Sydney Swans | |||
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Names | |||
Full name | Sydney Swans Limited | ||
Former name(s) | South Melbourne Football Club (1874–1982) Swans Football Club (1982) |
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Nickname(s) | Swans, Bloods (previously the Blood Stained Angels) | ||
2016 season | |||
After finals | Runner-up | ||
Home-and-away season | 1st | ||
Leading goalkicker | Lance Franklin (81 goals) | ||
Best and fairest | Josh P. Kennedy | ||
Club details | |||
Founded | 1874 (as South Melbourne Football Club) | ||
Colours | Red White | ||
Competition | Australian Football League | ||
Coach | John Longmire | ||
Captain(s) | Josh Kennedy | ||
Premierships |
VFL/AFL (5): 1909, 1918, 1933, 2005, 2012 South Melbourne in italics. |
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Ground(s) | Sydney Cricket Ground (capacity: 48,000) | ||
Training ground(s) | Sydney Cricket Ground & Moore Park | ||
Uniforms | |||
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Other information | |||
Official website | www.sydneyswans.com.au | ||
VFL/AFL (5): 1909, 1918, 1933, 2005, 2012
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club has been based in Sydney since the South Melbourne Football Club was relocated to Sydney in 1982. Sydney was the first club in the competition to be based outside Victoria. The Swans have played their home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1982.
The club has proven to be one of the most consistent teams over the last twenty years of AFL football, only failing to make the finals in three seasons since 1995, playing the most number of finals matches and winning the second-most matches overall (only behind Geelong) since 2000 and boasting a finals winning record of over 50% in the same time period.
The South Melbourne Football Club was founded in 1874 and was strong through the 1880s. It won three premierships in 1909, 1918 and 1933 before experiencing 72 years without a premiership, the longest premiership drought of any club. The club broke the drought in 2005 and won another premiership in 2012.
The inauguration date of the club is officially 19 June 1874, and it adopted the name "South Melbourne Football Club" four weeks later, on 15 July. In 1880, South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert-park Football Club, which had a senior football history dating back to May 1867 (Albert-park had, in fact, been known as South Melbourne during its first year of existence). Following the amalgamation, the club retained the name South Melbourne, and adopted the club's now familiar red and white colours from Albert-park. Nicknamed the "Southerners", the team was more colourfully known as the "Bloods", in reference to the bright red sash on their white jumpers (the sash was replaced with a red "V” in 1932). The colorful epithet the "Bloodstained Angels" was also in use. The club was based at Lake Oval, also home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club.