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Thread: Why do YOU support the Swans?

  1. #73
    Travelling Swannie!! mcs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jono2707 View Post
    I came on board in the early 90s just after I moved to Sydney - about 93 I reckon. I've followed AFL since growing up as a kid in the Riverina in the 70s, where league and Aussie rules were on a pretty equal footing. I played both as a youngster.

    My beloved scarf also originates from about 93. It's been with me ever since, and has steadily accumulated pie stains, beer stains and a general air and odour of something you might find on the footpath outside a Salvos store. But I love it, and it tells the story of my journey with this team.

    I got a 2012 Premiers scarf, but its only had a few outings. I want to get a Pride scarf too, but my beloved stained stinky pilled ratty Swans scarf will always be what comes with me to the footy.
    I'm glad its not only me that has an obsession with a beloved scarf!

    Mine hasn't been on such a journey yet as yours Jono - only purchased in 2005 at my first live game. But its been to every game I've seen live, had plenty of beer stains, pie stains, tea stains (from tamer matches at home!), and various other things along the way. Some tears of joy in 2012 at my first taste of a Grand Final victory live as well!

    When my better half (as she sometimes does!) suggests I should get a new scarf, my response is you don't throw out a dual premiership scarf until it is no longer fit for purpose! It is a bit tatty, has several unremovable stains (even though she has managed to convince me to wash it a couple of times in recent years) but it is an unremovable part of my Swannies story - if it doesn't disintegrate before said time, it'll go with me to my grave
    "You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."

  2. #74
    Travelling Swannie!! mcs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hotpotato View Post
    I grew up in the Northern Territory, in Darwin and we played tennis, rode our bikes, played golf, the three Musketeers and Aussie Rules.
    It was a memorable outdoor, adventurous and happy childhood.

    My old man was the sole Inspector of Primary Schools for the whole of the NT.
    He was pretty good at sport and took a very keen interest in the development of Aussie Rules in the schools and particular interest in the aboriginal kids who loved the game.

    He had to go on many long trips alone to all the outback schools .
    Prior to one trip , the sports master in Darwin requested him to take some brand new Sherrins to all the schools he was going to .
    They would be all pumped up ready for the kids to use them .
    Naturally he agreed and into the back of his Holden were placed 100 or so brand new tight Sherrins .

    A long way down the Stuart Highway at around 2.30am in the morning (he hadn't found a hotel/motel open ) he pulled off the road to grab some shuteye.

    He crawled back on top of the footballs but had a great deal of trouble getting to sleep because it was impossible to get comfortable .
    He became more and more disgruntled and opened the back door to try and rearrange things .

    Of course half the footballs tumbled out .
    This made him really mad, so he grabbed one of them and gave it an almighty kick across the Stuart Highway into the donga.

    Feeling guilty , he trudged after it to retrieve the ball that belonged to one of the schools he was inspecting .

    He was dressed in a white singlet and white boxer underpants .

    He located the ball under the half moon, and started back. At that exact moment a road train appeared out of nowhere bearing down on him, he stepped back and looked up at the totally spooked out driver who was convinced he'd seen a ghost with a football.

    The driver slammed on the brakes and the truck came to a screaming halt.

    Dad walked up and peered up at the frightened driver.

    What the hell are you doin man ?

    I was fetching my football . I kicked it over the highway.

    Why would you be kicking a football at 2.30 in the mornin?

    I couldn't sleep, my car is over there.

    It really didn't matter what the old man said, the truckie thought he was another Territorian Nutter on the loose .

    Dad pulled into a hotel a couple of years later and the boys at the bar were engrossed in a story being told by a truckie....

    .... " and out of the darkness this apparition appears in a white singlet and white boxer shorts holding a football..... "

    Dad played for Sturt later on in Adelaide, I barracked for Wests.

    I moved to Sydney in 1968 and couldn't get into League or Union .

    When South Melbourne relocated in 82, I was very happy to start folllowing them ...

    The wife is a convert from Union, the kids are rusted on Swans fans.

    We've been to all the Grand Finals except 2012, when money was a bit tight .

    We love it .

    I run a bicycle tour biz in Sydney and often take clients to the footy as part of their Down Under experience .
    That story of your old man is fantastic Hotpotato
    "You get the feeling that like Monty Python's Black Knight, the Swans would regard amputation as merely a flesh wound."

  3. #75
    Quote Originally Posted by Hotpotato View Post
    Thanks Meg. It is a true story .
    Your father may be the world's only verified urban legend
    Chillin' with the strange Quarks

  4. #76
    The story has gone up and down the Stuart Highly for decades, with various embellishments I guess , so it is an urban legend now but the fundamentals are accurate.

  5. #77
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    Terrific story Hotpotato - I laughed like a drain!
    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)

  6. #78
    Thanks Di .... you're funny !

  7. #79

    Why do you support the Swans?

    Professor Hickey mentioned of choosing a team because they are winning, on TV, or like their colours. As is common now in Victoria with the young (his words).

    NSW, QLD, WA and SA, which are entirely different environments (ie new teams being created in last 30 years).

    "Dont change teams" mentality is also fostered by the entrenched clubs because they have lost the natural ties of supporting based on locality. Without that local tie, supporters would be more fluid, and the big clubs dont want that.

    The concept of "Locality". Do you think GWS and Sydney are both local to all Sydney siders ? Or Do you think there is a line, where if you live in the Western suburbs your "local" side is GWS, and if you live in the eastern suburbs your "local" side is the Swans
    To take a positive spin out of an edited version of a post, it's interesting to contemplate why we support the teams we do (Swans or otherwise).

    Is it that they are successful? Or you've changed because your team loses too often? The colours? The mascot/logo? You inherited them from your family? You moved city and adopted the local team? For those Victorians who are old enough, you resided in a recruiting zone? You follow a particular player? State allegiances?

    There are many possible reasons. What's your story?

    And your thoughts on changing allegiances? Or supporting multiple teams?

    There are no right or wrong reasons for supporting a team, so if you take umbrage with another person's reasons, please disparage them in a PM, not in the thread.

    So why do you support the Swans (or whichever team you support - football or other sports)?

  8. #80
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
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    I've said this before, but it was a while ago and it bears repetition.

    Mrs d and I moved to Melbourne in 1990 in connection with my work. We spent the first year griping about the lack of Rugby League, then decided that this was stupid and we should pick a team to follow. It had to be the Swans because that was where we came from. Our younger son, who behind our backs had become a West Coast fan, took Mrs d to the MCG for her first match. She was bowled over by the venue as much as the game - and this was before they pulled down the Olympic Stand and built the current Northern Stand. A couple of weeks later he took me to Windy Hill to watch WC play Bombers, the day Sheedy is said to have tied the windsock down. We were standing in the outer surrounded by little old blokes in gaberdine coats muttering 'carn bombers'. I was puzzled but hooked as well. Pick a club? Had to be the Swans who were now playing where we grew up.

    We read AFL for Dummies (written by a Swans tragic), started reading sport sections in The Age and for a while became the classic zealot converts. As understanding grew we became more tolerant of other teams and after trying out a few pubs discovered the Rising Sun which became a kind of home away from home, full of Swan tragics and decorated with photos of Swan stars. We now live in the Central Coast - aka the Costa Lantana - and of the things in Melbourne I miss, the Riser takes the cake. The upside is that we can now go to more games at the SCG and we usually sit in the M A Noble Stand which is designed to keep the sun off the cricket crowd, not the rain off the Swans fans! But wherever it happens, it's a great experience. It adds fresh colour to our lives.
    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)

  9. #81
    Following the Swans is in my blood. My dearly departed father followed them all of his life. He used to say to me "they won a premiership the year that I was born - 1933 - and they will win one the year that I die". Sadly he passed away in 2004 so he missed it by just one year! His nickname at School was "South". So with that background my fate was clear. I've never regretted any of it and now my son follows them so the tradition continues.

    Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

  10. #82
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    I like the colours.

  11. #83
    What happened to Barry's post? It was oddly interesting.

  12. #84
    Warming the Bench
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    I grew up in Sydney watching and playing rugby (league and union). I moved to Melbourne in 1987 and the office had a tipping competition. Wanting to assimilate I needed to pick a team. Being from Sydney I picked the Swans and have supported them ever since. I lived in QLD for 5 years and had very little contact with the AFL. Ironically, I went to a game at the SCG in 1994 while on annual leave. We got smashed by Geelong and Gary Ablett kicked about 10 goals.

    I moved back to Melbourne in 1995 and have continued to follow the Swans.

    I don't have the Melbourne tribalism that Collingwood (and others) supporters have. I don't hate any of the other teams but I like some more than others. My least favourite team is Richmond - but I cannot explain why. I couldn't conceive of changing allegiance from the Swans.

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