Swan Districts Football Club

History

Swan Districts finished seventh on the WANFL ladder winning seven out of 21 games in their debut season in 1934. The presence of established WANFL players like inaugural captain-coach "Judda" Bee from East Fremantle and Fred Sweetapple from West Perth was critical to the fledgling club's competitiveness. In 1935, Swans finished sixth on the WANFL Ladder with six wins and twelve losses and George Krepp won the Sandover Medal. The 1936 season saw the Swans pick up nine wins and eleven losses but still finish seventh on the League Ladder.

The 1937 season saw Swan Districts, under new coach Jim Ditchburn, finish in third place on the League Ladder with 14 wins and 7 losses, and play in their first finals series. Ted Holdsworth kicked 109 goals in the first 14 games before injury ended his season and East Perth beat them in the first semi-final 13.9 (87) to 11.7 (73). Swan Districts had another good season in 1938, finishing third with 11 wins and nine losses but were again beaten in the first semi-final by East Perth 8.18 (66) – 9.11 (65).

In 1939, with the loss of champion spearhead Holdsworth to Kalgoorlie, Swans slid to sixth on the ladder with seven wins from twenty games. In the following two seasons, despite Holdsworth's return, the club slid still further to finish last with only two wins in 1940 and three in 1941. Due to the Second World War the WANFL suspended its senior competition and implemented an under age competition to replace it. In 1942 Swans were unable to raise a side to play and did not compete at all. By 1943 Swan Districts assembled a side to compete in the under-age competition and performed exceedingly well, finishing fourth on the ladder with nine wins and eight losses, then winning the first semi-final against West Perth and the preliminary Final against Subiaco. Swans thus played in their first Grand Final only to be defeated by East Fremantle, the final score being East Fremantle 17.15 (117) to Swan Districts 11.11 (77). Jim Davies became the second Swan Districts player to win a Sandover Medal in 1944 with 33 votes in what was otherwise a forgettable season with Swans finishing sixth on the ladder, but in the restored open-age competition of 1945 their fortunes improved as they finished fourth on the league ladder only to be defeated in the first semi-final by South Fremantle.

However, Swan Districts fell off dramatically for the next fifteen seasons. During this period they never finished higher than sixth of eight teams, and overall won only sixty-one and drew one of their 301 matches, suffering from the fact that much of the area around Bassendean was "un-allotted" so that players such as Keith and Roy Harper, and Frank Coulson moved to more successful clubs. They were nonetheless instrumental in having the WANFL introduce its "Provident Fund" to allow league revenue to be shared amongst the clubs. In 1957 Swan Districts won their first Colts Premiership, repeating the dose in 1958, and these teams provided the nucleus of their successes in the early to middle 1960s.

Club song

The Swan Districts club song is to the tune of the 1926 song Baby Face written by Harry Akst and Benny Davis.

The club song lyrics were written by John Watts and performed to the 1975 version of Baby Face.

Black and whites,

We're the black and whites

We're all right,

We are the mighty fighting black and whites

There's not another team to match our pace,

Take our place

The Swan boys are jumping

We sure have started something

Here we come

Our banners fly on high to show that we have won

We play with all our might

Because we're full of fight

We're the famous

Black and whites

Black and whites,

We're the black and whites

Black and whites,

We're the black and whites

Here we come

Our banners fly out high to show that we have won

Honours

Individual honours

Sandover Medallists: George Krepp 1935, Jim Davies 1944, Haydn Bunton Junior 1962, Bill Walker 1965–1967 & 1970, Phil Narkle 1982, Mick Grasso 1990, Jeremy Wasley 1996, Shane Beros 2003, Andrew Krakouer 2010, Samuel Fisher 2020, Nik Rokahr 2024.

Most Games: Tony Notte 323

Record Home Attendance: 22,350 v West Perth, 19 May 1980

League premiership teams

1961 Finals Swan Districts lost the second semi final to East Perth, then beat Subiaco in the Preliminary Final to win through to the Grand Final

1961 Grand Final Swan Districts 17.9 (111) defeated East Perth 12.15 (87)

1961 premiership team

1962 Finals Swan Districts defeat East Fremantle in the second semi final.

1962 Grand Final Swan Districts 14.10 (94) defeated East Fremantle 10.16 (76)

1962 premiership team

1963 Finals Swan Districts defeat East Perth in the first semi final, then Swan Districts defeat Perth in the Preliminary Final

1963 Grand Final Swan Districts 17.10 (112) defeated East Fremantle 13.12 (90)

1963 premiership team

1982 Finals Swan Districts defeat Claremont in the second semi final

1982 Grand Final Swan Districts 18.19 (127) defeated Claremont 11.12 (78)

1982 premiership team

1983 Finals Swan Districts defeat East Fremantle in the first semi final, then Swan Districts defeat South Fremantle in Preliminary Final

1983 Grand Final Swan Districts 15.14 (104) defeated Claremont 12.11 (83)

1983 premiership team

Hall of Fame

The Swan Districts Football Club Hall of Fame was established in 2016 to "recognise and enshrine players, coaches, administrators, volunteers and iconic moments that have made a most significant contribution to the Swan Districts Football Club ... since its inception in 1934."

In the initial terms of reference document, there were to be four main categories for entries into the Hall of Fame:

Hall of Fame inductees (open to all players, coaches, administrators and volunteers);

Champion inductees (open to those SDFC players who have been recruited from SDFC into the AFL);

Legends – open to all Hall of Fame members; and

Iconic Moments, which were defined as "events which have been game changers for the Club. These could include football games, football events, infrastructure changes and innovations".

However, subsequent coverage of the club's Hall of Fame barely references these categories, and the reference to the Legends category was modified to "Immortals". The inaugural in take of the Swan Districts Hall of Fame included 26 individuals and one iconic moment. There were further induction ceremonies held in 2019 and 2021.

Players with names in bold are also in the Western Australian Football Hall of Fame

Players with an asterisk* next to their names are also in the Australian Football Hall of Fame

List of Swan Districts footballers who have played in the VFL/AFL

For many years, Swan Districts has provided many footballers who have excelled at VFL/AFL level, with a notable number who are of Indigenous Australian heritage. This list only counts footballers who played at least game at senior VFL/AFL level and who were recruited / drafted from Swan Districts.

West Coast representatives

Source:

Don Holmes, 1987–1989: 23 games, 40 goals

Phil Narkle, 1987, 1990: 18 games, 18 goals

Murray Rance, 1988–1990: 57 games, 7 goals, club captain 1989

Troy Ugle, 1988–1993: 43 games, 43 goals

Jason Ball, 1992–1999: 103 games, 114 goals, AFL Premiership 1994

Scott Cummings, 1999–2001: 46 games, 158 goals, Coleman Medal 1999

Andrew Embley, 1999–2013: 250 games, 216 goals, AFL Premiership 2006, Norm Smith Medal 2006

Adam Hunter, 2000–2009: 151 games, 86 goals, AFL Premiership 2006

Ashley Hansen, 2004–2010: 78 games, 95 goals, AFL Premiership 2006

Nic Naitanui, 2009–2023: 213 games, 112 goals, 3× All-Australian (2012, 2020, 2021)

Lewis Jetta, 2016–2020: 75 games, 17 goals, AFL Premiership 2018

Fremantle representatives

Source:

Travis Edmonds, 1995: 1 game, 0 goals

Stephen O'Reilly, 1995-1998: 98 games, 15 goals

Craig Callaghan, 1995-2000: 95 games, 69 goals

Brendon Retzlaff, 1995: 6 games, 2 goals

Michael Brown, 1996-1998: 22 games, 15 goals

Michael Clark, 1996-1998: 1 game, 0 goals

Garth Taylor, 1999-2000: 15 games, 12 goals

Michael Walters, 2009-2025: 239 games, 365 goals, All-Australian

Clancee Pearce, 2009-2016: 100 games, 36 goals

Luke Pratt, 2009: 1 game, 0 goals

Connor Blakely, 2015-2022: 78 games, 3 goals

Griffin Logue, 2017-2022: 64 games, 9 goals

Tobe Watson, 2019-2021: 14 games, 1 goal

Rory Lobb, 2019-2022: 66 games, 79 goals

Ethan Hughes, 2015-2024: 107 games, 6 goals

Club record goal kickers

Eric Gorman – 555

Ted Holdsworth – 532

Bill Walker – 456

Tim Geappen – 371

Don Holmes – 323

Troy Ugle – 312

Simon Beasley – 293

Andy Holmes – 277

Kevin Caton – 274

Mark Olsen – 268

Brent Hutton – 256

Ted Holdsworth was the first Swan Districts player to kick more than 100 goals.

The most goals ever kicked in a season by a Swan Districts player was by Simon Beasley in 1981 when he kicked 119 goals, although Warren Ralph kicked 120 goals for Claremont and won the Bernie Naylor Medal.

Bernie Naylor Medallists

The Bernie Naylor Medal is awarded to the leading goal kicker in the WAFL.

Max George was the first Swan Districts player to top the WAFL goal kickers list and win the award when he kicked 90 goals during the 1974 season.

Simon Beasley shared the Bernie Naylor Medal in 1980 with Warren Ralph of Claremont (97 goals)

Brent Hutton won the award in 1984 (83 goals) and Kevin Caton won it again in 1992 (51 goals).

Swan Medallists

The Swan Medal is awarded to the best and fairest player at Swan Districts. Multiple award winners include:

5-time winners

Bill Walker: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970

Travis Edmonds: 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000 and 2001

3-time winners

George Krepp: 1934, 1935 and 1936

Douglas Anderson: 1946,1948 and 1951

Keith Slater: 1956, 1957 and 1960

Haydn Bunton Jr.:1961, 1962 and 1963

Peter Manning: 1967, 1971 and 1973

Keith Narkle: 1977, 1978 and 1984

Jesse Turner: 2022, 2023 and 2025

2-time winners

Sydney Sinclair: 1938 and 1945

Joseph Pearce: 1949 and 1950

Garry Sidebottom: 1976 and 1975

Gerard Neesham: 1979 and 1980

Phillip Narkle: 1981 and 1988

Joel Cornelius: 1998 and 1999

Shane Beros: 2003 and 2005

Adam Lange: 2004 and 2006

Josh Roberts: 2008 and 2009