FAB FOOTY GEAR Long sleeved T's. Choose from Swans or Footychick (red on white T} or Magpies (in black on white T OR white on Black T}. Quality 1 00% cotton. $25• Want to see a Footyzine T Shirt for your team -just ask! ~--- \\Footy Jumpers Traditional-style Swans guernseys \ with Footyzine badge. \ $60• - Footyzine Badges \ Fully embroidered cloth patch (11 Omm x 65mm) Red, white and black. $10• Make cheques payable to OUR ZINE CITY and send with your size (S,M,L) and details of order to: PO Box 199 Newtown NSW 2042. *Prices include postage & handling. Please allow 21 days for delivery. FOOTYZINE #S AUTUMN 1998 lssn# 1327 -7030 pp# 241218/0047 Publisher: Our line City, PO Box 199 Newtown 204 2 Production: Eddie Greenaway, Di Buckley & Angelo Greenaway Contributors: Editorial: Stephen Marmo, Jo-Anne Roberts, Tel: (02) 95577929 PA O'Neill, Peter Tunn, SD Murphy, Mobile: 0418 451157 Craig John Wilson, Steve Miller, PO Box 199 Newtown 2042 Tracey Brunton, Ross Cornsew, Email: [email protected] Peter Lewis, Nathan Kelly, Neill Jones Subscriptions: Bill Solomon, Craig Nelson, Anton Hosell, 3 issues for $10 - send cheques to Our Zine City -stating Peter Lewis which issue you would like to commence with. Thanks: Footyzine is created by footyfons for footyfons. Poul Schumacher - Earthquake Produce, Cheer Cheer the Red & the White! (South California USA, Simon Lonergan - The T-Shirt Printers, Melbourne/Sydney, North Adelaide, South Fremontle, The Newtown Footy Crew, Brendon Povey, St.George & Robinvole Footy Clubs) Peter Hiscock & The NSW AFL, Helen Meyer, John Tunn, All published material reflects the views of contributors and Koren Gilbert & The Collingwood Football Club are not necessarily those of the publisher. Helen Meyer - the new voice of the Swans Footyzine congratulates Helen Meyer, 2NBC's footy presenter, who will be ground announcing at the SCG this season. Mark Bayes and Craig Davis are two fans eagerly awaiting her call. PHOTO BY PETER LEWIS cu By Eddie Greenaway ell footy fans, another season is W upon us and barrackers for all clubs are filled with enthusiasm at this time of year. Unfortunately for many poor souls, the first month or two will crush the life out of their naive dreams. However, for the long suffering (and not so long suffering) followers of the Red and the White this year will be different: For three reasons, at least, 1998 will be the year of The Mighty Swans. The legends last chance. It is a sad but true fact that our current crop of legends includes a number of super stars who are getting close to the end of the line. As sad as it seems, I'm reconciled to the fact that one day I'll Roosy wake up to read that Plugger, Baysey and have graduated to full time golfing at Terrey Hills and that Dale Lewis has become anchorman on Triple M in Melbourne and OB has graduated to The Bar full time. So with time running out I'm sure they'll pull out all stops and along with new veteran recruit Schwassy will give the flag one hell of a bloody shake! A voiding the Golden Spoon St.Kilda making the Grannie and getting so close last year sent a shiver up the spine of many a Swan historian. The Club stalwarts realise that one record that we don't bloody need is just around the corner. That record is the longest premiership drought in VFUAFL history - "The Golden Spoon". The current champion losers are St. Kilda (that's right. who else!). The Saints took from 1897 until 1966 to win their first flag, 69 bloody years! However, the Swans are now closing in rapidly on this dubious title. As PART 1: THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH our last flag was won in 1933, by the year 2003 we'll be the undisputed heavyweight losers of all time - unless something is done about it in the meantime. Leaving this heavy responsibility up to a bunch of new kids is a bit unfair and given the extremely brief previous "golden periods" enjoyed by the club since the War - Runners up in 1945, finalists in 1970, 1977, 1986 and 1987 and now runners up 1996 and finalists in 1997, a Swans supporter would be unwise to expect a golden era to last very long, or to reappear very quickly once the normal ordinary form has returned. - Geez, 1993 was only 5 years ago after all! so to cut a long story short, Now is the hour of our salvation! Do It for Bobby! Finally, only one hero of the Bloods last flag is still kicking, the Mighty Bob Pratt, and I'm sure he'd love to see the flag once more flying in Clarendon Street before he puts away the boots for the last time. Bob was wheeled around the G in '96 only to be disap­ pointed with the final outcome, this time he'll really be able to "Cheer Cheer The Red & The White!" along with thousands of other souls on both sides of the Barassi line. WHO IS THAT TALL, DARK, HANDSOME PLAYER?? Captioned "KICKETI AND RUN: Swan Derek Kickett takes charge against Brisbane yesterday", this picture of Troy Cook occupied most of page 137 of Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph, February 15, 1998. Come on guys, get it right. by Jo-Anne Roberts he old Bloods supporters had much to was a big step towards the club's T feel aggrieved about for a long time. ingratiation of we southern disenfranchised The Sydney usurpation of 1983 and the types. subsequent years of Sydney's neglect of Melbourne left a bad taste in many a South Lea Miller heads the Melbourne office of the mouth for a long time. Swans which, in November, moved from its city base into Bloods' heartland; into the But somehow, season '96 united supporters Albert Park Hotel in Dundas Place . Aaah, so from north and south (no , not THAT North, close to the Lake , Bloods! eeeeuuugh), in what was a season of many emotional highs - and one big low. And the Miller says reasons for the move were club's establishment of a Melbourne office twofold. "In one respect we were looking for somewhere m the heartland, bat it's also to do with our sponsorship with CUB". The CUB sponsorship is new this year and , we are heartened to hear, brings its own booty to Swans supporters. "We encourage members to come along here (to the Albert Park Hotel) because they get discounted rates at the hotel and bottle shop," says Miller. All the more reason to go and watch televised matches at the pub, which will be screened live. For the first time, Swans supporters in Melbourne will be able to watch interstate games together, rather than in lonely, isolated lounge rooms around Melbourne (as Mr Stephen Marmo, whose byline appears somewhere else in this glorious publication, and I have been doing for years, taking turns at putting on the pies and beer. Your shout, Mambo. PART 2: THE VIEW FROM THE SOUTH Miller says Melbourne Swans membership for '98 is going "very, very well", despite the fact the Swans aren't in Melbourne for a game until Round 7 (Collingwood at Waverley). "Tradition-ally there's a lot of members who don't join up until the first round. We don't play our first round in Melbourne until Round 7, so there might be a lot of people who'll wait and get it at the ground. We've got over 3000 members in Victoria. We closed our books last year at 4,300 members and we've got a target this year of 6000 in Melbourne. We've been doing some advertising in the Herald-Sun and on 3AW, which have both generated a lot of interest. " Miller says that apart from the "loyal old South supporters who keep coming back", there are "quite a few" Sydney-based fans who have relocated to Melbourne, as well as a lot of new members coming on board; to date, 40 per cent of '98 special guests Rodney Eade and new recruit memberships are new. "I really don't know, Wayne Schwass. "That's the day before we to be honest, what would attribute that high play North Melbourne, so that should be percentage," says Miller. "We're not doing quite interesting," says Miller. anything different in terms of promotion. I think it's more to do with on-field So, the Swans are back in Albert Park. performance. It could be old, or previous Maybe not the Lake, but at least we'll be members, coming back into the club. But able to watch them as a united band of we're seeing a lot of new faces. " supporters again, with cameraderie and cold bewies. And we now have somewhere Planned events in Melbourne for this year where we can shout at the telly without include the annual ball on Saturday June 6 getting told off by housemates. at the Carlton Crest Hotel in Queens Rd. As of last year, the ball now also features an GO THE BLOODSTAINED ANGELS!!! auction of football memorabilia. Swans Melbourne Office: There are also three lunches during the year, PO Box 211, Albert Park, 3206. with the first one on May 15, featuring Tel: (03) 9645 0600 Stephen Marmo hile traditionalists cry foul at Geelong's Who could forget the flashing yellow boots of W decision to wear a Carlton guernsey the Hawthorn sides of the mid-70s. Even with an adidas logo as their away jumper this dour defender Robert Polkinghorne was season, the history of footy fashion disasters made to look positively dashing in the Hawk's is as old as the game itself.