View Full Version : Expansion What happened to Swans fans when Sth Melb went north?
GUN-BARREL STRAIGHT
2 Nov 2007, 13:07
When the Swans moved to Sydney, how many fans either switched allegiances to another team or gave up footy altogether? Difficult question, but anyone know the rough percentage? Surely the majority of fans either stayed on board, or returned to supporting them in later years? What percentage were lost to footy forever?
I just can't imagine giving up on my beloved Blues no matter what happened to them. A crude analogy, but it would be sort of like giving up on a child because the govt decides to take him away as I cannot adequately provide for him - why get back at the govt by abandoning the child?
fishmonger
2 Nov 2007, 13:17
I know a guy who never stopped supporting them from Melbourne, even during their darkest days in Sydney. But that is only one.
Jane Doe
2 Nov 2007, 14:00
They all stopped following footy until 2005 and then they all jumped on the bandwagon
The Swans have about 10,000 fans in Melbourne so clearly some South Melbourne fans continued to support the Swans.
flamethrower
2 Nov 2007, 14:41
Half of my family were South Melbourne members before they left the Lakeside Oval, including my father's cousin who made the South Melbourne Team of the Century.
When the Bloods left Melbourne vitually all of them either gave up the VFL for good or switched their allegence to the team followed by the other half of the family, the Footscray Football Club.
thesting
2 Nov 2007, 15:20
They all stopped following footy until 2005 and then they all jumped on the bandwagon
^^^^ Yawn :rolleyes:
I don't doubt that many many fans were lost, or at least jaded for many a year. Look at the situation now though, the Swans have nearly 10,000 members in Melbourne and are very well supported here.
Given the other option, the possibility of seeing Kangaroos fail, I know what I would chose.
In this situation I compare it to what has happened in Rugby League. I follow the Swans (clearly...), and despite the turmoil in the past, they are fairly well supported in this town (for an interstate team). I was a passionate fan of the North Syndey Bears in the Rugby League as well, they are gone, and now I no longer watch League at all...