Rob Reacts to... 'Saving South' - When South Melbourne became Sydney Swans

A student project created to explore the time South Melbourne Football Club became Sydney Swans. I feel this can relate to so many situations in all walks of life and how divided people can get on something they all believe is for the best.
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[@jenniferhearn4117]

My father was a passionate South Melbourne Supporter all his life, broke his heart when they went to Sydney but ever loyal he jumped on the promise of seeing them win a premiership before he died. His wish was granted and after 72 years they won one and he died a few months later, one of the best days of my life seeing the look on his face.

[@paulpowell7424]

Anyone else notice how young Father Bob looked but he still sounds the same.

[@stevemurrell6167]

Father Bob is a legend!

[@monicaking2140]

Love Father Bob such a great man

[@laurencebyron9183]

I was one of the Sydney Swans first "supporters". I was born in Sydney but grew up in Victoria barracking for Richmond. When they moved I was 17. I decided that as I was born in Sydney in was going to barrack for Sydney and jumped from the Tigers. Changing teams was not really the done thing but I'm glad I did.

[@Ticonderous1]

As a young boy of 12 i was absolutely shattered to hear that My Swans were moving to Sydney , But the prospect of changing teams to another Melbourne side Never entered my mind ...I stuck with them and got teased at school because in the start we were not very good having some of our better players deciding not to go to Sydney ..But here we are now with a few more Premierships and very rarely not playing finals ... So as much as it was hard to bear as a kid it worked out pretty well in the long run ... Go Bloods...And in reality if they never made the move i guess i would have No club

[@wellingtonsboots4074]

Agree with both. I was 18 when they went to Sydney. I appreciate if they hadn't gone, there wouldn't be a club. I remember in 1970 at one game they had a run through saying No worries South, the flag. We have seen them win two.

[@shaundgb7367]

@@rickyd.989 True. No way would I follow another club. The Swans, The Bloods fans still have a club. it relocated but the club continues, not as South Melbourne in location but the SMFC relocated to be based in Sydney and still the Swans and same colours. Interestingly the tv host reporting on the story actually became part of the people running the club in Sydney in late 80's. I think he was a South fan himself. One thing Rob did not understand was he talked a reference point of a club he follows re-locating to somewhere else called Portsmith, I think. This is different with South. They were not moving to another area with fans of another club in the area. They were actually talked into going to Sydney because it was not an Aussie Rules footy location so there is no rivals fans there. It is like the a club in a new frontier, trying to grow a fan base from scratch there, mainly of people that never grew up with the sport. A very different type of relocation. So the league wanted to expand and grow the game so they would put a lot of support at league level behind the Swans. That has never really stopped. There were many times in first 10 to 20 years in Sydney where they were a club still going to the wall. Sydney itself is still not an Aussie Rules football loving community but they have developed their own generations of local fans and every time they play in Melbourne there is a healthy old South support here. But probably many of those old fellas in video as supporters at time in early 1980's probably passed on by now. It would have been horrible for the ones that wanted their club to never leave. The Swans basically have a new generation of supporters. I'm sure there are Swans fans now that just randomly saw the team on tv and followed them in the late 90s or early 2000's and in their late twenties now or early 30's and probably do not even know much about the South Melbourne history of their own club. Great video. Just a fascinating topic to think about on so many levels.

[@jmc7636]

I was a bit younger....only 5....came home to all me south stuff burnt in the backyard and a new Carlton scarf n beanie (the olds tossed a coin to see who we'd grow up barracking for, dad won, south moved so we swapped to mums) .... I was not having it, the olds put their foot down, no barracking for an interstate team....ive been a Sainta ever since, almost the same colours, the suburb next door, made sense to 5yo me.

[@shaundgb7367]

@@jmc7636 Some kids cannot be helped... ha ha

[@dutchroll]

Their early years in Sydney were still a struggle and mired in financial and management controversy. The turning point was the appointment of the legendary Ron Barassi as coach in 1993, who was followed by Rodney Eade and Paul Roos (a brilliant workhorse ex-Swans player). It marked the emergence of the Swans as a strong and highly viable club which they have been ever since. Despite the bitter history of the move, there are many former South Melbourne fans who are fiercely loyal to the red & white and are staunch Sydney Swans supporters.

[@RobReacts1]

Iv told you how i get it. As I said, our football over here is extremely similar culture wise

[@pruebowtell3631]

That brought back memories, everyone thought there would be no support in Sydney for the team, Vic V's NSW, they would call our wonderful sport Arial Ping Pong and it was Victoria's game. Melbourne Sydney rivalry was huge back then. Hindsight is a wonderful thing that I wish I had as I would have been happy knowing that it was talking our sport to the world. It makes me feel proud when people like yourself enjoy our game like we do. I'm going to see if I can find a Barry Round highlights, I remember him always standing out for South against my team the Tigers, he was built big and he was good. Thanks mate.

[@RobReacts1]

It's a crazy story's. Like it's a 9 hours drive distance.

[@XaviRonaldo0]

@@RobReacts1 barely an hour's flight

[@kevinrandall6769]

I’d rather our unique game be call aerial ping pong which is a much nicer way of describing our game, as Victorians we used to describe NRL players as arse sniffers and were playing an imported game.

[@sentimentalbloke185]

@@RobReacts1 yeah, so?

[@wellingtonsboots4074]

My father was a trainer at South in the 1950s early 60s. I used to watch them play every Saturday. When they went to Sydney it was like some part of me was ripped away. I tried to barrack for other teams but my heart was never in it. I love this club, I am a proud Sydney supporter, but it can't be the same. Go passed the old grandstand quite often, always brings back memories. Can really feel for Fitzroy supporters too. Thank you so much for this video and so glad you're a Bloods supporter. Football is so much more than a game.

[@RobReacts1]

How can you be the same type of supporter if the club is about 9 hours drive away. It's not possible so I get it. We have similar stories with Wimbledon in football

[@mathewkelly9968]

My dad still hasn't got over it 40 odd years on ........., I don't follow rugby league for a similar reason , I used to go for North Sydney Bears but they ain't been a team since super league failed here in the 90s ........ my baby sister supports the swans though . My brothers , my mother and I are all hawthorn supporters

[@sammy_dog]

I knew a bloke who played for South Melbourne in the 1945 bloodbath GF by the name of Brian Kelly it would be funny if you were related go Hawks

[@mathewkelly9968]

@@sammy_dog my great uncle

[@sammy_dog]

@@mathewkelly9968 o wow he was mates with my gran pa whenever i went Kelly (everyone called him Kelly not Brian) would be there most times the day my gran pa died he asked me to ring Kelly so he could meet him the hospital

[@Crackatinny-sj8dt]

As a 47 year supporter of south Melbourne/Sydney if they didn’t move we wouldn’t have a club now. I was 13 at the time and understood the need to move. My grandfather explained it to me very clearly. I remember him telling me in the mid 90s we would win a premiership within ten years. We won in 2005 for the first time in 72 years. It was 10 years since my grandfather said we would win.

[@Flamingbro69]

I mean the Swans were struggling financially at the time, and it even continued into the early years in Sydney, it got so bad that we nearly lost our club in 92 to those Financial Struggles, definitely a solid point.

[@scottdwyer2771]

I'm about the same age, and at the time my father was involved in recruiting. He told me the VFL withheld money from the club, in order to increase the financial decline. The club was poorly run, my father said he often saw bundles of cash left in drawers and cupboards, the management was bad, but the VFL certainly helped to manipulate the situation, as they did with Fitzroy. Never left them myself, grew up hating all the opposition, could not possibly have changed! Had to happen, but the VFL had a big hand in it, we knew that, and had to accept it.

[@gianatti1174]

You should react to the 2012 grand final, a great day for swans fans

[@jackaspley3283]

My mum was born and bred in Port Melbourne (next suburb from South Melbourne) and regularly went to games at Lakeside Oval in the 70s as a teenager. When South moved to Sydney she stopped following them and fell out of love with the game. It took over 20 years and me becoming a fanatical St Kilda supporter for her to adopt a new club. I can only imagine what it would have been like for people who had followed the club for 50+ years. A very sad chapter in VFL/AFL history in my opinion.

[@Twopennysau]

It’s a bit of a ‘South’ thing here in Oz - I know you haven’t done much on rugby league, but the South Sydney Rabbitohs (a foundation club) were excluded from the NRL in 2,000 but fought their way back for 2002. Now owned by Russell Crowe they won a premiership in 2014 and are currently sitting 4th on the ladder (round 12) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_South_Sydney_Rabbitohs

[@J--W]

The story of South Sydney's comeback from being excluded from NRL in 1999 to winning the competition in 2014 is amazing. It is a shame that NRL decided to exclude teams with great histories (Souths, North Sydney and Newtown) in order to expand geographically.

[@shannenbarrett3794]

Good video. There is a similar documentary about the Brisbane lions, and how they started a new team in Brisbane then merged them with a failing Fitzroy FC to become the Brisbane lions

[@dustingreskie2073]

Great to see you appreciating Aussie rules mate. The legendary South Melbourne/Sydney Swans Captain, Barry Round, ended his career in Victoria playing for Williamstown in what was then known as the "VFA". The 1990 VFA Grand Final between Springvale and Williamstown is EPIC! It's on youtube, so check it out if you get a chance.

[@RobReacts1]

Cheers mate. Il try take a look

[@debaffleck443]

I remember this happening It was really sad for the Southie's community ...the team survived financially BECAUSE they made the move... & I think one of the promises was that the club's SMFC heritage would be remembered... ...today, it's a bit sad how many don't seem to know that Sydney Swans was formerly South Melbourne Footy Club... Now I just shrug & say "Google it", since they don't believe me😂 Glad to watch this again, and seeing familiar faces Father Bob & Mike Willesee, etc

[@zaco21_]

In my opinion, Sydney Swans should have a Reserves team in Melbourne called ‘South Melbourne Swans/Bloods’ and play in the VFL State league. I reckon they would attract a lot of old Sth Supporters to local games on Saturday afternoons

[@terencemccarthy8615]

Thanks for this...I’m old enough to remember the whole South Melbourne/Sydney Swans saga..you also have to appreciate the whole Melbourne/Sydney rivalry which came into play...sending an Aussie Rules team into the heart of Rugby territory was a big deal...(Sydneysiders used to mock Aussie rules by calling it “aerial ping pong!...we in turn called their footy “thugby!)...that a Pom(👍) has taken an interest in our great game warms my heart....Cheers!....ps. Have subscribed....🇦🇺🇬🇧

[@RobReacts1]

Cheers Terence. To be fair people arnt wrong when they say it's aerial ping pong sometimes 🤪

[@HorseWithNoUsername]

Love what you're doing with your reacts Rob, because you're actually engaging with the material you watch, asking questions, making comments, interacting with the viewers. There's a doco along a similar line to this one called The Merge, all about the the final years of Fitzroy in the AFL which would be worth reacting to, perhaps recorded and then split into three or four parts? /watch?v=A4R2yFIq7TE

[@RobReacts1]

Cheers. Yea im trying to be different/better than other reactors who just go "WOOOAH A BIG HIT". I want to learn

[@newshound2521]

As an Aussie raised on footy but lived in England, the footy tribalism is the same. Yanks dont get it. They go for "franchises". We both bleed for out teams.

[@matthewcharles5867]

The colour s of the team are similar to the colours of a battalion, they mean everything to the true supporters.

[@davecowdrey6326]

North Melbourne have strong ties to Tasmania, Hawthorne does as well. Whenever either team have financial issues the move to Tasmania comes up. IMHO having so many teams in a concentrated area competing in a national league is part of the issue. It gives you a better understanding of why there so many grounds around the MCG :).

[@XaviRonaldo0]

Same thing with too many teams in Sydney in the NRL. If it wasn't for multiple mergers years ago many of those clubs would've folded.

[@666t]

Tassie wants Collingwood

[@sjwhatley2781]

No. There are no "strong ties". It's just sponsorship by the State Government. I hate the fact that when people move to Tassie they think we all support Hawthorn. Being a Geelong member I can say that's bollocks.

[@davecowdrey6326]

@@sjwhatley2781 I'm from SA. Not all people here are port/crows either. I don't think anyone was saying you all support them. I was more referring to the home games they swapped and if one of them were to move, it would most likely be there.

[@pollythefarmer9246]

I like that you think rather than just saying stuff like so many internet people. Somethings are complex.

[@RobReacts1]

To be fair sometimes i dont think :)

[@theacestealer]

React to the merger doco of Fitzroy lions merging with Brisbane bears to become the Brisbane lions

[@pauldobson2529]

My suspicion is that more Fitzroy fans just gave up on football, or at top-level football, when they moved, but I’ve only met one person who was a South fan who went to another club. He’s an arsehole anyway and followed Carlton…which should almost be sent to The Hague criminal court. I remember going to the last South vs Essendon game at the Lakeside. I reckon the crowd of roughly 30,000 was about 70% Dons fans (in the middle of the 15-game win streak). The Whale’s Cricket Club Hotel was rocking that night.

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Epic, Sydney were so excited, it was a massive event for us!! 👍😀🎉👏

[@andrewraczek8083]

If you want to look at another merger of a club. Check out 'The Merge'. It is on the Brisbane Lions YT Channel and it talks about Fitzroy Lions moving to Brisbane and merging with the Brisbane Bears to make the Brisbane Lions. It is a long doco but something to watch on your own time. On the back of Brisbane's guernsey it has BBFFC (Brisbane Bears Fitzroy Football Club)

[@Ngreaves]

If you liked this you should watch ‘the merge’. It’s when the Fitzroy lions joined the Brisbane bears to create the Brisbane lions.

[@ronaldolio76]

Great video Rob, Most of us don't choose a club, Boy's follow Dad's team and Girls follow Mum, sometimes it's the other way. I wouldn't follow another side if the Swans had folded. I was only 7 when they left, I asked dad should we still follow them. He said As long as the jumpers are red and white we do. There was a period 91-93 we only won 3 games in 3 seasons, There was talk of changing the colors to 2 blues to match the N.S.W state colors. Luckily things turned around after that, we have become a very strong club with a great culture and respect for our history as South Melbourne Football Club.

[@RobReacts1]

honestly the culture is very similar to our football!

[@wyattnolte]

I grew up in NSW. Half the town were swans supporters ever since an ex captain retired there and played for the local team. Worked out well that they moved to Sydney I guess. There's probably some less depressing videos out there about the swans history before and after the move.

[@stevemurrell6167]

As a Swans supporter pretty much from my birth, no way did I want my club to move to Sydney but it was inevitable for survival. Once it happened, I stuck with them and now think it was a great move.....we are now a respected 'power club' and we never forget our South Melbourne history. The 2005 GF banner said "Two Cities, One Team' and the number of old South fans at the MCG that day was phenomenal. The Red and White are a proud bunch.

[@lking8355]

As a lifetime swans supporter bare in mind I am 18 have only ever known the swans in Sydney so this was really helpful for me as well but please watch some happier times especially the 2005 premiership so epic and 2012 premiership

[@RobReacts1]

IV got the 2005 final to watch when I get a chance.

[@marko651]

For a bit of interest part of the old South Melbourne ground can be seen each lap of the Australian Grand Prix as the the track goes right past it , i think its the 3rd or 4th corner from the starting grid .

[@TBoneTony]

I wasn't born at the time when South Melbourne moved to Sydney, but I certainly do remember Fitzroy merging with Brisbane in 1996. There was also the planned Melbourne and Hawthorn merger that happened around the same time when Fitzroy was about to play their final few games before their merger and even then there were Hawthorn Legends of the game who felt they needed to merge with Melbourne to save their club, as well as Hawthorn Legends of the game who saw the merger with Melbourne as a Trojin Horse like with Don Scott's speech about a Velcro Hawk on a Melbourne Guernsey that was easy to peel off. Back in 1989 there was the entire Fitzroy and Footscray merger where the Lions fans wanted to save Fitzroy while the Bulldog fans also wanted to save Footscray and the media at the time were only focusing on the fans trying to raise money to save Footscray and they didn't really show much about the fans on the other side trying to raise money to save their side. When the merger between Footscray and Fitzroy was aborted and the two were left to survive on their own, there was a huge amount of support for Footscray from their fans and it seemed that the Fitzroy supporters were left out in the cold after all the money they raised to save their club too. In the end, it was a disaster for Fitzroy both publicly to be seen as the enemy of that proposed merger that really painted a real negative picture of them as the club continued to struggle financially which caused them to be in a state where they could have folded any time between 1990 to 1996 when they did eventually merge with Brisbane. The entire topic of mergers was also at the time when the VFL/AFL was trying to expand their competition to make it a Australian Wide National Competition and of course, that meant expanding to have teams in Sydney and in Brisbane, teams 2 each in Adelaide and 2 teams in Perth. The sides in Melbourne who were either forced into relocation or merger talks felt like it was because they were seen as the sacrifice in order to allow the newer teams from interstate to come into the competition. When in reality even if the VFL/AFL did try to save those struggling clubs, they themselves were almost going on the path of being broke as well. It was a really hard time for the VFL in the 70s and 80s as well as when they became the AFL in the 90s, it was really uncertain of the future of the competition. If the AFL went under, the lower tier leagues like the VFA and the Metro and Country leagues would have folded too.

[@benwhite6261]

The merge, is another cracking video about Fitzroy/Brisbane. It’s an amazing documentary

[@gamegeek812]

I also recommend the docoumentary A Bear is Born. It's about the formation of the Brisbane Bears and their first season in the VFL in 1987.

[@shaundgb7367]

Wow, this is good history lesson. I watching and although I remember South Melbourne re-locating to Sydney in early 1980's, I was just a little kid in first few seasons of following football and really did not understand what was happening. It just happened but now as an adult finding out what went on right at the time. The man John Rantall, I assumed for most of this video was an ex-player and he became the figure head of the keep South at South lobby group. Seventy percent of way through the video, I now find out he was still playing at the time. Crazy to think there were players split in a big way and he was on same team but socially seen as a leper for trying to keep his club at South.

[@RobReacts1]

But thats what happens when people are trying to do whats best in their opinion. Just look at Brexit over here

[@nicegan8902]

You should look up videos about the Fitzroy-Brisbane merger and also the story of Port Adelaide's transition from the South Australian league to the AFL. I recommend "We Are Port Adelaide Induction Video".

[@geoffreywheatley7711]

What happened to South Melbourne is not a isolated incident Brisbane Lions used to be (Fitzroy football club) and the Western Bulldogs used to be the (Footscray football club)

[@christopherharvie8716]

If only South got the chances Fitzroy & Footscray got…

[@mathewkelly9968]

The VFL did become the AFL but it would be more accurate to equate the VFL with reserve side , plus Port Melbourne which is a stand alone club .

[@jmc7636]

Carn the Burroughs.

[@Oakleyt]

There was a team called Fitzroy as well in AFL but there no more

[@paulpowell7424]

Fitzroy Lions merged with Brisbane Bears to become Brisbane Lions

[@Oakleyt]

@@paulpowell7424 yeah but there still completely differently branded

[@barrysimpson2955]

You need to get to game in Sydney and then get to Melbourne for another. The support in Melbourne is Huge the Swans might have flown North to Sydney but the heart still beats strong in Melbourne.

[@RobReacts1]

well i expect i will come down under next year for sure!

[@michaellivingston72]

Hi Rob, this period was the darkest in the clubs history, the fact that the decision was made without memeber support is what made it worse, the vfl then could have provided the club with money to survive, but they refused, the options they were left with were to either fold, merge with St kilda or move to Sydney, and looking at this video it was obvious that while it's painful to lose South Melbourne, at least the swans would never disappear despite appearing in sydney Also I would suggest looking at the swans hall of fame era videos, they provide a bigger overview of the club aside from this period up til 2011

[@RobReacts1]

If you got a link that would be great. It's almost the lesser of two evils as I said

[@michaellivingston72]

This is the opening for the hall of fame kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6rad2WeiNCkhrc

[@michaellivingston72]

This is the 1st era video kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2PVqmVvirqie5Y

[@michaellivingston72]

2nd kzbin.info/www/bejne/maqtfYGer65npZI

[@michaellivingston72]

3rd kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5SspYGEj7ypo5o

[@primetime4920]

My dad was at South Melbournes last game and my uncle played in the Big M little league at half time

[@RobReacts1]

oh incredible!

[@perarduaadastra7648]

I think this is one of your best videos. I was a bit surprised that you decided on Sydney Swans because of their origins. But you obviously didn’t know, so I’m glad you were keen enough to find out. I remember when the Swans transition to Sydney happened and it was a very sad time, everyone in Victoria had sympathy for South Melbourne. A similar thing happened to Fitzroy which is now the Brisbane Lions. To their credit both clubs have done their best to launch and promote our game in the largely Rugby League territory of NSW and QLD (thereby pioneering a National competition) but also engaging their original core supporters in Victoria. It also helped when they won their Premierships and have become as successful on the field as well. Aussie Rules is definitely tribal, especially in Melbourne. Also the rivalry between NSW and VIC is a very real thing, even now my mother (who has represented Australia and Victoria in her sport) absolutely hates losing to NSW. So it is not just for Aussie Rules, it is absolutely cultural. I like how you keep mentioning the distances in Australia. It is a long way, but we are used to it! I found it more frustrating driving in the UK because all your towns are so close together and whilst we can make it to Sydney in a day, driving the same distance in the UK would take you much longer because of the population density. All clubs fly to their interstate matches, the drive out to Geelong is about as far as they go in a car! For a bit of a feel of how the VFL was like in the 70’s (just before South Melbourne went to Sydney) see if you can watch “The Club” a film about AFL, it is comedy but contains grains of truth and it was set at a time when Aussie Rules went from being purely amateur to very early professional. Some of the actors are actual players, that played at the time (Rene Kink, Ray Shaw, Peter Daicos, Ronnie Wearmouth just to name a few) and one of the Assistant Coaches is actually the real Coach of Collingwood at the time, the legendary Tom Hafey. Good for a laugh and a bit of background.

[@RobReacts1]

Well I made the claim that if anyone sent me a shirt then that would be the team I support. Also I like they are red and white like my football team Southampton! And the tribalism thing is one serious similarity with my football/soccer. I have the example of Wimbledon going out of business and becoming mk Dons. I love these student videos!

[@perarduaadastra7648]

@@RobReacts1 Thanks for your response. Interestingly enough Sydney Swans did flirt with Private Ownership in the early 80s but it failed. ( I think much to everyone’s relief). There is just not enough money to sustain this in Australia so it probably is a good thing it reverted to member owned. Personally I would not like to see it go down the same line as your sport, I think it would lose it’s charm. BTW if you like “mullets” check out one of the most famous ones (he played for Sydney) Warwick Capper!

[@RobReacts1]

@@perarduaadastra7648 I bloody hate mullets!! Haha Yea everyone can see what's happening in football but the money makes people forget and blinds people.

[@perarduaadastra7648]

@@RobReacts1 I agree about the money thing👍🏻. I am not crazy about mullets either (bit of a military background). But even though Warwick was not the sharpest tool in the box he could definitely play football! 🇦🇺

[@seanlynch1185]

it's called a jumper in Victoria not a stupid gurnsey . Nobody says "gurnsey punch" or "held by the gurnsey" or "his gurnsey is ripped". It is a jumper people!

[@RobReacts1]

It's called neither! A jumper is a thick winter piece of clothing like a hoodie. Technically it's a vest 😉

[@blueycarlton]

Its a Guernsey, as in the island in the English Channel, not a gurnsey or a Jersey or a shirt. Jumper is ok. Woollen guernsies could hold a colour dye, and blue dye was the best. Essendon in their early days wore blue with a red sash. Their socks were black and red which was much easier to dye. Later "modern" dyes allowed multiple colours.

[@bernadettelanders7306]

@@RobReacts1 my dad, sister and brother went to the footy every single week for a long as I remember as a kid, die hard footy followers when it was the VFL. We always called it a footy jumper.

[@christopherharvie8716]

@@RobReacts1in Victoria it’s mostly definitely called a jumper. The use of gurnsey is a good way of picking if someone hasn’t grown up with the game if they don’t use the term jumper.

[@galoglaich3281]

Wimbledon were going to move to dublin at one stage which went down like a tonne of bricks.

[@RobReacts1]

no surely not!

[@galoglaich3281]

@@RobReacts1 About 27 years ago they were going to build a 40 000 capacity stadium and lay on charter flights for the london supporters.

[@RobReacts1]

@@galoglaich3281 oh christ haha... That doesn't seem viable

[@christopherharvie8716]

That team did move. The original Wimbledon is now known as Milton Keynes Dons. The Wimbledon that exists these days is a different club.

[@kevinrandall6769]

Bobby Skilton was the captain of the SMFC and if you reckon Dusty was good well Bobby was the Dusty of his day he won 3 Brownlow medals he was a small man in height under 6 ft but he was just a ball of muscle he used to do these stab kicks they were fast and always hit their mark and if you weren’t ready for one they’d just about cut you in half so google him and react to some of his games

[@blueycarlton]

Oh yes, Skilts was a wonderful footballer. Dusty doesn't compare with Bobby's skills who played week after week on suburban mud heaps, in a game that was played by men. Beautiful kick with either foot, drop, punt, stab kicks. I met him once when he was still playing, he visited where I worked, I was awe struck. The tribalism in the Australian game has always been there, it was there from the beginnings of the sport. The teams represented the area where you lived, they are now inner suburban areas, Fitzroy, St.Kilda, Carlton, North and South Melbourne, Richmond. South's red and white come from the Albert Park club which they merged with in the 1870 's.

[@geoffegan9424]

I remember when it happen & I'm a Richmond supporter & I wished that they would have stayed.

[@christopherharvie8716]

The only time I saw my Dad cry other than South’s last game was at Mum’s funeral. It makes me angry when Fitzroy supporters moan “the same thing happened to us” when their club was offered life line after life line for over a decade and the club couldn’t be saved. If South had got half the chances Fitzroy had got they probably would’ve made a better fist of it than Fitzroy ever did. But they copped it because they have another club hanging off them now. The Swans are still the same organisation.

[@ramiromaia592]

That guy on channel 7 reporting was a part owner of the Sydney Swans

[@RobReacts1]

I bet it was a real tricky time

[@ramiromaia592]

His name was Mike Willesee who has since passed away decided along with Dr Geoffrey Eddleston a wealthy businessman to take over but it didn't improve relations with the old South Melbourne faithful until the club was sold back to the AFL because of disgraced fugitive businessman Christopher Skase who also had ownership who had a hotel company which collapsed and he fled to Spain in exile who died before the Australian Federal Police could extradite him to face trial for his corporate crimes

[@sentimentalbloke185]

@@ramiromaia592 No. Edelsten 'bought' the Swans in 1985 but was never the owner as he didn't have the money, he had to source it from others. He was ousted after a year or so, the true owners, Powerplay, went broke so the league bought back the license for $10 in 1988. Willesee (& a couple of others) became involved at this point & formed a consortium to buy the club & inject some funds. It was unsuccessful as the team sat at the bottom & was effectively broke. They owned the club until 1992 when the idea of private ownership was discredited & the licence again reverted to the league. Willesee had nothing to do with Edelsten, they disliked each other. Skase had nothing to do with the Swans, full stop.

[@cy_bels]

Not so related to this. But back when they were south Melbourne they were the bloods and this season they have often been referred to as the young bloods because it reminds people of the old south Melbourne days.

[@RobReacts1]

Oh that's cool. Well I still get plenty of people saying the bloods in the comments

[@Crackatinny-sj8dt]

Most of these players opposed to the move have now embraced the Sydney team. They are highly respected by the current day players.

[@duyle4507]

If want more watch the merge when Brisbane bears and fiztory lions became the Brisbane lions

[@theiaofseed]

Members saved the Hawthorn football club, they voted NO to a merger with Melbourne, risk folding than losing it's identity.

[@Reece_Hart]

If you're keen on a similar situation I'd recommend trying to watch a doco that's on youtube called "The Merge." It's about when the Fitzroy Lions had to merge with the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions. The whole thing was a mess

[@RobReacts1]

Yea someone else has said about that! Crazy

[@Flamingbro69]

Great Video Mate, definitely gonna look more into your Channel. Carn the Swans 🦢🔴⚪️

[@RobReacts1]

oh please do. Iv been looking deeper that other reactors :)

[@XaviRonaldo0]

3:01 I'm a Sydneysider and all I remember is Sydney Swans and my first memory of being any sort of AFL fan is their grand final in the 90s against WC Eagles. I'm too young to remember them being in Melbourne. But I do remember the merger between the Brisbane Bears and a team this guy mentioned Fitzroy Lions.

[@gamegeek812]

If it was the 90s then that GF would have been against North Melbourne in 1996.

[@XaviRonaldo0]

@@gamegeek812 ok it must've been a prelim final or something I remember. I've never been a huge AFL fan

[@dietermeyer3531]

I was just looking at Google maps to see where it was situated and it is at Albert Park where they normally do F1 racing, I'm just wondering at that time was South Melbourne like a poor suburb and that's the reason why they couldn't get the revenue or was there another reason why they left revenue wise

[@XaviRonaldo0]

The team hadn't been successfully in decades...

[@shaundgb7367]

@@XaviRonaldo0 South Melbourne won their 3rd premiership in 1933. So in 1981 the club had not won a premiership in 48 years. Combination of not a fluent suburb in early 80's and generations of lack of success would have played into it. I think the 1970's increasingly was when clubs were spending bigger money to recruit players from interstate leagues and other clubs so if you over spent in those times it was easy to get in real financial strife. I think in 2000's South Melbourne is a trendy inner suburb of Melbourne but 40 years ago, certainly a tried old inner suburb and a tired old football club struggling to keep up with the times.

[@christopherharvie8716]

Geographic situation didn’t help. Traditionally a club’s supporters were from an area that radiated out into the outer suburbs from the clubs”home” suburb is. This is why you’ll find more Collingwood,Carlton. & Essendon supporters in the northern suburbs, Bulldogs own the south western suburbs Richmond & Hawthorn will mostly come from the east St Kilda down south by the bay. South’s area shoots straight out into Port Phillip Bay. So unless you can get seals to buy memberships they were always at a disadvantage. This explains Fitzroy’s small fan base as Collingwood & Carlton consumed Fitzroy’s share, same goes for North.

[@andrewj7432]

This isn’t the first. South Melbourne became Sydney Swans, then Fitzroy Lions merged with the Brisbane Bears (yeah, fuckin drop bears 🤣) but returned to Lions. Then they tried to merge Footscray with North Melbourne (that failed) then Melbourne and Hawthorn to merge, another failure. North Melbourne is struggling again and there’s a push to have a Tasmanian team. I’d love to see a Tassie team get up in the AFL. I don’t love footy like I used to love it. It’s like you said Rob a corporate game of chess now.

[@RobReacts1]

Yea, the game is dull. No passion and money has corrupted all aspects of the game

[@tobyweiss1010]

AFL was and still is headquartered in Melbourne. The southern states desperately wanted to spread the game across the country. South Melbourne were broke and going out of business. So to cut to the chase they were transferred to Sydney and turned into the Sydney Swans. The move has been largely successful but people in Sydney who support the club do get annoyed that most people from Melbourne just keep on referring to the Swans as South Melbourne. As far as they're concerned the Swans are still a Melbourne team. A smarter marketing move would have been to disband South Melbourne and create a totally new club in Sydney offering new contracts to any Souths players who wanted to join up. Since those days a completely new Sydney club has been created called GWS (Greater Western Sydney) Giants. They are quite successful and have given Sydney a genuine team to support probably capturing a lot of Swans supporters in the process.

[@sjwhatley2781]

Have you learnt the club song yet? Every club has one, which is played as each team comes on the ground and the winning team's song is played at the end. And the winning players sing it in the rooms after. And no it's not like LFC and You'll Never Walk Alone

[@RobReacts1]

so I have a video, which is quite long of all the club songs. IV not listened properly but they sound very.... 80s...

[@jmc7636]

@@RobReacts1 most of the club songs are way earlier than 80s....they dare back to the 20s or earlier.... Feelings song is to the Toredor Song from Carmen, Fitzroy/Brisbane rip off the French national anthem, Hawks use Yankee Doodle, the Tiges use Row, Row, Row .... ya better to watch the players sing it post match, or the fans.... here are some swannies links... kzbin.info/www/bejne/onmynJprqJd9p5o kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHqTe3R8r7l3jsU And cos for crowd singing of a club song, this one nails it... kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKannZqidrKsnLM ...not swannies but worth checkin out

[@J--W]

It's interesting to compare how AFL & NRL went about expansion in the 1980s and 90s. Both sought to spread their professional games beyond the hotbeds of Melbourne and Sydney, but it seems that Aussie Rules favoured transplanting existing clubs (South Melbourne and Fitzroy) to cities outside of their traditional area (Sydney & Brisbane), whereas Rugby League excluded existing clubs from the competition (Newtown, North Sydney & initially South Sydney) or merged clubs (Wests & Balmain, St George & Illawarra) and then created new clubs elsewhere (Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland). In more recent years, both have expanded the number of teams by introducing brand new teams.

[@nicegan8902]

And then there is the unique case of Port Adelaide, which is the oldest football club in South Australia and dominated the local state league so much that it was kinda determined that a national Australian Rules league would not be legitimate without them.

[@J--W]

@@nicegan8902 I've got to admit that I'm no expert on AFL (I'm a rugby league fan from the UK so my knowledge of Australian sport is pretty much limited to NRL). What I do know of AFL is based on conversations with blokes from Victoria and SA that I've played cricket with. Am I right that when VFL became AFL they wanted to include teams from SA and when Port Adelaide agreed to join, the other SA clubs took legal action to stop them? As I understand it, that is why AFL established Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide's entry to AFL was delayed to 1997.

[@nicegan8902]

@@J--W yea pretty much. For SA and WA the VFL/AFL always had the strategy of establishing a composite team 1st and then a "well established club" second. In WA this worked out with the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle was established because East and South Fremantle were strong local clubs and the Fremantle area had a slightly different identity from Perth. The two Fremantle clubs didn't want to merge or anything so a new club had to be established. In SA, the local league was so dead set against cooperating with the VFL that they decided to try to reverse the order and approached Port Adelaide directly. The reaction from the rest of South Australia was to create the Adelaide Crows to block Port. Then a few years later when it was time to have a second South Australian club in the AFL, there was only one option. One little fun fact is that although the introduction of the Crows led to a decline in attendances in the local league generally, Port Adelaide's attendances actually went up 14%. The Port/Crows rivalry is very much a contuation of the Port/rest of South Australia division that has defined South Australian football in one way or another for over 100 years.

[@RobReacts1]

I find it fascinating!

[@J--W]

@@RobReacts1 the story of South Sydney Rabbitohs (Rugby League) is fascinating - I've tried to find a video to recommend to you, but haven't found anything suitable yet. Like AFL, the NRL expanded into areas outside of its traditional heartlands in the 80s & 90s (there is a real sporting split in Aus, to the extent that the term 'footy' in Queensland & New South Wales refers to rugby league, whereas in Victoria, South Australia & Western Australia it means Aussie Rules). The NRL didn't move teams like AFL did, but reduced the number of teams in Sydney by encouraging mergers or expelling teams from the competition to make room for teams from other locations. In 1999 they expelled South Sydney (who were founding members of the game in Australia and had won the premiership more times than any other team - although not since about 1970). Souths took the NRL, ARL & all the other clubs to court, who ruled in their favour. They were readmitted to the NRL in 2002. Russell Crowe (a long time fan) and others bought the team in 2006 and they won the NRL in 2014 for the 1st time in 43 years (the Grand Final where Sam Burgess played with a broken cheekbone). It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a decent video about it on youtube - I'll keep an eye out for one and let you know if I find anything.

[@sisterbee]

Lol aerial pingpong you taught me something fella

[@RobReacts1]

haha!

[@martindunstan8043]

Sorry Rob I was late for this one, it's brilliant that you do all aspects of sports plus other material👍 this stops it becoming yawnsville this was a great bit of history and I was going to say about pompey and saints when you said it and the anger would be apocalyptic 😂 I'm from Portsmouth but don't live there now but there would be riots,silly but it's a way of life for the hardcore. Great video mate interesting and different ✌️🍻🍻👍

[@RobReacts1]

Thanks marting. And im so sorry you have to be from Pompey 😂. Im learning that the culture of AFL is so similar to the culture of football!

[@martindunstan8043]

@@RobReacts1 ohhh! Not a saints fan are you? officials must remain impartial/neutral at all times in their professional capacity! Although born there I live abroad on the Isle of Wight😂 and don't care much for club football to be honest but nevertheless I like your reactions mate ✌️👍🍻🍻

[@RobReacts1]

@@martindunstan8043 of course I'm a saint. Although I'm very dissolutioned by football these days as you may be able to tell from my videos. I live in Eastleigh but from Winchester

[@martindunstan8043]

@@RobReacts1 well at least you're close to the airport for a quick escape just don't wear red and white on the plane as we have enemy spotters in cosham and hayling island on the flight path😂😂take care buddy and I look forward to your next video (video!!! I'm old(49) I don't know what you kids call them but they're good) Cheers mate gotta go I can hear a plane😂🍻🍻✌️

[@RobReacts1]

@@martindunstan8043 haha cheers mate

[@lucas_ibrahim_]

Great video mate. My grandad played for South Melbourne in the 70s

[@RobReacts1]

thats awesome mate!

[@gamegeek812]

I recommend History of The AFL - The Teams (1897-2019) by the channel Matt N.

[@pauldobson2529]

When I worked for an old Swans fan in about 2005-6, he’d always talk about bringing the hostages home from Sydney. Ironically, he was on a plane and missed their first flag since 1933.

[@RobReacts1]

Haha good story!

[@gamegeek812]

Please react to the We Are Port Adelaide Inductiob Video on their official channel.

[@karencramer6491]

The Aussie passion for Aussie Rules can be summed up by the first question any new face in town is asked - 'So, who do you barrack for?'

[@RobReacts1]

Now in English are you asking who I support?

[@karencramer6491]

@@RobReacts1 Sorry. Didn't realise barrack was an Aussie term. Aussies don't support , they 'barrack for'.

[@johncarr878]

@@karencramer6491 The term ‘barrack’ comes from the rowdy English soldiers who frequented very early football matches in Melbourne, who were stationed at the barracks on St Kilda Rd, and were known as ‘barrackers’

[@karencramer6491]

@@johncarr878 Thanks for that. Often wondered.

[@karencramer6491]

@@RobReacts1 Oh, forgot to mention. It's also a question you'll get asked at a job interview. No wrong answer.

[@ramiromaia592]

Please react to the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions merger video

[@stephenhoward358]

This how we get divided

[@felicitymoore7340]

Look up Fitzroy Lions Football Club. They were merged with the Brisbane Bears on the 4th July 1996, so were now known as the Brisbane Lions. Disgusting, we were shattered as a Family. My now 95yo Father had been a supporter of Fitzroy from when he was a child. We followed them to Brisbane. And watch the matches from Melbourne on TV.

[@RobReacts1]

How far is the distance location wise?

[@gamortie]

@@RobReacts1 1700+kms. If you look closely at the back of the Lions’ jumper, you’ll see the letters B.B.F.F.C., which stands for Brisbane Bears Fitzroy Football Club, so it’s a true merger of both clubs, not just a takeover.

[@peterflynn2111]

There have been failed attempts at private ownership Swans in 85 under Dr Geoff Edelstein now that was a wild ride; Brisbane Bears in the early years in both occassions league had to step in, as you well know from premier league privatisation is very dodgy; All clubs are membership based with supplementary income from multi billion dollar tv rights etc

[@MajorMalfunction]

I was at the very last game the South Melbourne Swans played against the Footscray Bulldogs at the Western Oval. The Dogs won. But they tried it on the Dogs first. I remember waking up one morning to the news on the radio saying the Footscray Bulldogs were being disbanded and sent to Queensland. That very day 100,000 people turned up at the oval in protest. They got scared. By "they" I mean the corporatists that were trying to monetise what was up until then a local sport. The reason was there was only one team that represented the entire west side. They still got their way. They renamed the team "Western Bulldogs". But they're still the.. "Sons of the 'Scrays! Red white and blue! We'll come out smiling, if we win or lose. Others build their teams, my lads, and think they know the game... But you can't beat the boys of the Bulldog breed, That made Old Footscray's name!"

[@RugbyLeaguePassport]

The rugby league went through a similar thing here in Aus. A rival league “super league” was formed and the code split in to 2. Extra teams were created to make up the numbers but in just 3 years were reduced from 22 teams to 14. Some merged, some were axed and some came back. Loyalty to the ARL or defection to the Super League didn’t matter when it came to being one of the 14 remaining teams in season 2000. Unfortunately some of the original foundation clubs from 1908 didn’t survive on their own and the now United league the NRL has lost many fans from the pre 2000 era. The “super league war” is considered the games darkest era. The super league brought in some positives like the ties with pay tv and having all games televised and having a video referee. But it also brought in greed, a lot of money and killed off loyalty and tens of thousands of fans across the country.

[@shoominati23]

That was cause Murdoch was trying to buy up all forms of sport that he could, what happens to these teams when the corporate money leaves though?

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Its like losing your local pub or train station, there is hope in long standing traditions surviving! All change is hard, too much press propoganda is destructive, sad that all the players and families were affected too! 👍 They weren't moving to Alaska!! 😏

[@ramiromaia592]

St Kilda were their fierce rivals because both teams were southern suburbs of Melbourne

[@jaynebuchanan4955]

They are still South Melbourne, temporarily residing in Sydney. We still have the members club here, and when we won the Grand Final, we celebrated at the Lakeside Oval, the spiritual home. NSW and Qld. have always been rugby states. Why did we have to push in with our game? Also worst of all, was Sydney!! Melbourne and Sydney have always had intense rivalry, and disdain for each other. This made it worse. Never mind they are The Swans, or The Bloods from South Melbourne. Same colours and team song.

[@davonet]

The Swans get 6 games in Melbourne each season that their "South Melbourne" members get access to.

[@RobReacts1]

Oh really. Well that's good of them. I'm sure there can't be many old fans travelling the 9 hours to Sydney every other week.

[@neilgayleard3842]

Milton Keynes.

[@lisasteel6817]

Go The Bloods!

[@newshound2521]

Ironically players wanted to go because they were going to get better everything. The fans of course lose. My team was briefly financially threatened. I think.i would stick if it was another city. I read about a guy that left South for Fitzroy. Ouch.

[@jimr4354]

It was very unfortunate for supporters at the time but it really was a case of lose your club all together or have a compromise in the move to Sydney. Just like a business,you need to make a profit to survive. The club had been bleeding badly (no pun intended) for 5 years. The VFL wouldn’t bail them out understandably. Losing $150000 a year 40 years ago was a lot of money for a football club. Unless they found some healthy financial supporters or sponsors like clubs have now they were history and that was the case. Your similar situation is slightly different as Sydney was/is a rugby state. If the club had become a S.A. or WA club,there would have been a real hullabaloo. S.A. and Vic are arch enemies. It’s worked out now and the move has paid dividends. Sydney and Brisbane were hard markets to break into as they were and still are hardline rugby states. Triple premierships to the Lions in the early 2000’s and to the Swans in 05 and 12 helped to change that. Still the smart assess in the thugs sport still believe it’s aerial ping pong. All jealously of course because they know it’s so much more popular than theirs. Kiwis like having a jab there too but hey do we care..They have all of those sheep to look after. Obviously a lot of wool over their eyes blinding them from recognising what a great game Aussie Rules is. Ignorance is bliss. Pleased you didn’t choose one of those pesky Victorian clubs especially Collingwood. You’d see your subs plummet and abuse rise (Collingwood supporters are good at that). Keep up the great reviews.

[@RobReacts1]

haha iv been warned right from the start about collingwood. ABC apparently :D

[@glencharles1129]

Then when they arrive here in Sydney they had to fight for acceptance. Sydney was not AFL friendly and it took over a decade for anything close to success.

[@RobReacts1]

It is also 9 hour drive from Melbourne!

[@shoominati23]

It's the same thing with the Dockers here in WA, everyone craps on them all year and says how they love the Eagles, but when they're in with contention in the finals, they are suddenly fans

[@cdhope2008]

It south Melbourne had have stayed in Melbourne there would be NO club

[@RobReacts1]

Yea it was the lesser or two evils

[@stephenhoward358]

I think we need to live in reality it's a game to distract us

[@cdhope2008]

Fitsroy stad in Melbourne now there is no club

[@stephenhoward358]

I Was a hawthorn supporter I've quit

[@____Riley____]

Definitely would recommend watching this video called the history of the AFL. It basically is a timeline of the team and league changes throughout the VFL/AFL’s time. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3irn513otNnmas

[@stephenhoward358]

South Sydney rabbits came back the nrl

[@Nifty-shotZ]

1997 crows GF

[@sportsnut69]

Gws were the first Sydney side tenchically

[@JackMcSomeone]

South moved to Sydney in 1982. GWS didn't come in until 2012

[@sportsnut69]

@@JackMcSomeone yeah but you could say Sydney are still a Melbourne team

[@athlonen]

@@JackMcSomeone No.. he's actually correct when you think about it. the Swans are a transplant team. They moved there from South Melbourne, while GWS is a team that was purely founded in Sydney.

[@JackMcSomeone]

@@athlonen True

[@ronaldolio76]

@@athlonen Correct which means Technically there only first side "created" in Sydney not the first Sydney side, that will always be the swans

[@abandonedstraya5264]

You should do a Fiztroy or brisbane bears doco on those clubs