History of the Mudgee Black Swans

The Mudgee Black Swans Australian Football Club was established in 2000. The founding of the club was instigated by two local AFL enthusiasts Marty Turner and Mark O'Keefe who thought it would be great to have a game on a Saturday and sought affiliation with the Central West Australian Football League (CWAFL).

The founding philosophy was to create one club which encompassed seniors and juniors and to ensure there was active involvement between all the players no matter what age.

2010
The 10 year anniversary of the club was celebrated in style. Highlights included Sydney Swan's legend Nick Davis as guest speaker at a black tie event and local AFL champion Kent Coburn was named in the 1970's 'Team of the Decade'. The senior team made the Grand Final, making it six Grand Final appearances in ten years.

2009
2009 kicked off with our Auskick kids playing at half time in Canberra at a professional AFL competition match between the Sydney Swans and Port Adelaide. The senior side again competed in the Reserve Grade division in Greg Dowker's fifth year as Senior Coach.

2008
The 2008 season sees the competition expand even further with the Parkes Panthers rejoining our competition, taking the number of registered clubs to seven.

2007
This year saw the overall competition grow with the inclusion of the Young Saints. All Mudgee teams enjoyed some success during the year with the Seniors recording their first ever win in First Grade and the Juniors beating several of the larger city rivals. To complete the season we had players selected in representative sides from all three grades.

2006
2006 again saw the senior team make the Reserve Grade Grand Final, this time narrowly losing to Cowra. The Under 14's also made the finals and Brenton Clarkson won the Under 14 award for the Best Player in the CWAFL competition. Several under age players made the combined representative side. During the 2006 season we increased our playing numbers in every grade with Auskick (players from five to twelve) doubling and providing an early indicator of our confidence in the future growth of our sport in Mudgee and Central New South Wales.

2005
This was the year the Mudgee Black Swans came of age, with the senior team battling tough competition to take out the premiership in the reserve grade.

2004
2004 was a building year - building players numbers and building strength.

2003
This year saw the club required to field both First and Reserve Grade teams in addition to the Junior Grades. A combination of lack of numbers and experience saw the transition a major hurdle and although the club was able to fulfill its commitments, the teams struggled to be competitive. However, the Mudgee Black Swans earned the admiration of all other clubs for the continued effort and ability to field sides as required. A bright spot of the 2003 season was the selection of two under 17 players in the CWAFL representative team. Another achievement was the continued growth of the Auskick program in Mudgee. Auskick is the development game of AFL designed for players under 12 and it was pleasing to note that Mudgee had the largest number of registrations of any club in the CWAFL.

2002
In the club's second season Mudgee reserve grade once again made the Grand Final, only to be denied the premiership once more. The junior grades, although committed, lacked experience and size once again but competed hard, fulfilled all commitments and importantly, enjoyed the game.

2001
The Mudgee Black Swans took the field for the first time and were able to meet all our commitments in the minor grades with the under 17's a real force to be reckoned with and the under 14's lacking size but definitely not heart. It was in the reserve grade that we enjoyed unprecedented success in the initial season by making the Grand Final and only narrowly losing. In doing so the Mudgee Black Swans forged a place in sporting history in Mudgee.