Football is the life blood of regional communities. It’s the place where a local would go it they wanted to catch up with a friend for a drink on a Saturday and it is a place where a new member of the community, with a large tribe of kids might head to - to meet a few people and find something for the children to do. If those children all happen to be boys and it is the 1980s, then there probably wasn’t a lot of choice for Lenny Swinton when he arrived in Barwon Heads.
Lenny certainly got stuck in and allowed himself to be fully engulfed by the club and his boys all got involved in activities out on the field. Len would go on to be one of the club’s great contributors and earned himself a life membership in 2000.
Shortly after arriving in town the family expanded to include son number 7 - Peter. At the time when Pete was born the fortunes of the club were not that hot, but, through a lot of hard work by people like Lenny, and a good turn in fortune, it wouldn’t be long before young Peter would play a part as the mascot in the clubs only ever senior premiership sweep when the firsts and seconds both tasted premiership victory in 1993.
Peter started his playing career not long after that when he started playing in the under 15 team as a seven-year-old. Yes, that’s right he was 7.
Peter has played more than 250 senior games, an unknown number of junior games, is co-skipper of the reserves and is the quintessential Barwon Heads footballer and life member. He is a man who is completely in love with his town and his football club and incredibly proud of his family and the contribution they have made to both. He even told us he is uncomfortable crossing the bridge.
Peter’s brother Gary was the inspiration for the trophy we play the Geelong Amateurs for and Peter shared his emotional memories of his oldest brother.
He’s an extremely popular player and member of our club and has made a contribution to the fabric of the place since he was a small boy and it was a delight to catch up with him.
We hope you will enjoy our chat with Pete Swinton.
