Swans to host Magpies for popular Pyengana heritage match

Entering the seventh edition of the heritage match hosted by East Coast, the club will continue to honour the now-defunct North Eastern Football Union by bringing a home game to the heartland of the region.

The Swans will pay their respects to Ringarooma Football Club by trading their usual guernsey for the red sash on black, while the distinct sound of the Ringarooma bell will be used as the siren for the day.

East Coast president Stephen Walley explained the importance of the day.

"It's just captivated the footy community, particularly in the North-East, but even broader than that, and the big focus of it is to recognise the really rich history of footy in the North-East, which has been really significant," he said.

"Unfortunately, many of those clubs (in the North-East) don't exist anymore. So it's a great opportunity to bring those communities back together, gather up all that memorabilia to help resurrect the archives of many clubs.

"After seven years, we've started to recreate plenty of memorabilia and history and we just have this magnificent day in that beautiful valley of Pyengana."

The Swans were victorious in a classic match at last year's event against Bridport, who wore the NEFU representative jumper on the day, and Walley predicted another down-to-the-wire clash.

"It was a bit unusual, because we were in the strip of what Bridport's normal jumper is, so that created a bit of interest, but it was a very tight game which we won in the last few minutes. Bridport would have been pretty dirty on that because they really should have won," he said with a big grin.

"Both clubs would be predicting a very, very close result this time around, we'd probably be aspiring for similar positions on the ladder.

"Perth have done a magnificent job in recent years to build their strengths and strengthen up the culture of the club and we've got a great relationship with them so I imagine we're in for a cracker."

For playing-assistant coach and premiership Swan, Ethan Goldfinch, days like the heritage match are what makes community football special.

Having returned to East Coast following a stint at Tooleybuc-Manangatang (based on the Victoria/NSW border), the midfielder was pleased to be back involved in the special event.

"It's the sort of a game that we're penciling in on the calendar ahead of the year, it's always a really good crowd and the community gets around it. So it's really wonderful to turn up, and to try to play our best," he said.

"It's huge for us getting the whole broader community involved and I think they really get behind it."

Goldfinch added that the large and knowledgeable crowd made the will to win more intense.

"There's more on the line I feel and the good crowd makes you want to play better, especially in front of 2000," he said.

"It's just a different feeling, it has that finals intensity without being in that finals environment, so everyone turns up and has a really good crack."

The rest of the NTFA fixtures will be announced later this week.