If unbridled passion, good cheer and endless jugs of beer were all it took to win the AFL grand final, the Sydney Swans would have won easily.
At pubs and beer gardens across Sydney, Swans supporters urged their team to victory with raucous cheering, copious drinking and a sense of joy that belied the grim scoreboard.
Ailish Cleary (centre) cheers on the Sydney Swans at the Backyard at the Alex in Alexandria.Credit:Dean Sewell
Few supporters at the Backyard at The Alex in Alexandria were more operatic than Ailish Cleary, who said she “still had faith” even as the Swans fell further behind the Cats: “You never say die until the final siren sounds.”
Cleary continued to shout encouragement at the big screen above the beer garden’s bar, while 24 members of the Cobden Football Netball Club from western Victoria, including Sienna Turner, played drinking games secure in the knowledge that their team – the Cats – were on a path to victory.
“We’re a group of Geelong supporters in the middle of a sea of Sydney Swans,” she said. “But we’re waiting for everyone to take off their Swans jumpers because the score’s looking pretty good right now.”
Turner said the group did not know they were flying to Sydney until they arrived at Melbourne Airport on Friday: “We were pretty happy about coming to Sydney. We were like: ‘Lucky it’s not Tasmania’.”
Members of the Cobden Football Netball Club from western Victoria celebrate the Cats’ victory in the AFL grand final.Credit:Dean Sewell
At the Light Brigade Hotel in Woollahra, hundreds of Swans supporters had filled the pub even before the first kick of the game
Kaine Bayfield, chief operating officer of Bayfield Hotels, who owns the hotel, said the AFL grand final was one of the pub’s busiest days, “and with the Swannies it’s even bigger”.
“The crowd’s fantastic,” he said. “They’re really passionate about their sport. They’re wearing their hearts on their sleeves. They get quite emotional.”
Swans fans embarked on a merchandise spending frenzy ahead of the grand final.
eBay Australia spokeswoman Sophie Onikul said sales of Swans jerseys were up 137 per cent and scarfs up 42 per cent in the past month.
With AFL scarves decorating the bar and a cardboard cut-out of Buddy Franklin watching drinkers, it was easy to forget that the Tudor Hotel in Redfern lay deep in Rabbitohs territory.
While some punters wore a Rabbitohs jersey to watch the AFL grand final, self-confessed “hardcore Swans supporter” Bruce Cameron proudly wore a Swans scarf.
Perched next to him on a bar stool was his Jack Russell terrier Luna.
“For the last two years this little girl has been with me,” he said. “So she’s earned a chair. She’s the pub mascot.”
Wearing a Swans Indigenous design beanie and guernsey, Arman Mahboubi Soufiani was no less passionate about the team’s grand final appearance.
Mahboubi Soufiani and his partner, Violet, had arrived at the Dolphin Hotel before it opened to snag the best seats to watch the match.
Originally from Iran, Mahboubi Soufiani said his partner had turned him into a Swans fan.
“I moved to Australia nine years ago, but now I’m more of a Swans fan than she is,” he said.
