Worst club in Australia
Warnbro Swans’ Ian Cramer speaks to Cameron Palmer
Most community clubs in the Perth Football League take a sense of pride in commencing from humble beginnings before growing into the proud clubs that represent their community. But when it comes to the humblest of humble beginnings, it is hard to top the Warnbro Swans.
After all not every club is branded the worst in Australia after their first season.
Starting with a junior club in the mid 1980’s to support a rapidly growing junior catchment area, Warnbro Swans commenced with a senior team in the Murray Football League in the late 1980’s before joining the then Western Australian Amateur Football League in 1991.
As a former player and President Ian Cramer recounted those early years were tough on-field culminating by the branding of ‘Worst Team in Australia’. With one particular loss in those early years being by more than 60 goals, it was hard to dispute the tag.
“Channel 7 put us down on one show as the ‘Worst Team In Australia’,” Cramer said.
“They landed a chopper here and Mr Cometti himself comes out and interviewed us at the club. But we took it in good fun and good humour, we knew what we were and we knew why we were there.”
To its credit though, the key people behind the club at Warnbro Swans understood where it sat in its formative years and as more junior players filtered through, they rapidly grew in professionalism and on field performance. As of 1995, just a handful of years after being branded the ‘Worst Team in Australia, Warnbro Swans had won their first senior flag.
By 2002, the club had further grown in size, professionalism and on field performances. A remarkable 2002 season saw the club contest Grand Finals and win premierships at Colts, Reserves and League level. They were rightly awarded the Champion Club of the Perth Football League.
In the space of just over 10 years Warnbro Swans had gone from ‘Worst Club’ to ‘Champion Club’.
“That’s up on the walls, we got Club of the Year that year too, it was a very special year,” Cramer said.
“We see most of those players still hang around the club, that mateship, that way of thinking, that’s our club not just the place we play football.”
Nearly 20 years on from that landmark 2002 season, Warnbro Swans have become a consistent outfit within the C Grade divisions. While the club still harbours desires to rise to B and A Grade levels, they take a greater sense of pride in what they have been able to build in the Warnbro community for over 30 years.
The club has been one that has been forward thinking. They embraced Integrated Football for players with an intellectual disability and then Women’s Football before most clubs. They have subsequently been able to reap the rewards of having more players from more diverse backgrounds involved at their club.
“I think as an accomplishment as President, I think the first ladies team coming into the competition,” Cramer said.
“Mixing that with a full Integrated team, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an Integrated wind-up but they are the most special things you can go to.”
From humble beginnings, a simple premise of focusing on community and growing a footy family has allowed Warnbro Swans to become one of the proud clubs of the Perth Football League.
