Which club became the Sydney Swans after relocating from South Melbourne in 1982?

South Melbourne Football Club became the Sydney Swans after relocating to Sydney in 1982.

South Melbourne was one of the founding clubs of the Victorian Football League in 1896. The club had played in Melbourne for more than eight decades before moving interstate, initially competing as the Swans because of South Melbourne’s historical association with swans.

The club was renamed the Sydney Swans in 1983, its first full season in New South Wales. This move made it the second VFL club to establish a permanent home outside Victoria, following the relocation of the South Melbourne organisation rather than the creation of an entirely new club.

A common mix-up is to call the Sydney Swans a 1982 expansion team. They were instead an existing VFL club that changed location and identity. The Swans later won the 2005 AFL premiership, their first since 1933.