‘When is this beautiful dream going to end?’ Sydney scrambles for Swans tickets

The Sydney Swans have become one of the hottest tickets in town, reaching their highest home crowd numbers ever at the SCG and boasting an average of 39,952 fans going through the turnstiles.

The Swans have five home games left in the regular AFL season and chairman Andrew Pridham has not seen such strong demand for tickets from fans in more than 20 years.

“Every week I’d probably get requests for 20 to 30 tickets. I’ve been in the club for 22 years ... it’s the most (requests) I’ve ever seen,” Pridham said. “It’s certainly amazing, the fact that we’re having sellouts week after week, averaging 40,000 people, it’s just mind-blowing.

“To get to an average of 40,000 (fans) in any sporting code in Sydney, that’s big, big numbers and I think it reflects that we’re attracting a whole new audience to the footy.

“It’s been drawn from a whole wide range of demographics, both, historically, AFL/Swans fans and new fans coming from rugby league. I think there’s a lot of people disenchanted with union coming along.”

“I think it’s a whole lot of factors, but, you can also never underestimate, and I’m always a realist, never underestimate the attractiveness of success.

The Sydney Swans cheer squad (including Liz Whiffin centre holding the flag) gather ahead of Saturday’s game against Fremantle

The Swans’ attendance numbers have been significantly boosted by 13 wins and only one loss, against Richmond in round three at the MCG, marking their best start to a season in more than 100 years ahead of Saturday’s game against Fremantle at the SCG.

The SCG’s capacity is listed on the AFL’s website as 46,817 and the Swans’ largest crowd to date at the ground was 46,323 for the 2017 elimination final against Essendon.

The Swans are hoping to break that record this season, and as they are highly likely to have a home game for finals in September, that is a real possibility.

The Swans recently celebrated hitting 70,000 members and they face unprecedented demand for memberships that secure entry into the SCG. Fans are being advised to call the club directly if they are still interested in purchasing one this season.

After being asked whether the club would consider moving to the 80,000-capacity Accor Stadium to manage the increased demand from fans, Pridham replied: “No, I can categorically say we won’t look at Accor (stadium). The SCG is our home ground.”

Speaking at the Swans’ 150th birthday celebrations last week at the club’s headquarters, chief executive Tom Harley poured cold water on the idea that the SCG had become too small for the club, given the increased demand for tickets.

“We want to make sure that we provide access to all of our members and our membership team have been able to facilitate that and triage that on match day,” Harley said.

“If there came a time where we needed a larger stadium that’d be great, but right now, we are very comfortable playing and packing out the SCG.

“It’s just a really good fit and we feel like we’re a significant part of the sporting landscape in Sydney.“

Homegrown stars like Errol Gulden have driven the Swans to the top of the AFL ladder

Liz Whiffin, of Ourimbah on the Central Coast, travels to every home game to co-ordinate the Swans cheer squad behind the goals with banners and flags.

Whiffin has been a member of the Swans for the past seven years and believes a combination of the family-friendly atmosphere at the SCG and homegrown NSW players like Errol Gulden and Isaac Heeney have helped to drive the crowd numbers alongside the on-field success.

“There’s something going on with the team that people are also seeing and reacting to that they don’t see in other teams,” Whiffin said.

“It’s got that real family feel (at the SCG) and people who want to come to the AFL can come down, especially in the (Swans) cheer squad, we say to people, who say ‘I’ve got to go to the game by myself’, well, we say ‘no, come down and sit with us, you’ll always be welcome’.

“I get goosebumps about this (year), that’s the best way to describe it. I look at this team, and every week I get nervous because I think when is this beautiful dream going to end?”