It wasn’t his first time, but I can still remember the afternoon I had my Kevin Sheedy debut in Sydney. It was way back in 1993.
The Swans were still a rabble, and their pair of defeats to start the season had taken their losing streak tally to 17.
Sheedy’s Essendon – the Baby Bombers – hadn’t exactly set tongues wagging about potential September glory. They too brought a winless record for 1993 to the SCG that day.
Just over 9,000 – and some suggested that count included bar staff, ground attendants, and even players and coaching staff – turned out that day to see the Swans play Essendon into form – a 28.13 (181) to 14.11 (95) victory.
I was a Australian football rookie reporter at that stage, and I can’t remember precisely what he told us in the media after the win, but to have an icon of the game – a three-time premiership player, and already a dual premiership winning coach – in front us, talking footy, was something surreal.
The Swans went on to win a game that season. Sheedy’s Bombers, well that win against Sydney kickstarted what would eventually be an amazing season, culminating in a premiership win on the last Saturday in September.
It was my first Sydney-Sheedy encounter, but his first venture to the city came way back in his second season as Essendon coach, when he brought the team to the SCG in May, 1982 and they won by a kick.
This Sunday afternoon (coincidentally against the Tigers, the club where he played 251 games) Sheedy will coach his last game in the Harbour City.
In the 31 years since he first coached in town, there have been some memorable matches, none more so than the 1996 preliminary final at the SCG.
I still believe it is the most significant game of VFL-AFL ever played in Sydney. It was the night Tony Lockett kicked a point after the final siren to send the Swans into the grand final.
Sheedy has had his wins, his losses, even a draw in Sydney, but while results with his GWS Giants haven’t been really favourable in town since they entered the competition last year, his work for the game outside the white line cannot be glazed over.
When the Giants signed Sheedy in November 2009, there were a lot of sceptics. Too old, too long out of the game, it just won’t work.
But, as the Giants’ hierarchy knew, it wasn’t about just coaching a football team, it was about spreading ‘the Gospel according to the Giants’, and in Sheedy they had the perfect mix.
An iconic figure in the game, a proven coach, a name which was known in Sydney, and a top class promoter and marketer. It really was win-win.
No other coach in the AFL at the time (with perhaps the exception of pulling off a massive coup and signing Paul Roos), would have fit the new franchise better.
It would be more than two years before the Giants played a game, and they needed someone out there creating publicity, interest, and getting his head and name in the media.
Sheedy had the profile to do that, and did it, and his contribution to the growth of the club in those early days can never be underplayed.
The signing of NRL player Israel Folau certainly helped the Giants significantly in the PR side of things, but while many considered it little more than a gimmick, with Sheedy there was always legitimacy.
In those first two years while they didn’t have a team in the competition, Sheedy still managed to get the Giants a share of the spotlight.
When they did start playing, the questions came about whether he was coaching, or his assistant Mark Williams was running the show. It’s been the same this year with Leon Cameron.
It’s been said Sheedy does the match-day stuff, the motivation and working individually with his youngsters, while Williams and now Cameron do more the day-to-day coaching.
Really it doesn’t matter who does, or did what. Sheedy was the figurehead, and the amount of footy knowledge and smarts he has been able to pass on to his young team will be invaluable many years from now.
Statistically Sheedy has just three wins from 42 games as GWS Giants coach, but it really isn’t about numbers.
Look away from wins and losses and you can get a real perspective of how valuable he has been, and what a job Kevin Sheedy has done not only for the Giants but the game in Sydney.
The Giants are hoping he will stick around in 2014, and continue to have a role with the club.
Buddy Franklin would be a hell of a signing for GWS, but so too would Sheedy.
Dufflecoat Supreme
Guest
Why the hatred for AFL? Smoke the peace pipe and embrace it. All codes can coexist in perfect harmony.
Older Sox
Guest
Melbourne are the basket case of the AFL and everyone says they need assistance (financial and priority draft picks and a good coach) GWS has money to burn, all the draft picks you could want and one of the greatest coaches of all time and yet they are below Melbourne on the ladder having won less games. What more does the AFL need to do to make GWS better than Melbourne?
Allan
Guest
In saying he wants AFL to be number 2 means he obviously thinks the Giants will be bigger than the A League. I bet he wishes he could go back and erase that comment now.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
+1 Brendan. Big -1 for David Fletcher on his bias & naïveté regarding Kevin Sheedy. I think you're missing the point entirely.
Connor
Roar Rookie
I thought that that was just for their new VFL team, but it would be nice if they changed it back to Footscray in the AFL as well.
Brendan
Guest
I went to my first league game this year and enjoyed it .I go to the Afl as much as i can.We are all so fortunate to be able to enjoy top level sport this which game is better is juvenile.The A league has done so much for soccer i can still remember the ethnic based teams of the 70's and 80's and the resulting warring crowds.We all go to the footy , whatever code, yell and scream at each other ( supporters are never segregated) forget our troubles for a while happy if you win and blaming the umpire for a loss.
ciudadmarron
Guest
What are you talking about Johnson? What actually is your point? bbt said Sheedy hasn't been successful and you say: the swans have been in Sydney since 1982 a small number of soccer teams have been playing over that period what?
David Fletcher
Roar Rookie
Western Sydney is Wanderers Country. The sooner the GWS Fails blow off to Canberra, Wagga Wagga or Grong Grong the better for all concerned. 'Sheedy's legacy' is a strong, united fan base for Western Sydney Wanderers. His 'immigration department' comments will never be forgiven in the sprawling suburbs of west Sydney.
Epiquin
Guest
Which probably sounded good until the wanderers became an overnight success. I'm sure the AFL are having second thoughts about that approach now.
Epiquin
Guest
I know it's essentially been said already in this comments section but it really has to be reiterated. Kevin Sheedy is NOT the PR juggernaut that Melbourne AFL fans and reporters think he is. His comments obviously make the news in Victoria, where anything even remotely AFL related gets published. But in Sydney, we never hear from him. The only time I hear about his comments are when people from Melbourne tell me about them. I love Melbourne. That's why I go there reveal times a year. But sometimes I find the insularity and the lack if self awareness of its people quite alarming. If you want the Giants to succeed, don't place your bets on Sheedy spreading the gospel.
Australian Rules
Guest
bbt The Giants never intended to be a "just add water" club. The plan was to be successful in 10+ years, not 1 year.
Australian Rules
Guest
There's never been a change of tune Allan. In March 2012, Demetriou said that he hoped AFL could be the No.2 sport in Sydney one day. If you weren't so terrified of the AFL, you realise that all sports, in every city, co-exist in Australia quite comfortably.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Absolutely myths can be handed down through families. As well as facts. But they shouldn't be taken at face value just because they have been handed down through families. In this particular case, it is apparently based on the memory of a three year old child. And only comes to light when, in preparation for the centenary of the league, hagiographic journos are attempting to create a mythology about the game. Where is the testimony from Horace himself? Or Tom for that matter? Why doesn't Lawton get the story direct from Horace (Lawton was 8 when he died?) Why didn't Horace play the game? There is also little evidence marn grook was played in the area at all. It is extremely shaky. I am suggesting that it is just as probable that a lot of revisionism within the family went on over 150 years, as it would in any family (as it did in mine!). They have a famous relative who was instrumental in the creation of the game, it is highly likely that little tweaks are made in the telling of the story to suit the narrative better. This sort of thing - adapting stories for a contemporary context - is a well-demonstrated feature of academic history, let alone oral history. The academics themselves do not rule it out but state that there is simply no evidence for it. Just because a descendent says it happened 150 years later does not mean it did happen! Look at this statement written in 1998 from the AFL plaque at Moyston: While playing as a child with aboriginal children in this area he developed a game which he later utilised in the formation of Australian Football This is itself a change in the story... here we have Wills developing the game himself! History changes; the less factual detail there is the easier it is to create a useful truth. As I said, this is dangerous because it can be used to engender beliefs in people based in fallacy.
Dylan
Roar Pro
Also when you look at the fan base. While still small for AFL standards, in their second year in the comp GWS had more fans before the start of the season then 100 year old Roosters had at the end of last years season.
mark
Guest
Come on nothing ! I am suggesting that myths as well as facts can be handed down through families, are you suggesting they are lying ?, , or is it possible...no.. highly probable that Wills played games as a kid with local aboriginals !! , including football type games ?. Highly probable would be MO, and just as his time spent in Melbourne and England at boarding shaped his life, his time playing with aboriginals as a kid shaped it as well. Just because some academics can't academically prove it, does not mean it did not happen.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Come on mark, are you suggesting that blood ties increase the validity of oral testimony? If anything they cause more issues. Horace was 3 years old when Tom left the family home. And it's his grandson - who gets the story from his mother, who gets the story from Horace - even though Horace was still alive when Lawton was a child - you can't see issues with this? I note that as usual you haven't answer my question but I am happy to answer yours. Myths are dangerous. You might think there is no harm in them - it's just a story about the footy for gorsake - but they directly inform the attitudes displayed by Johnson and his like, full of parochialism, jingoism and all the xenophobia that can foster. They are powerful things and should be questioned at every step, regardless of what they are.
mark
Guest
Dear oh dear, Horace was his brother, and 'this bloke' was a direct family descendant. It begs the question, why are you so keen to throw cold water on the idea ?.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
I take it you don't watch much rugby, he was average sized compared to most rugby players. I'm guessing you don't know much about whatever sits outside of your little bubble anyway.
Samual Johnson
Guest
You are right, so far. However, you have to ask how many soccer clubs have been playing in western Sydney over the course of the now defunct NSL and A-League. The Swans moved to Sydney in 1982, and have been playing continuously since then. How many western Sydney soccer teams have been playing over that period? You could fill half a page.
Allan
Guest
Oh so now the AFL is all about 'both codes can be accommodated' ? What happened AFL fans, I thought your beloved sport was going to sweep Western Sydney and anyone who stood in it's way ? Why the sudden change of tune ?