Sydney Sydney
South Melbourne didn’t come into football until 1874. Before then Emerald Hill and Albert Park played in the area from 1864. On July 19 1874, twelve football enthusiasts met at the Temperance Hall to launch a new club. Due to previous bickering about the name South Melbourne, and club was first called Celcil Football Club. Three weeks after this meeting the it was decided that the club was to be called South Melbourne. The first meeting decide that the club would wear a red and white cap with a blue stripe, blue knickerbockers and a white jumper with a red sash.
In 1877 Albert Park approached South Melbourne to merge but it was reject by 28 votes to 2. In January 1880 South Melbourne agreed to the merger. In the new clubs first season they were runners-up and in 1881 they won the VFA flag. In 1885 South Melbourne won the flag again when they went through undefeated.
From 1878 South Melbourne played it’s home games at the South Melbourne Cricket ground. In the 1880’s South Melbourne built up a strong rivalry with Geelong. In 1886 a crowd between 30,000 and 40,000 people came to watch South Melbourne play for the premiership. Although they lost, South had the nucleus of a team that would win three flags in a row (1888-89-90). During this period South Melbourne lost 6 of the 57 games they played.
In 1890 South Melbourne won the VFA premiership, in between trips to NSW and Queensland. At the end of the season South Melbourne travelled to Adelaide to play Port Adelaide in the Australian Premiership. Port Adelaide won by less than a goal.
After this season, South Melbourne slipped down the ladder, but in 1896 South Melbourne played Collingwood, but lost, for the premiership. Observers believed that the teams were so closely matched that they should have shared the flag.
South Melbourne won its first VLF flag in 1909 and there second in 1918, after not playing from 1915-17 because of World War 1. The clubs most famous era was from 1933-1934, where they won 31 of 41 games. But after World War 2 South Melbourne played in 2 finals series. At the end of 1981 South Melbourne became known as Sydney, after they relocated after a decline in gate receipts. Since 1982 Sydney has played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Originally South Melbourne was known as the ‘Southerners’, the ‘Bloods’, or the "Blood stained Angles’. In 1933, because of an influx of Western Australian recruits, the club was dubbed the ‘Swans’. The vicinity of Albert Park Lake to the South Melbourne Cricket Ground also contributed to the adoption of the Swan as the logo.
In Brief
Joined League: 1897
Premierships: 3
Premiership Years: 1909, 1918, 1933.
Brownlow Medallists: Herb Matthews (1940), Ron Clegg (1949), Fred Goldsmith (1955), Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968), Peter Bedford (1970), Graham Tesadale (1977), Barry Round (1981), Greg Williams (1986), Gerard Healy (1988), Paul Kelly (1995) (League Record).
