The AFL: Embracing the heartland and recapturing traditional roots

The passage of time, the end of the perennial crisis at the club, public acceptance by the club’s administration that its South Melbourne heritage should be embraced rather than discarded, and of course the on-field success, all resulted in what one journalist at the time described as the end of the South fans 15 year sulk.

The Swans now have 6,000 Victorian members and the club estimates that 12,000 to 15,000 Swans fans attend their Melbourne matches. Significantly this season has seen the renewal of their old and important rivalry with St Kilda. In Round 11, the Swans, spearheaded by former Saint, Barry Hall’s five goals turned around their season by astonishing the football world and easily beating the previously unbeaten St Kilda, who had carried all before them while collecting ten wins on the trot. Then last Friday night, St Kilda rescued their season by easily accounting for the heavily favoured Swans.

Swans Chief Executive Myles Baron-Hay recently said the club intends to recapture its traditional bloods roots in Victoria. A good first step may be to use last Friday night’s game as a spur to revive the Lake Cup that the Swans and Saints contested in their local derbies for so many decades.

Over the years these two clubs have shared many great champions, with Roy Cazaly and Tony Locket being the most prominent. Probably the Sydney public would find the Lake Cup a bit obscure, however a Cazaly Lockett Cup would capture the imagination of all Swans and Saints fans.