Hard work behind the scenes sees Swans riding a wave of popularity
The Sydney Swans phenomenon has swept across the city and captivated a rugby league town. A picture of celebrity Sydney Sweeney at a game helps explain their popularity.
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The Sydney Swans social phenomenon has swept across the city and captivated a rugby league town, as the club continues its reign at the top of the AFL ladder.
But leading experts and stakeholders say the seemingly miraculous recent record-breaking attendance – which sees droves of fans in red and white flock to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) — is not by accident, with demographics, performance, marketing, attitudes and history coming into play.
Behind the scenes at Moore Park, Swans Chairman Andrew Pridham has been working on a post-Covid “survive, reset and thrive” plan, which he says contributes to the new-found fandom.
“When we were in the depths of Covid, I wrote a letter to our members that was a very honest portrayal of where we were at, which wasn’t all positive,” he told The Saturday Telegraph.
“We had real issues with our new training and administration building, where we essentially had to hand back our keys. The inability to stage games at the SCG because of lockdown had a profound impact on our revenue.”
With more than 2 million supporters — “significantly more than any other sporting club in Australia” — Mr Pridham said the challenge had been converting “non–avid fans into avid fans and then members”.
But the investment banker said the road to revolution began much earlier, as the club ended it’s deal with ANZ Stadium.
“All the feedback was very strong — fans wanted to come to the SCG,” he said.
“They see it as our home ground, which it is. I don’t think they ever felt that ANZ Stadium was our home.”
Total SCG game day attendances for 2024 will hit a record 500,000 before the end of this season.
The average Swans home crowd attendance per game in 2023 was more than 32,000, jumping up to a 2024 average of more than 38,200.
“If you put that in context of what happens at rugby league games and other sports, that’s a huge achievement in NSW,” Mr Pridham said.
Compare those crowd figures to the other AFL side in Sydney, the GWS Giants.
GWS is also performing well, sitting at fourth on the ladder, but with an average of 12,275 fans attending each home game this season.
Swans CEO Tom Harley credits the social movement largely to the club’s “commitment to the on-field product.”
“Nothing brings people through the turnstiles more than a high-performing sports team,” he said.
UTS Senior Lecturer Simone Grabowski-Faulkner said: “There is a phenomenon in Sydney where our clubs seem to attract fairweather fans more-so than diehard fans.
“Our market is saturated with sports teams, but when they’re winning you see a correlation with attendance.”
Dr Grabowski-Faulkner said the increase in numbers could also be attributed to fans of other codes converting to the “family-friendly” game.
“These (fans) are usually non-sports people, sports fans who are disillusioned with what is happening in the other codes, eg scandals in rugby league, or young families wanting to introduce their children to an easy-to-watch spectacle,” she said.
UTS colleague Lewis Whales said the rapid AFLW rise, geographical location and long-running commercial partnerships had also contributed.
“The SCG as a venue has character, enough capacity to cater to a large crowd while still generating an exciting atmosphere, ease of access from public transport and local amenities such as pubs and restaurants,” he said.
“Sydney has a large population and as the only club in the inner city, the Swans have a larger potential market compared to most clubs in the AFL and NRL.
“AFL has also grown in popularity, particularly in the northern and eastern suburbs, which could be attributed to external factors such as North Sydney Bears no longer competing in the NRL, AFL competitions being introduced into private schools, and lack of growth and exposure of Super Rugby.”
“The Swans now embrace their South Melbourne heritage and ‘Bloods culture’, but they also have more than 40 years of history in Sydney, meaning multiple generations have grown up supporting in Sydney.”
This aligns with insights from demographers who say it’s the Baby Boomers the Swans need to be thanking for their new numbers.
“Early Sydney adopters of the Swans from the ’80s have now become grandparents, so there’s that multi-generational experience,” McCrindle Director of Solutions Geoff Brailey said.
“Two-thirds of wealth in Australia is held by Baby Boomers, who want to provide lavish experiences to bring their family together.”
The Swans have marketing experts’ tongues wagging too.
Earlier this year the club invited Hollywood bombshell Sydney Sweeney to meet the players after a mach against Hawthorn, while she was in Australia filming her new movie Anyone But You.
The Swans smartly blasted the rendezvous all over their social media — tagging Sweeney and adding she was “welcome back any time”.
Sweeney reciprocated, posting on her own Instagram account a photo of her standing in front of the Swans logo to her 21.9 million followers with the caption: “go to my first footy game – tick.”
“They run smart membership campaigns … have fan days, open training sessions, and involvement with local schools to build a personal connection with supporters which, in turn, flogs tickets,” Global Marketer Toby Ralph said.
“They chat with fans through X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok using behind-the-scenes content, player interviews, highlights, and interactive posts.
“Having Sydney Sweeney flouncing about in a Swans scarf hardly hurts either.”
Courtney Whitfield, husband Adam, mother Julie and children Charlie, 6 and Harrison, 7, say it’s the “atmosphere” as well as family history that attracts them to the SCG.
“You can’t beat the atmosphere at an AFL match,” Ms Whitfield said.
“You don’t get the meatheads you get (in other sports) and you get better haircuts.”
She said supporting also helped to “honour the memory” of father Colin, who died last year and was a Swans fan.
“At Dad’s funeral he was buried with Swans stuff,” she said.
“At Buddy Franklin’s 1000th goal we sprinkled a very small amount of his ashes on the field.
“I feel like Dad’s around when we are there.”
The Sydney Swans are set to take on the GWS Giants tonight in a top-of-the-table qualifying final clash at the SCG, starting at 3.20pm.
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