Swan McKay has had an interesting life. A boy from Newlyn, he moved to Melbourne to go to uni and to play for Carlton. He played in four premierships, had his politics re-shaped at Latrobe Uni (and beyond) and was a key figure in the first years of the AFLPA. He spoke to John Harms.
CLICK HERE to see John Harms in conversation with David McKay as part of the AFLPA’s LEGENDS SERIES
Great interview JTH. Absolutely loved this.
Cheers
I agree, JB. A lot to like here.
You have a great job John Harms…
Wonderful
Ive met Swan through work a couple of times
Ripping bloke!
Shane
Watched Swan and Parko today. Great stuff.
One of my pet peeves is how interchange has favoured athletes over footballers. just a note for young viewers of the Swan story about the introduction of Ted Hopkins at half time in 1970. He was a permanent substitute, not an interchange, and Bert Thornley couldn’t come back on again. It was unheard of to activate the sub before the last quarter unless an injured player couldn’t walk! “Stick him in the forward pocket and hope he can take a grab if he can’t run” was the philosophy of the time.
Interchanges started with 2 in 1978, and have progressively polluted the character of the Australian game since then. Turning a players game into a coaches game.
As an aside – there were no subs at all until 1930 – so you played with 17 if someone was seriously hurt.
Jock McHale would be turning in his grave!
A few weeks ago I was with a couple of bloke in Freo and we were looking at footy bits and pieces on an iPad. I suggested we Google ‘David McKay marks’ on YouTube. The most striking thing was that time after time he brought the ball all the way to the ground. Syd Jackson and David McKay made me a bit of a Blues fan in the 1970s. Really good interview JTH.