“A new tipping comp for a new century!”
So didn't the call ring out for a football tipping competition that could consume more hours and introduce more complexity than any competition that came before it.
The Dan Canavan Tipping Competition came into existence in Round 1, 2000, a year that ultimately ended in disappointment for all but a few mongrel Essendon supporters. Wayne, the winner that first year, would also prove to be a flash in the pan.
Dan Canavan was the inaugural administrator for the competition that eventually would bear his name. Dan's blind faith in the Swans meant that he never tasted success with his own tipping, but he developed and nurtured the competition so that it could grow into the premier talking point that it is today. Few of those who participated in the early years will forget the biting comments that accompanied results on a Monday morning, nor will they forget the EXTRA LARGE FONT they needed to use to submit tips on a Friday afternoon.
Born in the late 1920s, Dan had a love of football that he passed onto each of his four children, who all participate in the competition. All but one of those children became Swans supporters like their father, Tony instead opting to don the sack cloth that is Richmond.
Dan's taste for 'extra-curricular' footy comps was well known for years within family circles. He played a home grown tabletop version of the game with his brother Gerald (also a participant in the current comp) and other friends and family in his younger days, and introduced that code to his own children in later years. At its height, the tabletop game, known as 'footy on the table', boasted 40 teams, four divisions and 10 players spanning three generations.
Sadly, Dan died in 2006, on the day the Swans unfurled their premiership flag from the 2005 season. He is sadly missed.
