From the Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25963651-11088,00.html
[quote]BILLY Swan is a VFA (now VFL) legend. He played 302 games with Port Melbourne and Williamstown from 1976-93, retiring at 38.
He was still playing in the Essendon District league at 44 with his cousin and best mate, former North Melbourne defender Roy Ramsay.
Now 53, he quietly watches his son Dane build his career - and reputation - at Collingwood.
Swan Sr won premierships and individual awards (two Liston medals); Swan Jr is tracking towards a flag and a Brownlow Medal this year.
One of Bill's regular opponents, Coburg stalwart Phil Cleary, said yesterday: "He was the centrepiece of any strategy to stop Port Melbourne.
"Beautifully balanced and clever, he had an uncanny ability to glide past a tackler and, once he did, the delivery was supreme.
"His son might not look as elegant, but he's inherited his father's guile and that uncanny ability to find the ball."
Billy Swan is a VFA (now VFL) legend. He played 302 games with Port Melbourne and Williamstown from 1976-93, retiring at 38.
He was still playing in the Essendon District league at 44 with his cousin and best mate, former North Melbourne defender Roy Ramsay.
Now 53, he quietly watches his son Dane build his career - and reputation - at Collingwood.
Swan Sr won premierships and individual awards (two Liston medals); Swan Jr is tracking towards a flag and a Brownlow Medal this year.
One of Bill's regular opponents, Coburg stalwart Phil Cleary, said yesterday: "He was the centrepiece of any strategy to stop Port Melbourne.
"Beautifully balanced and clever, he had an uncanny ability to glide past a tackler and, once he did, the delivery was supreme.
"His son might not look as elegant, but he's inherited his father's guile and that uncanny ability to find the ball."I WAS pretty young when he finished playing in the VFA, but I've seen a few videos.
I know he was a traditional centreman who played in a pretty tough era.
Hard worker, hard runner, found a lot of the ball, good kick.
Yeah, I was impressed, but every kid is impressed by his dad.
Everyone talks about him in glowing terms. Every time I run into someone who saw him play, they say he was a champion.
I realise a bit more now how good he was.
Growing up, he used to get me out in the park and have a kick, but he never pushed me.
He just tried to teach me how to kick, where to run, get my fitness up, all those kind of things.
I was probably the type of kid who didn't really want to learn.
He's probably missed no more than four or five games in my career from under-10s. He's never one to grandstand, to get into the rooms and tell me what to do, like some parents do.
He's always just watched me quietly with mum (Deirdre), hardly ever giving me advice.
I didn't try to analyse my game too much then. I probably wasn't good enough for a long time to bother about analysing my game.
I was just average. I got dropped (at Calder Cannons) for having a poor attitude and not getting enough of the ball.
He always said the coach knows best, just listen to him.
He probably should have played AFL. He tells me he was at Carlton (three seasons) and they kept playing the kids from the country first and he got pushed back to the under-19s so he told them where to go, and left.
He says it was the biggest mistake he made football-wise.
On the tatts, he thinks I'm a d---head for getting them. If I had have done it when I was 15, he probably would have knocked my head off.
When I did something wrong as a kid I got in trouble, and deservedly so because I was a little rat sometimes.
If a kid came in here (Collingwood) and did what I was doing in my first couple of years, they would be sacked in the first six months.
Dad said I got drafted a year too early (at 17). Suddenly, I had all that money and I just kept doing the same things all my friends were doing, and they weren't playing AFL.
We're close, pretty close as a family. I see them (parents) every couple of weeks for dinner. He still probably trains harder than most people, works out four or five times a week.
He grew up in Port Melbourne. My nan wanted to get my grandpa out of the pubs in Port so they moved to Broady (Broadmeadows). Like there's no pubs in Broady.
Probably his greatest strength is his honesty, and he's trustworthy and would do anything for me.
I've never met anyone that's said, "I've never liked your dad". Never heard one bad thing about him.
He likes to get out in the garden every now and then, but he probably works in my garden more than he works in his own.
He's a handyman. If I ever have any problems at my place (Kingsville), he'll come round and fix 'em because I have no idea. If it's not my girlfriend (Taylor Wilson) who fixes it, I have to ring dad, and he comes round and sorts it all out.[/quote]
