There are few football clubs, of any code in the world, older than the Sydney Swans. The club was born as South Melbourne in 1874 and the Swans over this period have experienced both heartache and jubilation.

It has seen lean times and richly rewarding eras. It has always worn the red and white with pride, winning five Victorian Football Association premierships before it became one of the eight inaugural Victorian Football League clubs in 1897.

It since has won another four premierships, in 1909, 1918, 1933 and, under the AFL banner, in 2005. This comprehensive history of a great club takes in the early and formative years and, from the VFL's first season of 1897, it becomes a year by year history.

There is all the drama, the excitement, the trauma, the tragedy and the triumph associated with the red and white. This is a detailed history of a club with humble origins, a proud present and, as all Swan fans anticipate, a fantastic future.