calwell Swans Football Club

The Calwell Swans Junior AFL Football Club was formed in conjunction with The Calwell Club, built in 2004 by the Eastlake Club at 1 Were Street, Calwell. It was agreed it would be ideal to start a new Junior Club with the licensed Club as the major sponsor.

The people involved in agreeing to start the new Club with the support of AFL NSW/ACT in 2003 were:

• Graham Glenn – President Eastlake Football Club Inc

• Ron Maginnis – Vice President

• Brendan Doorman – President of Football

• Anthony Ratcliffe – Club General Manager and

• Steve Harrison – Junior Football Operations Manager

TIMELINE

2005: Two Calwell teams played every Saturday at Deakin in the Eastlake Club Start Program. The Under 8 Lightning Bolts and the Under 9 Swans had a mixture of Calwell and Eastlake registered kids.

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2006: The Club ran their own Club Start Program from their home ground of Calwell Oval - Johnson Drive. The Club had three Under 8, two Under 9 and one Under 10 teams, with about 74 registered players. At this time the Club was still under the control of the Eastlake Football Club, however, this is considered as the inaugural year as a stand-alone Club.

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2007: The Club had 8 teams from Under 8s to Under 11s and 104 registered players. A sub-committee was formed to oversee the day to day running of the Club Start Program. Colin Fitzgerald, Lea Hekimia, Louise McKenzie, Kylie Murdoch, Dan Rankins and Brian Quinlan were on the committee with Mark Seaman and Doris Sciberras as Coordinators. This year saw the introduction of the Calwell Swans Guernsey's and the famous Swans jackets for Coaches and Managers, as well as the commencement of the Rookie Program run from MPowerdome.

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2008-2009: A small drop in members meant the Swans merged the Under 11s with Eastlake to form an Eastlake/Calwell team. The Calwell Club continued to offer financial assistance in maintaining Calwell Oval, in the hope that the ACT Government would provide an amenities block. Fundraising was a top priority in 2009 with the purchase of a Club BBQ and pop-up gazebos. Teams were fielding in all grades, albeit a combined Eastlake/Calwell team again in the Under 12s.

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2010: Numbers were down in all Tuggeranong Clubs, and the ACT AFL began looking to address the problem with targeted recruiting campaigns. 2010 saw the 'Southside Agreement' put into place, whereby the Swans, Bulldogs and Lions agreed to become feeder Clubs to the Tuggeranong Hawks. This year also saw the introduction 50 game milestone awards with 15 players receiving a cap and certificate. Under 11s combined with Under 12s due to lack of numbers with the team making it to the Clubs first Grand Final, going down to Queanbeyan. Joe Rankins was the first Swans player to receive an ACT Best and Fairest Award for 2010, Under 12s.

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2011-2012: The Calwell Club made the decision to cease funding the maintenance of Calwell Oval, based on the fact that the ACT Government had not provided any amenities as the oval was not considered a multipurpose venue. This came as a shock as planning for the 2011 season saw the Club with no home ground. Michael Borowski, one of the coaches and ground maintenance guy suggested the Club approach the Principal of MacKillop Catholic College, with the idea of using the Isabella Campus Oval as our home ground. This put in place a five-year deal to use the oval and on the 30 June 2011, the new goalposts were unveiled. Michael Lee played an integral role in this partnership. This was the first year the Club fielded teams in all age groups from Under 8s to Under 12s. 2012 saw the Rookies moved to MacKillop Oval.

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2013-2015: Registration numbers steadily rise reaching a peak of 151 in 2014. Brad Hancock becomes the second AFL NSW/ACT U12 Best and Fairest award winner in 2013. With an increased presence of AFL in the Capital, the Clubs Auskicker's played games at Manuka Oval, one under lights, for the first time. The new guernsey's were unveiled in 2014, with the help from new sponsor Jim's Mowing. The Club was awarded the 2015 Prime Minister's Trophy - Club of the Year.

Life members

2014

Mark SEAMAN

club person of the year

This is a work in progress and if you have any historical information pertaining to the Calwell Swans
please email Kristie our Club Secretary at