130 years of history

Organised football in NSW dates back to at least 1880 when the NSW Football Association was formed – but it hasn’t always been as successful as it is now.

There have been some important moments for football in the eastern states over the past 130 years.

Before it was known as the Australian Football League, the Victorian Football League was the premier Australian Rules competition in the country, played only between Victorian clubs.

This didn’t mean that the clubs didn’t travel though and South Melbourne played games in Sydney and Newcastle in 1883.

The game struggled to cement itself through the earlier years as clubs and competitions were formed and then disbanded.

In 1924 a football league was established in Canberra and in 1926 district football was re-introduced in Sydney.

The Riverina area aligned themselves with the Victorian Country Football League in 1933 before returning in 1998.

But it was in the 1940s that football in NSW took off as top line footballers were moved through the state for their military training.

Sunday football was introduced during World War 2 and crowds soared.

The Newcastle Football League was formed in 1948.

The South Coast Football League was formed in 1969 with Illawarra and Central Coast Leagues to follow in 1975.

The NSW Country Australian Football League was formed in 1977 and the Central West Football League established in 1982.

The Sapphire Coast and North Coast Football Leagues were formed in 1984.

But it was the year of 1982 that would change football in Sydney forever.

The Sydney Swans were originally known as South Melbourne, established in 1874.

The club, known as the Swans due to an influx of West Australians, won Premierships in 1909, 1918 and 1933 before the longest drought in AFL history.

But before that, the club had to survive.

Diminishing attendances and membership nearly led to financial extinction in the 1960s and 1970s.

Change was a necessity, and the club cast their eyes further than the confines of Victoria.

In 1982 the South Melbourne Football Club were officially re-located to Sydney and became known as the Sydney Swans. But times were still tough.

The Swans’ foray into Sydney was initially successful a lack of footballing success and financial instability continued to dog the club, and in 1992 the owners of the Swans told the AFL that unless the club was restructured it could not continue.

The club avoided a merger and went on to make their first Grand Final in since 1945 in 1996.

The Swans lost to North Melbourne but would go on to become a regular finals side.

In 2005 they made the Grand Final again and, 72 years after their last flag, were Premiers of the AFL again.

The following year they again faced West Coast in the season’s decider but agonisingly lost the game by one point.

The Swans were firmly Sydney’s team with the 2005 Grand Final the most-watched AFL game in history.

The club continued to be at the top of the competition come finals time but it wasn’t until 2012 that they made the big game again.

They went in underdogs against Hawthorn but came away 10-point winners for the fifth Premiership in the club’s long history.

As the Swans grew and became more successful, the AFL absorbed the NSW Football Association in 1987 to fund the operation of football in NSW and the ACT.

Participation increased, as did the Swans’ membership and crowd numbers and the AFL had a vision that by 2015, an AFL game would be played in New South Wales and Queensland every week.

In 2010 GWS was officially awarded the 18th AFL license and set about preparing for an introduction to the AFL in 2012.

After signing legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy as the inaugural head coach of the club, GWS set about finding a name.

They called on the local community for ideas and received more than 20,000 responses. At the end of 2010 the club was officially launched as the GIANTS, with the colours of orange, charcoal and white.

Over the next year the club developed young local players and picked some of the country’s most talented footballers in the National Draft ahead of their first season in the AFL.

As they opened their inaugural season with a clash against the Swans, everyone knew it would be a tough first few years for the League’s newest teams.

The GIANTS scored their first-ever win against Gold Coast in Canberra, their second home, early in the season and followed it up with another in against Port Adelaide at the end of 2012 for two wins in their first year.

This week at Skoda Stadium in Sydney, attendances at VFL/AFL matches in NSW will top 9 million when the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS play Port Adelaide, in a huge milestone for football in this state.