A (ginger) beer with…’Swish’ Schwerdt

 

Short Bio

A self-employed IT consultant who knew when his time was up, Swish wasn’t always ‘Swish’  until Chocka Bloch christened him so in 1982. An enthusiastic but talentless footballer who led the Amateur League soft ball get tally during his time at the AUFC Blacks, his contributions to the sports of softball (player, coach, secretary/treasurer in the 70s/80s) and netball (secretary, treasurer, team manager 2002-2015, dad) are his most notable sporting achievements. Wait, that’s not really true, as anyone who witnessed his match-winning performance in the 1982 A9 Grand Final will attest to (video evidence available on request).

 

 

 

 

Serious Questions…

 

Elizabeth is dear to your heart, can you tell us about your time growing up there?

I had no idea about how Elizabeth differed from anywhere else until I started going to Centrals’ away games and playing junior baseball across the suburbs of Adelaide. It was a vibrant place to grow up in and to me, had everything a kid could need recreationally and educationally. I was sheltered from many of its underlying social problems, I know that it was far from perfect, but it was nowhere as bad as Jimmy Barnes’ first book made out. There was never any sense that our lives were limited by where we lived. We didn’t realise that we weren’t supposed to be any good.

Winter was for footy and Centrals was my religion (despite my regular Sunday attendance at St Mary Magdalene’s, where Johnny Platten was a regular altar boy). Summer was for baseball and cricket and school was for being a smartarse. We had the Elizabeth South Shops with its own local sub-economy, the Town Centre with John Martins and a Library and eventually its own Motor Vehicles Department Office.

 

How did you develop such a fascination with the SANFL?

I don’t know where it sprang from, it certainly wasn’t from my family. I was the eldest of four, three younger sisters, so perhaps I needed something to interest me on my own. I was at a dentist when I was almost 7 and Mum struck up a conversation with another woman about how keen I was on football and she (I wish I could remember her name) offered to take me to Centrals’ next home game – I was hooked forever.

Elizabeth Oval was in walking distance, so I would go to all the home games every second Saturday. Once I hit 10, I was allowed to catch the Supporters Bus to away games as well, although sometimes I’d watch the Thirds and Colts instead of going to watch the League team playing away.

Centrals’ (lack of) fortune ruled my life – if I wasn’t crying on a Saturday night after another loss, I was at least sad as hell until my copy of the Sunday Mail arrived the following morning (we had two delivered, one for parents, one for me).

As I looked back, I developed a wider appreciation of the SANFL and it glorious tapestry of clubs, players and personalities rather than my narrow club focus. I thought that I could do my bit for posterity through writing about some of the important events and players of the 1960s-1980s.

The late John Devaney’s writing on footy, especially on topics non-VFL has been a huge inspiration.

 

You must have an archive of resources at home; where do you source most of your information?

When we moved over to Melbourne thirty years ago, I had an extensive collection of Footy Budgets, but was eventually convinced to toss the minor round editions out in the early 2000s, keeping the finals and state game editions. About ten years ago, I (re)built my collection, mainly buying online. I now have almost all of the Year Books from 1964-1993. I am also very grateful to Gigs (Andrew Gigacz) for the custody of the australianfootball.com collection of 1970s Budgets. I have a few Annual Reports for other SANFL clubs too. Google helps, but my memory for facts, faces etc is still pretty good,

 

You do a Twitter feed on the SANFL. What memories do you have of bringing these pieces back to life?

That’s not my Twitter page – I still don’t know who runs it. However, when Twitter was still a worthwhile community, I spread the SA gospel far and wide on that medium. Twitter helped me establish a presence as a de facto SA expert on the Coodabeens, ensuring that it was less-VFL centric than it understandably was. I was very late to Facebook, but there is a thriving SA Footy community there, with people far, far more knowledgeable than myself.

 

What was the catalyst for you to start writing?

I was an avid reader as a kid, but this waned once I reached High School. I would do school baseball write-ups for the local Messenger paper and did the same when I was coaching softball, but this was in the 70s and early 80s. Once my daughters were involved in netball, I did the same thing for our small club.

When I discovered the Almanac, I dabbled with a few different ideas, family memoirs and the occasional match report (remember them?). I didn’t really start writing seriously until my first Almanac series – Confessions of a Smart Arse. The real breakthrough after that was rediscovering the Budget from my first SANFL match almost ten years ago and using a style that blended my own commentary with the contents of the Budget.

Once I latched onto the memoir caper, I realised that there was a place for writing about Elizabeth, Adelaide and the period 1960-1990ish that I wasn’t seeing anywhere else. My favourite piece is one I wrote on park cricket in Elizabeth in the early 70s.

To be truthful, I just liked showing off.

 

What did you read as a kid?

Mum bought a set of Colliers Encyclopedia when I was around 5, hell knows where the money came from for that. I was big on the English comics like Smash and Terrific too. I hardly read any fiction until I discovered Camus’ The Outsider, via a Cure song.

 

What is the writing process for you? That is how often and where do you write?

Whenever the mood takes me.

A few years ago, I tried to write “straight” articles, instead of my usual wise-cracking nonsense. For these pieces, I set out to discover and reveal things that the readers (who may find them decades after I’ve written them) aren’t aware of. There is much more research required for these, so I assemble the facts from the resources at hand and do more research (eg MCC Library) if needed.

I used to write a lot at night, but I lost the ability to do that a few years ago. The COVID years were good for writing (but shithouse for many other things) as the opportunity cost (did I mention my Economics degree?) of the time spent was virtually zero. As a result, I often feel guilty about writing during the day as there are many other things that I “should” be doing.

I write on my laptop in my study, which also houses my collections.

 

What are you working on now?

I started a club-by-club series on the players from the 1964 SANFL Mobil Footy Cards, but I’m only up to Glenelg (alphabetically). I could probably finish these quickly if I wanted to, but I’m more aware these days that I owe a debt to my subjects to get the facts straight. I also commenced a series on SANFL Blow-Ins from 1960-1990, but I’m only up to Norwood there (although I have huge lists of players from each club).

I’m quite chuffed that I was able to recently reunite Sam Donovan, who was part of my first 1964 Mobil piece, with the Central District Football Club as the parties had fallen out for almost 60 years.

As a veteran of the Footy Almanac, what role do you think it has played in the sports (and arts) loving community?

One of its main features is that there are virtually no barriers to entry, so hundreds of people have been able to write and publish their own work to quite a wide audience. In my case, the feedback from readers is what thrills me. And the lunches.

 

What is a topic you’d like to explore one day?

Who brought the flu’ into Elizabeth Oval during 1972 Preliminary Final week?

 

 

 

 

Footy Budget type questions…

 

 What number did you have on your footy jumper as a kid and why?

I was gifted a Centrals laceup in 1968 – it had #7 on it already. A magpie swooped me once in Carisbrooke Park when I was wearing it – I think it knew.

Favourite SANFL memory?

Sonny Morey’s 200^th game – a win at the Bay a year after Glenelg had kicked 49.23 against us in 1975.

What would you recommend on streaming?

Clench your buttocks and aim for the bottom of the bowl.

What social media are you on?

Twitter @swishtter, Facebook (only for footy)

Favourite food?

Monday night’s Spag Bol

Favourite drink?

Bundaberg Ginger Beer – I’ve got to look after my liver, so I might have something Coopersy once or twice a year.

Best Pub?

The Sussex, Walkerville (it was ok when I was last there in 1984)

What is the last book you read?

Clear To The Horizon – Dave ‘Suburban’ Warner (the fourth book of his I’ve read this year)

What song do you currently have on repeat?

Suspicious Minds – The Sports, but only in my head.

Who is your best writing teammate? ( e.g. mentor)

The Pie Girl, but I’m always keen to see what Peter Baulderstone has to say about my offerings

What type of pet do you have? (and name)

Phantom and Alfie (cats)

One word to describe your life at the moment?

Superannuated

What is your Desert Island book?

Poms To Premiers – Laidlaw and Mulholland

Your guests for a dinner party of six?

Billy Bragg, Wilbur Wilson, Sonny Morey, Barrie Robran, Chocka Bloch, Julia Gillard – I also like the idea of Wally May as my butler. We’d play In-Betweens and Pontoon after dinner, with a couple of boxes of Red Tulip After Dinner Mints to share. I’d have Rock Arena reruns on in the background.

 

 

Barry Nicholls is a writer who is still trying to finish his book about the 1972 Ashes. He describes himself as a semi-retiree.

 

 

Read more from Barry Nicholls Here.

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click HERE

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.

Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE