit well in my extensive Swans book collection on my bookshelf though.
    Last edited by goswannies; 4th May 2014 at 10:36 PM.

  6. #6
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    We were at The Riser on Saturday night. Someone should reassure Marc Fiddian that the Swans heart still beats powerfully in South Melbourne!
    He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by dimelb View Post
    We were at The Riser on Saturday night. Someone should reassure Marc Fiddian that the Swans heart still beats powerfully in South Melbourne!
    My sentiments exactly ... but as I said, it was just the impression I got reading the book, he didn't specifically &/or completely dissociate South from Sydney.

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