SYDNEY SWANS HQ - THE BASIL SELLERS RICHARD COLLESS CENTRE
By 2014 the club’s home base at the SCG was no longer conducive to creating a high-performance environment to meet the demands of the National Competition.
The facilities were under severe stress and moreover aspirations of a team in the AFLW competition would not be realised unless change came about.
The Royal Hall of Industries was identified as the priority solution.
Built in 1913 for the Royal Agricultural Society, a Federation Free Classical style structure, it is a building of Heritage Significance with a majestic grandeur.
Its rich history of uses included an exhibition hall for the RAS, ice skating rink, makeshift hospital and morgue during the Spanish Flu, World War 1 Australian Army base, Showbag Pavilion and an event and exhibition facility.
One of the oldest continuous use buildings in Sydney would become home to one of the oldest football clubs in the world.
It was an ambitious and courageous undertaking, but it has established a new benchmark in sports and community facilities in this country.
It is a transformational facility. It brings deep and immediate benefits and future proofs the club for years to come. It enabled the establishment of our AFLW team.
It opens its arms to the community and has re-energised the precinct.
A $70 million fit out delivered world class high-performance features for elite football programs, the QBE Sydney Swans Academy, and seamlessly integrated a whole of club operation.
Crucially it captures our DNA. It feels right. Reflects who we are and where we have come from.
The facility was officially opened in late 2023 at a gala event where Swans Chaiman Andrew Pridham announced that it would be named in honour of two of the clubs greatest ever contributors, Club Patron Basil Sellers and Former Chairman Richard Colless.
"It is appropriate that the naming reflects two people who have been critically important figures in our club's history. Both Richard and Basil have been as important in forging our future in Sydney as they have been in preserving our heritage as South Melbourne. Two cities, one club; two great men, one building."
The Basil Sellers Richard Colless Centre is a significant development in the history of the club and provides an enduring and far-reaching benefit for the entire Swans family and wider community.
SYDNEY SWANS AFLW TEAM
The Sydney Swans entered a team in the AFLW Competition in 2022 and so began an exciting new chapter in the club’s history.
Restricted by lack of facilities the club was unable to apply for a licence in the inaugural AFLW season, however this was solved with state-of-the-art purpose designed facilities at Sydney Swans HQ and the Swans AFLW team quickly made up any lost ground.
The team had an immediate and powerful impact on the club, bringing a new energy and vitality to add to the men’s program and a very real aspirational component to the female QBE Sydney Swans Academy program.
Embraced by the Swans faithful and appealing to a new generation of fans the team quickly established itself as a force in the fledgling AFLW competition.
Large and enthusiastic crowds, the highest membership in the competition and finals appearances in its second year have laid the foundation for something very special.
LARGEST CROWD AT GAME OUTSIDE MELBOURNE
A massive crowd of 73,383 packed Stadium Australia in Round 21, Saturday evening August 23, 2003 for the Sydney v Collingwood clash.
The game was sold out with a crowd of around 80,000 expected.
Unfortunately, a storm hit that part of Sydney and many people stayed home watching the game on television in front of a heater.
5 of the 6 largest crowds outside Melbourne are games involving Sydney.
The second highest was the 2003 Preliminary Final which was attended by 71,019 people, again at Stadium Australia.
The third is 66,897 in the 1976 SANFL Grand Final at Adelaide Oval. With the fourth to sixth largest being Sydney games at Stadium Australia with crowds of 64,222 and 62,586.
