Sydney AFLW captain Lucy McEvoy wasn’t positive what to anticipate for her facet once they ran out for the primary instalment of a historic double-header on the SCG.
The Swans dominated headlines throughout the nation all week, filling each back and front pages of each newspaper, for a scandal that referred to as the membership’s tradition into query.
What the ladies’s staff acquired was an outpouring of support which broke the facet’s attendance record with 16,672 followers filling the stands to look at them play.
That is greater than double the earlier membership record of 8,264.
“It’s amazing. We weren’t sure what we were going to expect this week, but to see the support that we’ve received today is just unbelievable,” McEvoy instructed Fox Footy after the sport.
“The members and followers are so tight they usually know that we’re united as a membership and we’re higher than what we had been at first of the week.
The Swans doubled its crowd attendance record. (Getty: Cameron Spencer)
“I’m simply so grateful to have the support that we had at this time and the ladies had been capable of flip it on.
“We had a few nervous girls, that’s for sure, but we absolutely turned it on.”
The scenes had been notably celebratory on the bottom post-siren, after Sydney beat Essendon by 24 factors.
It was simply the second time the ladies have performed on the SCG for premiership factors and the primary in a double billing with the boys’s.
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Before locking in to heat up, star males’s gamers Errol Gulden and captain Callum Mills acquired across the ladies’s gamers.
Gulden was additionally seen going as much as the crowd giving the followers an enormous thanks for turning out in droves.
Some of these followers left earlier than the boys’s sport, as a boycott had been advised in the times earlier than the match as a scandal continues to engulf the membership.
It’s unclear what number of followers left in protest to the scandal, however a gradual stream was seen leaving.
Swans gamers frolicked with followers after the sport. (Getty: Cameron Spencer)
Five players — Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, Riley Bice and James Jordon — have been stood down by the Swans for breaching the club’s standards on consuming and staying out late following final Sunday’s win over Essendon in Melbourne.
Police from Victoria’s sexual crimes squad are individually investigating a report of sexual assault, which the ABC understands centres on a participant allegedly touching a lady with out her consent.
Police haven’t made any arrests or laid costs.
Swans followers cheer from the stands. (Getty: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos)
Lulu Clarke, who has been a Sydney Swans fan for as lengthy as she will be able to keep in mind, was one of many followers who walked out.
Ms Clarke had purchased a ticket to the boys’s sport, unaware the ladies had been additionally taking part in, however as soon as the information broke of the incident she knew she wouldn’t be staying for each video games.
“Of late, I’ve definitely drifted apart from the Swans and the AFL industry as a whole,” Ms Clarke mentioned.
“I decided that I’m absolutely not going to the men’s game, even if those five players were still stood down. There’s no way I could just show up and watch it. It just didn’t sit right with me.”
Former Matilda Sarah Walsh additionally left the stadium after the ladies’s sport, saying it had been a “tough week”, however careworn she was not boycotting the boys’s staff.
“It’s not a new story but I have a five-year-old daughter who I brought here today to support the women’s team,” Ms Walsh mentioned.
“I think you can have a club and not expect someone to be a fan of both teams.
“I believe that is the nuance of sport, do not anticipate Socceroos followers to be Matildas followers … We’ve acquired a protracted option to go in society. I do not assume it is a Sydney Swans challenge in any respect … it is a societal challenge and all of us must do higher.”
Swans followers Kayley and Georgia went to the SCG to support the AFLW facet. (ABC)
Swans fans Kayley and Georgia told ABC News they were there to support the women and will likely just watch a bit of the men’s game.
“It’s very disappointing from the boys’s staff … I really feel like we had been very disillusioned in every thing that occurred,” Georgia said.
Kayley said the situation was upsetting.
“We’ve been supporting the Swans since we had been youngsters as effectively. So, it was simply surprising,” she mentioned.
“We by no means thought that any gamers from this staff might do one thing like this. It was actually upsetting.”
Many fans held signs during the game along the lines of “I’m right here for AFLW”.