Why are Sydney called the Swans?
The Sydney Swans are a New South Wales-based Australian rules football team. The men compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), while the women compete in the AFL Women’s competition (AFLW). The Swans also have a reserve men’s team in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club was founded in 1874, and its home field…
The Sydney Swans are a New South Wales-based Australian rules football team.
The men compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), while the women compete in the AFL Women’s competition (AFLW).
The Swans also have a reserve men’s team in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The club was founded in 1874, and its home field is Albert Park’s Lakeside Oval.
The club was founded on June 19, 1874, and was initially known as “Cecil Football Club” (after Cecil Street, South Melbourne, one of the early thoroughfares),
but changed its name four weeks later, on July 15, to “South Melbourne Football Club.”
The club was based at Lake Oval in Albert Park, which is also the home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club.
Why are Sydney called the Swans?
The nickname, suggested by a Herald and Weekly Times artist in 1933, was inspired by the team’s large number of Western Australians (the black swan is Western Australia’s state emblem), and was formally adopted by the club before the 1934 season.
The Swans are still managed by an AFL-appointed board (a position shared by newcomers GWS and Gold Coast, and now the Adelaide clubs).
North Melbourne was the only VFL club to go public on the stock exchange in 1986, and one of only two AFL clubs to do so (the other being West Coast).
