ST KILDA’s rivalry with the Sydney Swans stretches back to the 19^th century.

The Saints and South Melbourne as they were originally known, have spent most of their histories less than three kilometres apart, St Kilda at Junction Oval and South Melbourne at Lakeside Oval.

For a while, games between the two teams would be awarded the Lakeside Premiership.

In 1896, six clubs (including South Melbourne) broke away from the VFA to form the VFL. Soon after, two further clubs Carlton and St Kilda were included to form the eight-team competition.

South Melbourne and St Kilda were instantly identified as the representatives of southern Melbourne with the inner-north making up the bulk of the VFL.

As the years wore on, both clubs enjoyed little team success but had a plethora of stars who were considered to be some of the best players in the league.

The Swans won four premierships up until 1933 but had to wait 72 years for their fifth, while the Saints are still left with just the one flag in 116 years in the VFL-AFL.

But both clubs are swamped with individual accolades, with the most Brownlow medals going to the two clubs. The Swans have amassed 14 Brownlow medals since the award’s inception in 1924 and the Saints have 10.

They had dual claims to the award in one year when South Melbourne legend Bob Skilton won the award on a countback in 1959 after polling the same amount of votes as St Kilda’s Verdun Howell.

Howell was awarded a retrospective Brownlow 30 years later after the rules around the award had changed.

Skilton famously won three Brownlows throughout his glittering career but had to wait 218 games before he played his one and only final in 1970 against the Saints. St Kilda defeated the Swans by 53 points in the second time the two had contested a final against one another.

The two went on to play another three finals against each other – the 1998 two-point Swans win in the second Qualifying Final in boggy conditions at the SCG, the 2004 semi-final at the MCG that the Saints won easily and the 2005 preliminary final also at the MCG that the Swans won on the way to that season’s premiership.

Not every famous encounter between the two has taken place in September.

In round 19, 1989 legendary midfielder Greg Williams gathered a record 53-possessions and kicked six goals in a defeat of St Kilda.

In 1993, a game between the two teams was temporarily halted for a reason never before seen at AFL level – a ground invasion from a pig.

A pig with the no. 4 painted on one side and ‘Pluga’ painted on the other had been released on to the field. Tony Lockett was out injured at the time and the homage to the full-forward was eventually tackled by Swan Darren Holmes and escorted from the ground.

Lockett was back for the return clash between the two the following season in what was the most memorable game between the two teams in the modern era.

The star forward clashed with Swan Peter Caven early in the match, with Lockett’s elbow shattering Caven’s nose.

Not to be deterred, Lockett went on to kick 11 goals and almost single-handedly brought his team back from a 38-point deficit at three-quarter-time to win by a single point.

Lockett later earned an eight-match suspension and the following year had crossed over to the Swans.