The 1983 season was one of the most significant in South Melbourne/Sydney Swans history – for various reasons.
Firstly, it was the year the club changed its name from South Melbourne to the Sydney Swans Football Club.
It also was the season in which St Kilda poached Swans Silvio Foschini and Paul Morwood and played them without clearances, with the Victorian Supreme Court eventually ruling that the VFL’s rules regarding player movements were a restraint of trade.
Finally, the Swans played their first night match at the SCG, against Geelong in Round 19 on August 5.
But, contrary to popular belief, it was not the first VFL match for premiership points played at the SCG.
Collingwood and Richmond played at the famous ground during the Propaganda Round of 1952 in which the then 12 clubs played matches in Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and rural Victoria. Collingwood won by 36 points.
The first Swans night match at the SCG attracted an attendance of 12,732 but the local side was no match for the Cats.
Although the Swans kicked five goals to lead by six points at quarter-time, the Cats then overwhelmed them through the brilliance of young ruckman Damian Bourke.
Geelong’s midfield buzzed efficiently all over the ground while the Swans had to contend with one injury or another.
Former North Melbourne defender Daryl Henderson seriously injured a knee in only his third game with the Swans and did not play another senior game.
Talented young utility Gary Frangalas, in his first VFL season, dislocated a shoulder, centreman Greg Smith pulled a calf muscle and forward Tony Morwood continued playing after a heavy blow to the head. Defender John Reid also had gone into the match carrying a buttocks injury.
The undermanned Swans might have trailed by just 11 points at the main break, but Geelong took control over the second half to win by 66 points – 20.21 (141) to 10.15 (75).
Swans coach Rick Quade lamented the injury list by stating: “We haven’t a bottomless pit, you know.”
Melbourne’s The Age newspaper reported: “A gallant fighting outfit for so long, their fighting spirit finally crushed when they were reduced to only 15 able-bodied men against the robust and desperate Geelong.
“What was meant to be a football celebration for the Swans and the Sydney fraternity became a tearful wake.”
The Swans might have played with total commitment for most of the match, but the injuries eventually took a mental and physical toll, with Geelong kicking seven goals over the final 11 minutes of the match.
Sydney’s best players were Colin Hounsell, Ian Roberts, Mark Browning and Smith. Swans goalkickers were Smith (3), Max Kruse (2), Bernie Evans, Browning, Steve Taubert, Hounsell and Reid.
