One hundred and twenty-one years ago today South Melbourne featured in a special moment in VFL/AFL history – they played in the League’s first draw.

It was 22 June 1897 when South played Fitzroy at Brunswick Street Oval in Round 7 of the first season of what at the time was an eight-team competition that also included Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Essendon and Melbourne.

South had gone into the game fifth on the ladder with a 3-3 win/loss record, while Fitzroy were sixth at 2-4, having lost four games in a row.

Scores finished at 5-13 (43) apiece after South had trailed by 10 points at quart-time (1-3 to 3-1) and two points at halftime (3-6 to 4-2) and led by five points at three-quarter time (5-9 to 5-4).

The following day, in an example of how much newspapers have changed, a single column story on page 4 of “The Argus” headed “A drawn game’ reported on the match. It read:-

“Repeated defeat has apparently taken some of the enthusiasm out of the Fitzroy people, and there were not a great many people to see their men matched against South Melbourne yesterday.

“It is early to despair, however, for every team in the first four at the finish of the fourteenth round has a chance for the premiership - however big the gap between the first and fourth.

“The feature of yesterday’s game was its closeness, and it would have been a better exhibition of football had South been a little less partial to hanging on to the ball and Fitzroy less of holding the man.

“The one defect, however, naturally produced the other. At several different stages the scores were even, the points being 33 all just before the last change of ends, when South Melbourne got a lead with a goal, then point by point, with a sequence of six behinds, Fitzroy drew up level again, and the excitement in the little crowd reached fever heat, 40 all being the score.

“Three minutes before time South Melbourne had a lead of two points, when Fitzroy made a last desperate rally. J. Grace in a shot hit the post, and just as the bell rang the ball lodged in the arms of Sharp. Everyone hung on his shot, but it was a behind only, and the game was drawn with 43 points each.

“All through Sharp played a nice, cool game for Fitzroy, the two Graces being also prominent men, and in a brotherly way passing a good deal to each other. D. Moriarty played the strongest game on the Fitzroy and other useful men in maroon were Hickey, Banks, G. Moriarty, Sloan and R. McKay.

“Adamson was absolutely the best man in the South Melbourne team, his fine back play helping them greatly. McKay scored two goals, and played a first-rate game in addition, while Windley, Pleass and Gibson were all hard workers. This is the first drawn match between league teams for the season.”

First names, clearly, were not the done thing at the time, but the Adamson who was ‘absolutely the best man’ was Dave Adamson. His brother Jack had played alongside him in South’s first game six weeks earlier but did not play in the historic first draw.

The McKay was Dinny McKay, who had kicked South’s first VFL goal against Melbourne at Lake Oval in Round 1, while the ‘hard workers’ were Bill Windley, Mick Pleass and Dick Gibson.

Sixteen of the 20 players who played in the historic draw were also members of South Melbourne’s first VFL/AFL side. They were Dave Adamson, McKay, Windley, Pleass and Gibson, plus Bill Blackwood, Allen Burns, captain Bill Fraser, Tom Gilligan, Bert Howson, Charlie McCartney, Jim O’Hara, Harry Purdy, Jack Southern, Archie Swannie and Fred Waugh.

Missing from the first side were Jack Adamson, Jack Deas, Fred Sipmont and Michael O’Gorman, who made way for second-gamer Dick Doran, Horrie Lyons, Fred O’Hara and Eddie Toms.

Six members of the side that played in the first draw would go on to play for the Swans in their first grand final against Fitzroy in 1899 and become prominent players for the club – Adamson, Fraser, Howson, Jim O’Hara, Pleass and Windley.

Adamson, a follower/ruckman, played 90 games in red and white and captained South in the 1897 grand final loss. He later captained Albury to their first premiership in the Ovens & Murray League in 1908 before heading to Western Australia, where, suffering from depression, he was found dead in his place of work of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Fraser was a star with Port Melbourne in the VFA days who captained South in their first two years in the VFL, playing 88 games at that level, while Howson was a champion wingman who played 17 years with the club – the last six in the VFA and the first 11 in the VFL. He captained South in 1906. is credited with 152 VFL games, and later coached South to their second premiership in 1918.

Jim O’Hara played only 37 VFL games for South but earned his place in club history as one of three brothers to represent the club – Fred played 60 games and Jim two - while Pleass was a Victorian representative ruckman who played 109 games for South, and in Round 9 1903 shared with Windley the distinction of being the first players to reach 100 VFL games for the club.

Windley was a champion centreman who had played with South in the VFA from 1886, sharing in the club’s 1888-89-90 premiership hat-trick and the 1896 losing grand final. He captained South in 1900 and 1902.

Although the official records say Windley played only 129 VFL/AFL games for South he in fact played 269 games for the club, including his VFA days. This was the club record until it was broken by Michael O’Loughlin in 2007.

Played on a Tuesday, the historic draw of 1897 came in just the seventh game of a Swans history that now numbers 2420 games, and was the first of 24 for the club, meaning the draw ratio is 0.99%.

In a League in which there have been 158 draws in 15,311 games (1.01%) only Essendon (35), Carlton (34), Collingwood (27), St.Kilda (27) and Fitzroy (25) have played in more.

More than half of the Swans draws have come against three clubs – six against Carlton, four against Fitzroy and three against St.Kilda. They’ve played two draws against Melbourne and Hawthorn, and one each against Collingwood, Richmond, Footscray (now Western Bulldogs), Essendon, Brisbane, North Melbourne and Fremantle.

They have never split the points against Geelong, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney or University, who played in the competition from 1908-1914.

While eight of 16 draws in the South Melbourne era were played at Lake Oval, only two of eight under the Sydney banner have been at the SCG, including the most recent in 2013 against Fremantle.

The highest-scoring Swans draw was in 1968 against Hawthorn at Glenferrie Oval, when the Swans scored 19-12 (126) and the home side 17-24 (126). Brownlow Medallist Peter Bedford kicked four goals on debut for South and Bob Skilton five goals, while Peter Hudson kicked eight for the Hawks.

The highest-scoring draw in the AFL all-time was in 1993 between Essendon (20-12-132) and Carlton (19-18-132) at the MCG.

The lowest scoring Swans draw was in 1991 against Footscray at the Western Oval, when South scored 5-5 (35) and Footscray scored 4-11 (35), and Justin Clarkson made his debut for the club.

This is equal third on the list of low-scoring draws behind the 1898 draw between Carlton (4-4-28) and Melbourne (3-10-28) at Princes Park, and is the lowest in the League since 1904.

In total, 343 of 1414 Swans players in the VFL/AFL have played in a draw.

Heading the list are 300-gamers Adam Goodes and Mick O’Loughlin with five each. Jude Bolton, Paul Kelly, Jarrad McVeigh and Ted Richards each have played in four draws for the club, while Kieren Jack is among 18 players with three draws in their record.

Tony Morwood, 18^th on the club’s all-time games list at 229, has played most games for the Swans without playing a draw. Rod Carter is next with 217 Swans games. He played 293 career games without a draw.

At the other end of the scale is Byron Sumner, who figured in a draw in his first and only game for the club in Round 1 2011 against Melbourne at the MCG. This is the only time in club history the Swans have opened a season with a draw.

Allan McKellar played two games in 1992 for a draw and a loss, while in the same year Alan Thorpe played three games for a draw, a loss and a win.  Justin Clarkson, who debuted in a draw, finished with three games for a draw and two losses in 1991.

Among the current playing list, only 10 players have figured in a draw for the club – McVeigh (4), Jack (3), Josh Kennedy (2), Heath Grundy (2), Nick Smith (2), Dan Hannebery (2), Sam Reid (2), Luke Parker (1), Dane Rampe (1) and Gary Rohan (1).

Lance Franklin and Callum Sinclair are without a draw in Swans colors but did play in a drawn match for Hawthorn and West Coast respectively before joining Sydney.

Jake Lloyd, now with 104 games to his credit, has played most games at the club without a draw.

Swans draws have been:
1897 – South Melbourne 5-13 (43) v Fitzroy 5-13 (43) at Brunswick Street.
1905 – South Melbourne 7-8 (50) v Fitzroy 7-8 (50) at Lake Oval
1911 – South Melbourne 10-6 (66) v Carlton 10-6 (66) at Princes Park
1913 – South Melbourne 9-7 (61) v Carlton 8-13 (61) at Princes Park
1914 – South Melbourne 8-4 (52) v Carlton 7-10 (52) at Lake Oval
1921 – South Melbourne  10-10 (70) v Carlton 10-10 (70) at Lake Oval
1922 – South Melbourne 11-9 (75) v St.Kilda 10-15 (75) at Junction Oval
1937 – South Melbourne 11-15 (81) v Richmond 11-15 (81) at Lake Oval
1947 – South Melbourne 9-15 (69) v Collingwood 9-15 (69) at Lake Oval
1951 – South Melbourne 12-13 (85) v Fitzroy 12-13 (85) at Brunswick Street
1952 – South Melbourne 10-16 (76) v Carlton 10-16 (76) at Lake Oval
1956 – South Melbourne 12-6 (78) v Hawthorn 10-18 (78) at Glenferrie Oval
1967 – South Melbourne 11-12 (78) v Carlton 11-12 (78) at Lake Oval
1968 – South Melbourne 19-12 (126) v Hawthorn 17-24 (126) at Glenferrie Oval
1974 – South Melbourne 14-16 (100) v Fitzroy 15-10 (100) at Lake Oval
1977 – South Melbourne 14-14 (98) v St.Kilda 14-14 (98) at Moorabbin
1991 – Sydney 5-5 (35) v Footscray 4-11 (35) at Western Oval
1992 – Sydney 13-18 (96) v Melbourne 13-18 (96) at MCG
1996 – Sydney 14-6 (90) v Essendon 12-18 (90) at SCG
2002 – Sydney 8-8 (56) v St.Kilda 8-8 (56) at Docklands
2007 – Sydney 8-15 (63) v Brisbane 9-9 (63) at Gabba
2008 – Sydney 8-16 (64) v North Melbourne 9-10 (64)
2011 – Sydney 11-18 (84) v Melbourne at MCG
2013 – Sydney 11-4 (70) v Fremantle 9-16 (70) at SCG

Most Swans Draws
5 – Adam Goodes, Michael O’Loughlin
4 – Jude Bolton, Paul Kelly, Jarrad McVeigh, Ted Richards
3 – Vic Belcher, Paul Bevan, Jim Caldwell, Ron Clegg, Andrew Dunkley, Kieren Jack, Brett Kirk, Ian Gillett, Arthur Hiskins, Stan Hiskins, Len Mortimer, Ryan O’Keefe, Joe Prince, Keith Schaefer, Mick Sibun, Bob Skilton, Jim Taylor, Bill Thomas.