My spine still tingles whenever I see Brett Kirk triumphantly standing on the 2005 victory dias, grabbing a handful of his jumper, declaring, 'This is for the Bloods'. Tonight, twenty-three fortunate but deserving men will wear a thoughtfully crafted, 150th-anniversary commemorative version of that iconic guernsey, and they, too, represent us all.
On a wintry July night in 1874, the South Melbourne Football Club was born at the Emerald Hill Total Abstinence Society Hall. As the venue's name suggests, the meeting was a low-key affair in which the club's committee decided to change from the previously named Cecil Football Club. From humble beginnings, a football powerhouse spawned.
The embryonic stages of this club's history seep with aspiration. Two decades prior to our birth, gold-seekers from around the world poured into the colonies, changing the course of Australian history. The gold rush ensured the South Melbourne district grew into one of Melbourne's most populous and prosperous areas.
Parochial, too. The origin of the term barracker can be traced back to this very time and place. And, in an 1885 post-match report in The Sportsman, South's supporters were described as 'Being grossly unfair as usual. If a visiting team wins, the verdict seems to be little short of death to all.' Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Club officials have always possessed a healthy dose of ingenuity. In 1885, when Bloods Legend Peter Burns boarded a train in Ballarat, he intended to disembark at Spencer Street Station to sign with Essendon. South Melbourne intercepted the future triple-premiership-winning champion at North Melbourne and signed him instead. In 1932, when Tasmanian sporting prodigy Laurie Nash yearned for a VFL career, South's secretary was smuggled aboard a ship to cross the Bass Strait, returning to parade his new recruit past flabbergasted rival recruiters. And, of course, in 2013, Lance Franklin signed for the Swans as the game looked on in disbelief.
During the 1930s, local magnate Archie Crofts instigated the most auspicious recruitment drive the game had ever seen. He assembled players from across the land, deep in the midst of the Great Depression, offering employment and the chance to win a flag. They were known as The Foreign Legion, and they won our eighth premiership in 1933. Seventy-two years later, we won our ninth.
Resilience is a virtue. Some view it as a virtue to master. Despite the radiance of Ron Clegg, the brilliance of Bob Skilton, and the panache of Peter Bedford, the Swans flew headlong into a treacherous storm. Team success proved elusive, and despite the best intentions, administrative faults eventually crippled the club. The once salubrious suburb had also fallen on hard times. The late Father Bob Maguire once told me, 'They pulled all the factories down along the Yarra bank, so the locals had nowhere to go to work. This meant that they were scattered in their heads and in their hearts.'
Relocation left lasting wounds, some of which have never healed. A mock funeral was performed before the Swan's final match at the Lake Oval, and the early days in Sydney were almost as bleak. However, the pioneers persevered. Without them, we'd have nothing to celebrate tonight.
Thankfully, we do. And my god, we will.
This year's fixture takes us from Sydney to Melbourne to the Adelaide Hills to Adelaide itself, to Perth, and to Brisbane, and we're all hoping for the final stop to be the MCG in late September. That's the dream. But, if a dream's not realised, what does it become? Let's hope that remains a question for another year. In fact, we're lucky we still get to dream at all.
A few years into the Sydney move, with facilities virtually non-existent, two players and a coach got on the tools and built a 'gym' themselves. Tonight, at 6.25 pm, our team will depart the world-class Sydney Swans HQ, with a healthy portion of our 65,000 members forming what will be the club's greatest guard of honour.
During the off-season, our spectacular headquarters became formally known as the Basil Sellers Richard Colless Centre. On the night of the naming, chairman Andrew Pridham said, 'It is appropriate that the naming reflects two people who have been critically important figures in our club's history. Both Richard and Basil have been as important in forging our future in Sydney as they have been in preserving our heritage as South Melbourne. Two cities, one club; two great men, one great building.'
After the mid-80s glitz had dissipated, Sellers and a group of backers formed the Swans' second private ownership group in 1988, steering the ship through a tumultuous time that almost saw the club fold. Paul Kelly says that when the players left for their end-of-season trip to Hawaii in 1992, they didn't know if they'd have a club to return to. While the players hula'd, fellow owners Peter Weinert and Craig Kimberley convinced the AFL to give us another chance. Against all odds, the Swans survived.
In his book Leadership is an Art, American writer Max Depree said, 'The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.' It's as though he's describing Richard Colless; his leadership turned our club around, and that grit and determination culminated in the famous '05 flag. On visiting the club this week, Paul Roos said, 'We understand how much blood, sweat, and tears go into a winning premiership and establishing an organisation like there is today.'
John Longmire is now in charge, embarking on his fourteenth season as senior coach. In a funny kind of way, he reminds me of my Nan. She introduced me to the Swans, and like Longmire, she came from tough country stock. The most solid of citizens, he commands respect, and if Horse tells you to get to the SCG, you move mountains to do so.
However, as the most widely-supported club in Australia, many can't be in the stands. But, across the land, we'll collectively don the red and white, as Swans fans have done longer than anyone else, in anticipation of yet another memorable SCG night. Many players central to those occasions where team and crowd fuse will parade before those at the ground in a pre-match ceremony designed to celebrate, to reminisce and to reignite the flame for future glories.
Some of the game's biggest names have inspired us to believe anything is possible. Pratt, Skilton, Bedford, Kelly, Goodes, and Franklin are players who defined their generations, as are coaches like Smith, Barassi, Roos and Longmire. The Bloods Culture runs deep, manifesting in our current group—they're a collision of fury and talent. My spine is tingling again.
We belong to one of sport's most recognisable and enduring clubs. Now, that's something to be proud of—one hundred and fifty years of tradition bound in the blood and bones of us all. They say connection is the lifeblood of a community, and the Sydney Swans have worked tirelessly to ensure we get that chance, week after week. Our year-long celebration begins with the boys tonight before the girls get another crack in August.
My only recommendation? Give in to the enchantment entirely.
Become a member to ensure you secure your seat at Opening Night.
