Sydney Swans Football Club

The Sydney Swans is one of two Sydney AFL teams competing in the Australian Rules Football Premier League.

The Sydney Swans were originally a Victorian team, South Melbourne. The South Melbourne Football Club was created in 1874 as the famous Red and White team nicknamed the Swans or the Bloods.

In 1982 South Melbourne then a VFL team, relocated to Sydney and played 11 home matches in Sydney as a way of improving membership numbers and falling club finances. The first match was played at the SCG on Sunday 28th March 1982, when a crowd of 15,764 saw the Swans defeat Melbourne by 29 points.

Official Merchandise

Premierships

The South Melbourne/Sydney Swans Football Club has won five VFL/AFL premierships over the course of the Leagues 116-year existence.

The clubs first premiership came in front of a crowd of 36, at the MCG, when South Melbourne 4.14 38 defeated Carlton 4.12 36 at the MCG on October 9, 1909. A second premiership followed in 1918 when South 9.8 62 pipped Collingwood 7.15 57 after trailing in the final minute of the Grand Final.

The Swans played four successive Grand Finals between 1933 and 1936, but captured only one flag - the premiership of 1933 - defeating Richmond by 42 points in the season decider, in what would prove to be the clubs last premiership for 72 years.

After decades of fruitless results, and a 1982 relocation north to Sydney, the longest premiership drought in the Leagues history came to an end on September 24, 2005 when the Sydney Swans defeated the West Coast Eagles by four points in a nail-biting finale.

Thankfully, the Swans didnt have to wait as long to record its fifth premiership, with a new-look line-up taking home the 2012 premiership in another classic Grand Final just seven years after the 2005 triumph. Going into the game as rank outsiders, the Swans kicked the last four goals of the match to come from behind and edge out Hawthorn by 10 points in front of a capacity crowd of 99,683.

Full name: Sydney Swans
Former name(s): South Melbourne Football Club (1874-1981) The Swans (1982)
Nickname(s): Swans, Swannies, Bloods
Founded: 19 June 1874
Colours: Red White
Premierships: 1909, 1918, 1933, 2005, 2012

The second team playing in NSW is Greater Western Sydney.