The Sydney Swans AGM was held on Thursday night at the SCG. Here are the opening remarks from Sydney Swans Chairman Andrew Pridham:

Welcome to today’s Sydney Swans Limited 2020 Annual General Meeting.

I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land on which we meet – the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. It is upon their ancestral lands that our Annual General Meeting takes place this evening.

In attendance from our legal counsel we have John Mulally from John Mulally & Associates.  

And from the Sydney Swans Limited Board we have the following Directors in attendance: Rob Pascoe, Sam Mostyn, Andrew Ireland and Rob Morgan.

I now declare the Annual General Meeting open.

I am advised the Club’s Chief Financial Officer, Kirsty Walker, is in attendance as the appointed proxy of the AFL which is classified as the Transitional Member (the only voting member) and therefore we have a quorum.

In accordance with Section 317 of the Corporations Act, I lay the 2019 Annual Financial Report before the meeting. The Annual Financial Report includes the Accounts, Directors Report and the Audit Report.

Copies will be available after the meeting if anyone would like to look at them.

Directors Greg Paramor and Sam Mostyn retire in accordance with Clause 28.1 of the Constitution.

The Board has resolved in accordance with Clause 28.5 to unanimously re-appoint Greg Paramor and Sam Mostyn for a further term of 3 years. This appointment will take effect from the date of this meeting.

Leo Barry was elected as Member appointed Director following Rob Pascoe retiring as Member appointed Director.

Brad Seymour will also retire as Member appointed Director.

These appointments and retirements will take effect from the date of this meeting.

I would also like to welcome Darren Steinberg who joined the Board in December 2019.

I will now provide you with an overview of 2019 and events that have occurred since our balance date, and then Charlie Gardner will provide you with an update of our football activities.

At the conclusion of these presentations we will close the AGM and open a separate informal meeting and invite questions from members.  If you wish to ask a question, I ask that you please stand and introduce yourself to the room.

I’d like to start by acknowledging the continuing financial support of our members and our long time Principal Partner QBE, Major Partners Volkswagen and realestate.com.au, our Premier Partners and other sponsors.

The financial result for 2019 was a loss of ($509,625) on revenues of $52,817,894 and Net Assets at year-end were $2,201,889.

The operating loss is the first in nine years and reflects several factors including increased operating costs and the impact of not qualifying for the AFL finals.

It was the first time in 10 years, and just the fourth time in the past 24 years, that Sydney didn’t feature in the AFL finals series.

Regularly fielding one of the youngest teams in the competition, we finished the season in 15^th position with eight wins, 14 losses and a percentage of 97.7.

Other significant financial impacts include taking over the lease at our soon-to-be new home, the Royal Hall of Industries. We are looking forward to building progressing over the coming months – this is without a doubt the most significant project the club has embarked upon since moving to Sydney. It will be an iconic facility in our iconic city and pave the way for the establishment of a Sydney Swans AFLW team. 

Meanwhile, our corporate hospitality and sponsorship numbers remained strong, while membership grew by more than 1.5 percent to a record 61,912 members – setting a new membership record for the 7^th consecutive year.

In 2019, 341,765 people came through the gates at the SCG across the season for an average home crowd of 31,070 – a slight (0.16%) increase on the previous year.

And we were reaffirmed as the most supported sporting team in the country with 1.1 million fans.

The club continued to invest in a fully resourced Football Department and a fully resourced Academy.

Highlights from 2019 include:

• 5 players made their AFL debut including Nick Blakey, Justin McInerney, James Rowbottom, Hayden McLean and James Bell – and hopefully we see plenty more of them in the season ahead.
• In his first year as co-captain, Dane Rampe claimed his first Bob Skilton Medal. Rampe ranked in the top 10 in the competition for rebound 50s and intercept possessions. He also won the Player’s Player Award, Best Clubman Award and was named in the All-Australian squad – which tells you something about the year he had and how he elevated to another level.
• We celebrated some big milestones including Lance Franklin’s 300th game, Kieren Jack’s 250th game, Dane Rampe’s 150th game and 100 games for Isaac Heeney and Callum Sinclair. John Longmire re-signed and became our longest-serving coach.
• Round 23 went down as one of those special days in football that will always be remembered, as we farewell four of the greats: Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Heath Grundy and Nick Smith.

I would like to thank my fellow directors for their unwavering support and commitment to the club. They all provide their time and expertise on a pro bono basis and play a significant role in the success of the Sydney Swans.

I would also like to thank the Board of the Sydney Swans Foundation, and in particular Chairman Peter Ivany, for their amazing work. The Sydney Swans Foundation has been supporting the club since 2005 and will play a major role in funding our new facility.

Finally, on behalf of the Board I want to acknowledge the leadership of Tom Harley. I would like to thank Tom, the management team and club staff for their hard work over 2019.

I will now ask Charlie Gardner to provide you with an update on our football activities.