Our red and white lives are really hotting up.
A few weeks back, we, along with about 2000 other Swans’ fans, attended the intra-club practice match at the Lakeside Oval. It was a great atmosphere, with many there to see the new recruits, meet up with footy friends, collect our 2014 caps and enjoy the free sausage sizzle. We also had the chance to see the smartly-attired QBE Sydney Swans Academy boys, who are now fortunate enough to be under the tutelage of the great Michael O’Loughlin.
We got chatting to a very footy smart Billy Hopkins who was one of the many amongst the brilliant crowd. He played a handful of games with South Melbourne back in the ‘60s before succumbing to a career-ending injury (medical science would probably have him back on the field in a few weeks if it happened today).
Next stop was Canberra where, on a clear and balmy Thursday night, at the beautiful and recently expanded Manuka Oval, we saw our Swans triumph over GWS in an official NAB Challenge pre-season match. We were trialling many young players, which was terrific because it’s always good to get a glimpse of the future.
We enjoyed watching part of the match with lifelong South Melbourne/Sydney Swans supporters Pat McLindin and Annette Ellis from the Canberra Supporters Group.
Maree also met up with Tony Morwood from the Swans Melbourne Office and a group of Canberra-based Swans who are organising the Swans Legends Lunch, which will be held in Canberra on June 13 at the National Press Club. Our recently-retired legend, Jude Bolton, will be the guest of honour. Further details and news of other guests will be on the Swans Events website, closer to the date.
The next night saw us at the 2014 Guernsey Presentation at The Star, which was a marvellous night and so well organised. All supporters there would have been very proud of their Club. We have never attended another Club’s guernsey night but cannot imagine there could be anything more impressive than what we saw at The Star.
Our Chairman, Andrew Pridham spoke about some of the challenges facing the Club.
Both Captains spoke, weaving the history of the Club into their speeches and letting the new recruits know what a proud Club they had joined, and what was expected of them.
There was a standing ovation for the 2014 Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes, and as Andrew Pridham said of the champion Swans, “From Pick 43 out of 86 in the 1997 Draft to Pick 1 out of 22.7 million in 2014 – how lucky are we?”
There was joy as Barry Hall was officially welcomed into the Club’s Hall of Fame along with marvellous Craig Bolton.
And then one by one, the players, young and old, were given their guernseys by legends Paul Kelly and Gerard Healy. We were enormously proud to see them all on stage and you could smell the optimism in the room as to what this group might achieve in 2014.
The next week we ventured to Blacktown in the rain to see the Swans play West Coast in the second NAB Cup match. Results are not important at this stage of the year and it is fair to say our defence had a good work out. The biggest cheer of the night was reserved for new draftee Aliir Aliir, who took the field late in the game. After the match, we reflected that when you go to Blacktown you realise what a huge city we live in.
Earlier in the day, we attended the AGM at SwansHQ. It is always an interesting meeting where you get to learn about some of the non-football issues facing the Club. We also heard from John Longmire, who was as impressive and thoughtful as ever.
Ten days later, we followed the Brisbane practice match on Twitter - thanks Swans Media!
The next day we had the pleasure of attending the highly successful Sydney Swans Fan Day presented by Volkswagen. It was great to see so many families there, including our own, enjoying all the activities. The players were great, signing countless autographs, posing for photos with the fans and overseeing the various activities.
We spent some time with Swans membership department staff and players helping out on the membership stand, which brought back memories of times past for us.
We reckon the first pre-season Fan Day we attended was probably one of Barassi’s Barbecues at Randwick Racecourse about 20 years ago!
Back then Peter, Bill Holdsworth, the late Dean Koch and a few other stalwarts manned the barbecues, helped by groups of players, while Maree and Anne Holdsworth were the two-person Swans’ membership stand!
It was at one of these barbecues that Pete turned the steaks with a shy Michael O’Loughlin. There were more people at Fan Day this year than there were total members for the year back then. We’ve certainly all come a long way since!
Next stop is Round One versus GWS at Spotless Stadium this Saturday. We can’t wait.
Your 2014 Number One ticket holders,
Peter and Maree Thomas
