I was fortunate to have met Tom Hafey at a conference I attended. Hafey was engaged to provide motivational talk, and he delivered in spades.
An incredible man, he talked about his daily routine of swimming Port Phillip Bay, millions of push ups, squillions of sit ups, and how he allowed himself the luxury of adding water to his Weet-Bix.
The conference was held in Melbourne and the audience hung off every word Tommy had to say. He held a captive audience, and not before long his motivational speak had swayed from a motivational speech to a AFL open mike chat.
Hafey was a wealth of knowledge and readily recited the career stats of current and past players. The man is an ornament to the game and a genius.
I know he is a genius because he coached Richmond to a flag!
The aforementioned introduction is for the benefit of my fellow Sydneysiders, who claim to prefer the Sherrin to the Steeden.
Yes, your beloved Swans are flying high, but the cream is yet to rise to the top. Or in the Swans case, the scum is yet to settle.
Perhaps some of you may recall that Hafey used to coach the Swans. Sydneysiders should hang your heads in shame that Hafey never received the due credit he was entitled too. You see, the code as it is and always has been in Sydney is nothing more than a gimmick.
In the 1980s when the Swans relocated, the club’s foundations have were all gimmick.
Dr Edelsten, dancing girls, Mike Willesee, the list goes on. In essence, the Sydney Swans have always been promoted as an alternative to NRL.
The people of South Melbourne have had their hearts ripped out and transplanted to another person.
The original Bloods are surviving in a Zombie like state and the attempts to re-connect by having SMFC on the back of the guernseys is a new low in marketing tactics.
If you have ever been to a Swans game and you are from outside of Sydney, you will no doubt be a little underwhelmed.
The support is loud only when the Swans are in front. Parallel to a fixture in Victoria and the atmosphere is electric from bounce to siren.
Supporters will cheer and critique their own team with equal gusto. If the Swans are behind, there are no suggestions from the outer on how to remedy this.
Swans supporters opt to sip on their latte instead.
How to identify a Swans supporter? They mostly hail from the bohemiam, alternative, cino wearing eastern suburbs of Sydney.
They wear scarves with short sleeve designer shirts. Now, while scarves may be acceptable in the cooler climates, they are more of a statement in Sydney as opposed to serving any practical purpose.
Swans supporters are reliant upon the Sydney Roosters NRL team’s fortunes, i.e. if the latte sipping Roosters are doing bad, Swans numbers will increase and vice versa.
They like to think they are backing a winner and are quick to dessert when struggling.
The Swans were in the thick of it when they introduced the terms “playing groups”, “leadership groups”, “focus groups”, “think tanks” and all this other clichéd rubbish. They used to spruik this language on our TV screens while holding a straight face.
I wonder how Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson would have reacted to all this polished Swans seriousness. Memo to Swans: if it wasn’t broke, don’t try and fix over 100 years of footy with your polished media image.
Swans fans do not understand that to win the flag you have to win at the MCG.
This is something the Swans are not capable of.
There is no real passion for the game in Sydney. The SCG only provides manufactured passion. Tell a West Australian they have a chance of beating the Vics and they will start to froth.
A South Australian takes real pleasure in gloating how they are better than the Victorians and the Victorians will not consider the Australian Rules exists beyond Victoria.
What is there in Sydney to produce similar real life, non-orchestrated passion? Swans versus Greatly Woeful Sydney?
I’ll concede the original Bloods were battlers. The only true blue battlers in today’s world are the Fremantle Dockers, since 1995.
One thing Tom Hafey mentioned in his chat was his principles for success was the 4 Ds: Desire, Dedication, Determination and Discipline.
If the Swans think they endear themselves to the greater public of Sydney, then they are delirious.
MalceskiFan
Guest
"Swans fans do not understand that to win the flag you have to win at the MCG. This is something the Swans are not capable of. " This is the dark side of the internet... You say something stupid and it can be there for all eternity, for everyone to see
Stew42
Guest
Well, with the premiership cup in our hands, I would like to hear something from the author of this smear...
Stew42
Guest
Well, with the premiership cup in our hands, I would like to hear something from the author of this smear...
SwannieSam
Guest
How silly do you look now! Another Premiership win making your article weak and shows just how little you know about the determination of the Swans. Here's cheers to the Swans and sipping on another latte!
Sandos from the Shire
Guest
wonder if JazzyJase will be watching the AFL GF come this last Saturday in September!!!....LOL
Jordan
Guest
While I am not from NSW and have never been to a Swans game I can completely relate to the situation living in Queensland. Brisbane Lions supporters are just as bad, if not worse, as there are about 20,000 less and are probably even more misinformed and clueless about the game. The blokes that sit behind me don't know half the players names and wear the same ridiculous ''chic'' outfits (Brisbanites are nowhere near Sydney or Melbournes fashion level and hence look even worse) and the promotion inside and outside the Gabba aims at trying to pull in young family types by creating an atmosphere that nowhere near replicates that of a Victorian AFL match. Yelling at players is not condoned (my dad was told to sit down after Jared Brennan kicked a freakish dribble goal from the boundary) and you are only permitted to rock up when we have won a couple on the trot. The 10,000 member decline since 2004 is a testament to this. The Lions and Swans should amalgamate and play in New Zealand somewhere. At least they are less concerned about fashion and gimmicks there.
JazzyJase
Roar Pro
"English Schoolmasters" banned it ?? "More Proper" weird response
Vic
Guest
Do you mean soccer or football? Soccer is English Rules Football, and our own game is football because we are in Australia. Clear enough for you sport?
Vic
Guest
Am the same with the Storm. Until all Storm players are Victorian born and bred don't wake me up. SoO, too. No Victorian team, I just do not wanna know about it. To me it is an exhibition game, we had it too but grew out of it.
smithy
Guest
Wow! how many uninformed cliches can you throw into an article? So you know that Swans crowds go up when Easts go down?When was the last time you went to a Swans match to witness the cafe latte atmosphere as you call it? Some facts for you that don't involve getting your information from your mates down at the pub. Australian football was played in Sydney in 1880 (and prior). This is at least 28 years prior to rugby league and the Eastern Suburbs rugby league club. The main reason why it didn't "catch on" was due to English schoolmasters banning an un-English activity such as Australian football for school sport. ie - it was more proper in 1890 to play English sports over an Australian sport. Obviously you agree with them.
Brewski
Guest
@ John D, Refer Roy Morgan Research: http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2011/1424/index.cfm?printversion=yes Interesting artilce , but i really dont put a heap of faith in these polls, attendance and membership are real tests of supporters IMO, and FWIW i just can't believe that Richmond are so far down on the table. But maybe if they ever get into the finals they would skyrocket up the supporter ladder.
Bee Bee
Guest
Sydney Swans used to annoy me with their, "you can't win because we have the ball style and we won't give it to you even though everyone is going to sleep watching us....... mentality." But this team has a go and are good to watch. I don't generally like any team from Sydney in any sport but I can tolerate the Swans. I hope they take it up to the more protected/respected and generally annoying bird species in this final series. And if the Swans do just happen to snag the flag, may thier wealthy inner city fans celebrate with a round of Latte's at the trendiest cafe in Bondi and purchase new BMWs for their cleaners.
The Cattery
Guest
More than one million fans - that's quite impressive. So one out of every 20 Australians is a Sydney Swans fan. Speaking of which, I just read on BF that the Swans vs Hawks match attracted 85,000 viewers in Sydney - easily the biggest Sydney audience on the multis on the weekend. Impressive stuff. (with thanks to Prince Imperial on BF)
John D
Guest
......which makes perfect sense when you consider that they are the most supported football club of any code in the country. Refer Roy Morgan Research: http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2011/1424/index.cfm?printversion=yes They may not have a supporter base with a traditional "profile" but they are anything but irrelevant.
John D
Guest
A good article from the Tele to add a bit of perspective: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/swans-flying-higher-than-magpies/story-e6frexx0-1226439739561
The Cattery
Guest
The Superhighway It seems unfair to single out Swans fans like this. My experience is that most Sydney people can't kick a footy - whatever their background is (except for the few who have grown up playing footy).
The Cattery
Guest
That's certainly one way to look at it. An alternative way of looking at it is that we are talking about one of the oldest team sports in the world, involving some of the oldest clubs in the world, all of them membership based, all with huge support bases by Australian standards, which attract huge crowds even by world standards, and which involves the biggest , most followed prize in Australian sport. If you want to be the best - you get involved in the best. Everyone else can go suit themselves.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Can't believe a kid taking cheap shots on Tom Hafey. Well, maybe I can, considering the rest of the waffle. I'm fairly sure he coached four premierships. That's four more than Cronulla have ever won. Maybe the Swans should use Cronulla as a blueprint for success? Yeah, I know, that would be just stupid, and I've taken the troll bait, but something needed to be said. Worst article ever!!
Brewski
Guest
I also note that Sydney/Hawthorn drew 348k on fox, 125k on 7mate and 582K on 7. That fox rating was the highest rating sports event on fox across any code for the weekend.
Brewski
Guest
clipper said | "The wash up of the whole Birchgrove Oval saga was that Aussie Rules got access for 2 or 3 games a week and some training time mid week and Soccer increased its access by about 40% – including access to Birchgrove Oval, which is clearly at league’s expense. So in the end Aussie Rules lost nothing (as they hadn’t played there anyway) and gained a little, Soccer gained a lot and league lost out – so I don’t think there should be any gloating about the AFL ‘giving up’." @ Clipper, thats OK !, because RL is not really an international sport, and soccer is far bigger !!. Am i misreading this, or is this the cut and thrust of JVGO's argument. !! ??, or is his real agenda just about one particular code ?.