{"id":78178,"date":"2026-08-23T03:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T03:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/78178\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T03:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T03:10:15","slug":"mixed-emotions-as-swans-fans-turn-out-for-historic-double-header-at-scg-amid-club-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/78178\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed emotions as Swans fans turn out for historic double-header at SCG amid club scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Swans supporter Teri turned up to the SCG with a homemade sign reading: “I’m here for the AFLW”.<\/p>\n

“[I’m here] mainly to support AFLW women in light of everything that’s happened. They still need our support,” Teri said.<\/p>\n

“I still love the game and I still love Sydney, just extremely disappointed.”<\/p>\n

Sydney Swans play after Pullman Hotel scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

Sydney’s AFLW team takes the field in the first game of a double-header, with some fans threatening to walk out on the following men’s game. Follow live.<\/p>\n

She is one of many fans who have descended on the SCG ahead of the historic double-header between the men’s and women’s teams. It comes in an emotional week as a scandal continues to engulf the club.<\/p>\n

Five players \u2014 Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, Riley Bice and James Jordon \u2014 have been stood down by the Swans for breaching the club’s standards<\/a> on drinking and staying out late following last Sunday’s win over Essendon in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Police from Victoria’s sexual crimes squad are separately investigating a report of sexual assault, which the ABC understands centres on a player allegedly touching one of the women without her consent.<\/p>\n

Police have not made any arrests or laid charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Swans<\/p>\n

Swans fans arrive at the SCG ahead of the historic double-header. (Getty: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

Teri, a decades-long supporter of the club, expressed great disappointment.<\/p>\n

“As a fan, as a decades supporter, always thinking this club was something better, raising up against racism, like back to Goodsey \u2026 I thought they were much better than this,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to be proud at the moment.”<\/p>\n

She said she would play it by ear whether she stays for the men’s game.<\/p>\n

“It’s got nothing to do with the women, and I think they are suffering as well \u2026 these are people they thought were their friends,” Teri said.<\/p>\n

“It was important for me to make sure that I came out for the women, wear my women’s AFLW merch, so that’s the first thing and I’ll decide as I’m there because I also feel for the remainder of the team, the men’s team.”<\/p>\n

There was talk during the week of a fan boycott of the men’s game, where some fans have decided to show up for the AFLW game between Sydney and Essendon and leave before the men’s Swans team run out against North Melbourne.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Swans<\/p>\n

Swans spectators arrive for the AFLW match between Sydney Swans and Essendon Bombers at the SCG. (Gett6y: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

For long-term fan and member Meagan Masters, the past week has left her “gutted”, saying the image of the “wholesome” club had been shattered.<\/p>\n

“I feel like I know the players, and so just disappointment and really heartbroken for the other members of the team at this stage in the competition where they were heading possibly to a flag,” she told the ABC as she made her way to the SCG.<\/p>\n

She said the alleged actions of the five players was “unacceptable” for professional athletes, and she was “100 per cent” behind their ban for the remainder of the season, but said she was keeping an open mind because no-one knows exactly what happened at the hotel.<\/p>\n

\"Swans<\/p>\n

Swans fans queue up to enter ahead of Sydney’s AFLW match against Essendon. (Getty: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n

Ms Masters, who regularly goes to both the men’s and women’s games, said she expected a large turnout today.<\/p>\n

“I think we’re going to get that record crowd that we’re after,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I love the girls, I love the boys and I think they’re still going to be banded as a club. Just five guys doesn’t define a club. The Swans are more than that.”Fans grapple with Swans scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

Sydney Swans fans are grappling with an emotional week of developments ahead of a historic double-header, as a scandal continues to engulf the team.<\/p>\n

David Lipman also there to support the women’s team, agreed that fans would turn out in droves.<\/p>\n

“They’ve [women’s team] done nothing wrong,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They may feel that what’s alleged to have occurred is detrimental to their standing, but the rest of the club are supporting them and they deserve it.”<\/p>\n

Chris Lewis goes to most AFLW games in New South Wales and came out in a GWS pride kit to support the AFLW game today.<\/p>\n

“[I’m feeling] incredibly disappointed. There is no doubt about that it’s been probably the worst week for NSW footy that we have ever had,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s been horrible, it’s been horrible as a parent to young kids, trying to explain this stuff when they were fans of some of the players involved. It’s just been an absolute awful week for all footy fans in NSW.”<\/p>\n

\"NSW<\/p>\n

Chris Lewis came out to support the Sydney Swans AFLW side at the SCG. (702 ABC Sydney: Georgie Carroll)<\/p>\n

On whether he would stay for the men’s match, similar to Teri he said he would play it by ear, but likely would not stay.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been trying to weigh this up all week. I’m a big fan of the North Melbourne men’s team, especially Cooper Trembath, but I’ll probably be leaving. It just doesn’t seem appropriate, it doesn’t seem right to stay,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney Swans supporter Teri turned up to the SCG with a homemade sign reading: “I’m here for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[118519,247,5009,112541,118521,112542,118520,118522],"class_list":["post-78178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-afl-scg","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-sydney-swans-afl","tag-sydney-swans-afl-aflw-double-header","tag-sydney-swans-aflw","tag-sydney-swans-double-header","tag-sydney-swans-sexual-assault-allegations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}