Ask most Sydney Swans fans what they were doing 37 years ago today, on Tuesday night 20 July 1982, and you’ll get a lot of blank looks. A midweek night in the middle of winter? Probably rugged up at home watching television, most would probably say.

But not if you ask former Swans great Ricky Quade, and 20 Swans players listed alphabetically from Ackerly, Allender, Browning and Carroll, through Carter, Daniher, Evans, Foschini, Hounsell, Kruse, Morwood P, Morwood S, Morwood T, Reid, Rhys-Jones and Round down to Scott, Smith, Taubert and Wright.

They will know precisely where they were, and what they were doing. Because they were living a memorable moment in Swans history.

It was the grand final of the 1982 Escort Cup, a knockout competition played predominantly on Tuesday nights at the old Waverley Park and shown live on television.

The Swans beat North Melbourne 13.12 (90) to 8.10 (58) in unforgettable circumstances in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 20,028 dominated by fans in red and white.

So excited were the Swans fans by the prospect of a long-awaited piece of silverware to add to the trophy cabinet that hundreds of them invaded the playing field shortly before the final siren.

Play was held up for about four minutes as League officials and police on horseback did their best to restore normality, and when it became evident that they could not clear the field entirely the game finished with hundreds of Swans fans huddled together inside the playing fence.

It wouldn’t happen in the modern era, but the sting had gone out of the contest and there was no other way. But still, it is bizarre watching a replay of the last few minutes.

Even the last kick of the day had a bizarre touch to it. In marking a neat pass from Colin Hounsell about 40m from goal Steven Taubert somehow lost his right boot. So, with the Cup already won and moving in as the siren sounded, he took his kick in his sock. He pushed it right. No score.

It had been a tough 12 months for club. Struggling on the field amid mounting debt, they had made the tough decision to explore the Harbour City as a potential new home, and had chosen to play each of their 1982 home games at the SCG while still living in Melbourne.

They had been anchored about mid-table for much of the year, but hit a golden patch of form mid-season to thrive in what became something of a survival test, with 15 games in 79 days – including an 11-day break over a split round.

It was the club’s first silverware since they won the 1960 VFL Night Series, which was basically a consolation series for the teams that missed out on the premiership finals, and had begun in 1956.

All games were played at South Melbourne Cricket Ground because it was the only suitable venue equipped with lights, and South had prevailed in 1956, ’57 and ‘60.

But as the home-and-away series was extended from 18 games to 20 in 1968 and to 22 games in 1970 interest waned, especially after the adoption of a final five in 1972 left only seven teams.

The competition had been used to trial important rule changes, most notably the out of bounds on the full free kick and the addition of a centre square, but it was abolished after 1971.

It was revived in a 23-team format in 1979 before growing to 34 teams in 1980-81. It was cut to 18 teams in 1982, 17 teams in 1983-85, and was further reduced to 14 teams for its final year in 1986 before the start of the national competition via the addition of the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears in 1987.

The 1982 Escort Cup triumph came at a great time for the Swans, helping to unify and reunite supporters who had been split over the Sydney move, and was the culmination of four mid-week games from 11 May through to 20 July.

It was an 18-team competition, with all 12 member clubs from the then VFL, plus three clubs each from the WAFL and the SANFL, and is famous for a moment in Collingwood history. It was the only time ever that they have played in anything but black and white stripes.

Drawn to play WAFL side Swan Districts, who wore a similar strip, it was decided the clubs would a toss of the coin for the choice of jumper. Collingwood lost, but rather than wear a red clash jumper with the Australian Football Championships (AFC) logo that was offered by the authorities they designed their own white jumper with a black yoke and black numbers.

In their first match of the 1982 Escort Cup on 11 May the Swans, or South Melbourne as they were still officially labelled at the time, beat South Fremantle 24.16 (160) to 6.9 (45). Michael Oaten kicked seven goals and David Rhys-Jones was best afield.

It was a record margin for the night series, surpassing the previous biggest of 110 points by North Melbourne over the ACT in 1979, but it lasted only six weeks until Richmond hammered an under-strength Swan Districts side from WA by 186 points.

On 8 June, in the second round or quarter-finals, the Swans beat St Kilda 8.11 (59) to 7.9 (51) after scores were level at the last two changes, with Bernie Evans taking individual honours.

This was both historic and bizarre.

The club played as ‘The Swans’ after the controlling body had voted on 2 June to approve the first name change in League history.

And the final quarter was played in heavy fog so bad that visibility was cut to about six metres. Quade even resorted to coaching from the boundary line because he could not see from the coach’s box.

In the Escort Cup semi-final on 6 July, Dennis Carroll was best afield as the Swans beat Richmond 13.17 (95) to 6.6 (42) to make it four wins in a row after they had beaten St Kilda, Fitzroy and Geelong in Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the premiership.

The 11-day break followed before the Swans, sixth on the ladder but two games plus percentage outside the top five, beat fourth-placed Essendon at Windy Hill in Round 16 on 17 July.

So committed was the club to the Escort Cup that three days later coach Quade fielded the same side except for one player in the night grand final. Shane Morwood replaced Craig Braddy.

Five days later again, when the Swans beat Footscray by 13 points at the SCG on 25 July in Round 17, Quade made just two forced changes as he called in Oaten and Gerard Neesham for the unavailable Brett Scott and Greg Smith.

There was no doubt about it. It wasn’t the ‘real’ premiership, but the Swans were in it to win it.

The team that kicked 4.4 to 0.3 in the final quarter to win the night grand final and bank $105,000 for the club was:

B: David Ackerly, Rod Carter, John Reid
HB: Mark Browning, Max Kruse, Paul Morwood
C: David Rhys-Jones, Brett Scott, Colin Hounsell
HF: Tony Morwood, Stephen Allender, Dennis Carroll
F: Bernie Evans, Steven Taubert, Silvio Foschini
FOLL: Barry Round (capt), Greg Smith, Stevie Wright.
INT: Anthony Daniher, Shane Morwood.
EMERG: Craig Braddy, Michael Oaten, Jack Lucas.

Match Details:

Swans               4.3       6.4       9.8       13.12 (90)
Kangaroos        1.1       4.3       8.7         8.10 (58)

Swans Goals: Foschini 4, Evans 3, T Morwood 3, Smith, Hounsell, Wright.

Swans Best: Evans, Foschini, Hounsell, P Morwood, Kruse, Rhys-Jones, Carter, Browning.

The Swans beat Collingwood and Carlton in Rounds 18 and 19 to sit one game outside the five, but had what cynics might laughingly call a premiership let-down as the premiership race hotted up. They lost their last three to finish seventh with a 12-10 record two games plus percentage outside the finals.

Captain Round went on to poll 15 votes in the Brownlow Medal and finish equal fifth behind Melbourne’s Brian Wilson, David Ackerly won the Skilton Medal, and Tony Morwood, who had played alongside brothers Paul and Shane in the Escort Cup triumph, topped the club goal-kicking with 46.