Swans TV helps a family stay connected while more than 3,000 miles apart

Nick Coughlan watches every Swansea City game he can on Swans TV Live, but he also buys a season ticket every year despite having lived in Canada for much of the past two decades.

It might seem an unlikely scenario. After all, why do you need a season ticket when you are thousands of miles away and you are watching games via the club's streaming service?

But, for Nick and his family, the combination of Swans TV and the season ticket help keep them connected to their club and to each other despite the distances inbetween.

“It’s my way of being in Swansea even though I’ve been away for nearly 20 years," Nick explains.

"When I tune in to watch the games on Swans TV, at what is breakfast time for me,, it’s really special knowing that my family are at the stadium."

Nick's love for the Swans runs deep.

He has a personalised number plate in Canada which reads Swansea and, when it comes to planning visits, home matches at the Swansea.com Stadium are high on the list of factors to consider when booking flights.

“There are a couple of filters [when it comes to planning a trip home],” he said.

“It’s whether I can get time off work, when there are good value flights. But the primary one is ‘can I fit two or three Swans games in’.”

But it wasn’t always that way. Nick’s father, John, took him to his first Swans game – a match against Fulham – when he was 15. But Nick was a initially a reluctant companion.

“He didn’t particularly want to go to the match but I persuaded him,” said John.

“But as soon as he saw all the razmataz, he hasn’t looked back since – he hasn’t missed a game home or away.”

While Nick hasn’t been able to make all of those game in person, he’s seen every single minute of them via the club’s video streaming platform.

“I remember years ago, I used to have to log into an unofficial site which allowed you to listen to the radio in Wales while I was in Canada,” Nick explained.

“I think someone was hosting a chat room to do it. So I was blind to the action for years and years - for a lot of the (Lee) Trundle and (Andy Robinson) Robbo years.

“I was almost following the team in the dark because I could only listen to games, so the fact that now we can watch the games is unreal, it’s really, really cool.

“I think there’s only one thing when it comes to Swans TV … Wyndham Evans.

“I’ve spilt many a coffee on my lap on a Saturday morning when Wyndham starts screaming for a red card and it’s not even really a free kick!

“But the availability of it is amazing.”

And it’s special for John and the family in SA1 too.

“When I’m here and I know that he’s watching on Swans TV, it gives an extra buzz to everything,” John says.

“It’s just amazing really that there are people in Canada who are watching the Swans.

“As soon as we take our seats, the first thing we do is send him a selfie of the four of us as a family, and he feels then like he’s here himself so he gets a kick knowing that we’re there.”

“It means everything to me that my dad still attends games,” Nick explained.

“I feel much more connected knowing that.

“I know I can text at half-time and talk about how awesome the game is and where I think the opportunities are … what I’d be saying if I was in the changing room.

“Conversations I couldn’t possibly have if they weren’t there, so when you live as far away from your immediate family as I do, anything to have that connection is really valuable.”