Australian rules football in
South
Australia
has
a history dating back to the 1870s, and it has long been the most
popular sport in the state.
History
Pre-1877
The earliest recorded football club in South Australia was Adelaide
Football Club, formed in 1860. One of the earliest games played was
against the
Modbury Football
Club in 1862. The early years of football were poorly organised
and dogged by argument over which set of rules to adopt. In fact,
after a match between Port Adelaide and Kensington in 1873, it was
remarked that neither side understood the rules clearly, and there
was uncertainty over which team had won. However, as they years
progressed, there became a growing push for uniformity and
structure in South Australian football.
1877-1900
Port Adelaide's magenta uniform
(c.1896)
In 1877, 12 of South Australia's football clubs met to develop a
uniform set of rules and establish a governing body. They formed
the South Australian Football Association, the first governing body
of its type for football in Australia, and adopted rules similar to
those used in Victoria. The inaugural 1877 season was contested by
those 12 clubs: South Park, Willunga, Port Adelaide, Adelaide,
North Adelaide, Prince Alfred College, Gawler, Kapunda, Bankers,
Woodville, South Adelaide and Victorian.
South Adelaide have worn blue and white
since establishment (c.1890)
Norwood joined the Association the following season in 1878, and
went on to win the next six premierships. Norwood, along with South
Adelaide and Port Adelaide, dominated the early years, winning 23
of the first 24 premierships between them. However, club numbers
were diminishing. South Park, Willunga, North Adelaide, Prince
Alfred College, Gawler, Kapunda, Bankers, Woodville, and Victorian
all left the Association within the first 10 years. By 1886, the
Association had been reduced from 12 to four clubs.
But the Association experienced a resurgence in the late 1880s and
early 1890s. The addition of West Adelaide (1887), North Adelaide
(1893), West Torrens (1897) and only the demise of Adelaide (1893),
meant the Association was six clubs by the turn of the century. In
1898, the Magarey Medal was awarded to the fairest and most
brilliant player for the first time (see
#Magarey Medal).
1901-1913
The Sturt Football Club joined the Association in 1901, but
performed poorly initially, finishing last in its first three
seasons. In 1902, Port Adelaide adopted its now famous black and
white colours, and the competition was beginning to take a more
familiar form. In 1907, the Association changed its name to the
South Australian Football League.
Heavyweights Norwood and Port Adelaide continued their domination
of the league, and were joined by West Adelaide and North Adelaide
and between them, the four clubs won all premierships between 1901
and 1913. Amazingly, West Adelaide followed three straight wooden
spoons from 1904-06 with four out of the five premierships from
1908-1912. This was to be the most successful period in West
Adelaide's history.
Port Adelaide v Sturt, 1914 Grand
Final
World War I
The SAFL managed to maintain competition for the first two years of
World War I, 1914 and 1915, with Sturt
winning their first premiership in 1915. But by 1916, clubs were
sustaining high losses to war and competition was suspended and did
not resume until 1919.
1919-1938
Sturt won the first premiership of the post-WWI era, beating North
Adelaide in the Challenge Final replay. Glenelg became the newest
addition to the league in 1921 and started poorly with five
consecutive wooden spoons. In 1927, the South Australian Football
League changed its name for a third time, adopting the now
familiar, South Australian National Football League. Meanwhile,
Port Adelaide celebrated a golden era during the inter-war years,
with 12 grand finals yielding five premierships.
World War II
As with World War I, the SANFL managed to continue competition for
the first few years of
World War II.
However, by 1942, the war forced all clubs to merge in order to
field a side. Mergers were geographically determined with Port
Adelaide merging with West Torrens, West Adelaide merging with
Glenelg, Sturt merging with South Adelaide and Norwood merging with
North Adelaide. This wartime competition continued from
1942-44.
1946-1959
Norwood began the post-war era in superb style winning three
premierships by 1950. However, this period was dominated by
Fos Williams' Port Adelaide, winning
seven premierships, including an amazing six in a row from 1954-59
(although the 1959 premiership was won under the stewardship of
Geoff Motley as Captain-Coach).
1960-1969
Port Adelaide continued their dominance of the competition with
three more premierships by 1965. In 1964, for the first time in 60
years, the SANFL admitted two new clubs, Central District and
Woodville. Both clubs
performed poorly, and many questioned the purpose of introducing
two more teams, in particular Woodville, who were closely
surrounded by existing clubs, Port Adelaide and West-Torrens.
Meanwhile a new power, Sturt, hit the competition, winning five
straight premierships from 1966-70. Sturt shared a fierce rivalry
with Port Adelaide whom they played in four consecutive Grand
Finals.
1970-1979
Sturt began the 1970s by defeating Glenelg in a rain-effected Grand
Final by 21 points. North Adelaide secured back-to-back premiership
victories over Port Adelaide in 1971 and 1972 and defeated VFL
premier Carlton by one point in the end-of-season
Championship of Australia match.
Port Adelaide continued their success, winning two premierships
themselves (1977, 1979), and finishing lower than 3rd only once for
the decade. Other premiership winning clubs in the 1970s were Sturt
(1970, 1974, 1976), Glenelg (1973), and Norwood (1975, 1978). The
SANFL made the biggest shift in its history, moving all operations
to the new Football Park in 1974. Central District and North
Adelaide played the first ever match at the ground on May 4, 1974.
The first SANFL Grand Final was played at the Ground the same year,
the first away from Adelaide Oval (Sturt versus Glenelg). In front
of a crowd of 58,042 people, Sturt won by 15 points despite kicking
into a stiff breeze in the last quarter after leading by just 5
points at three-quarter time. The 1975 season was highlighted by
Glenelg's score of 49.23 (317) against Central District. In fact,
the winning margin of 238 points was larger, at that time, than the
previous highest score ever recorded by a side in a single game. In
1976, Sturt defeated Grand Final favourites Port Adelaide by 41
points in front of a record Football Park crowd of 66,897. Norwood
won the 1978 premiership in their centenary year by beating Sturt
in the Grand Final by the narrowest of margins - one point - after
Sturt had lost just one game for the entire season. During the
1970s, football in South Australia experienced an increase in
players moving across the border to play in the higher standard VFL
competition.
1980-1989
The exodus of quality players to the VFL continued in the 1980s and
inevitably the quality of competition began to drop. Sensing the
change, in 1981 the SANFL submitted a bid to enter a composite
South Australian team in the VFL, but were rejected. Following this
failed attempt, the SANFL introduced a Player Retention Scheme in
1988. The aim of the Scheme was to provide financial incentives to
top players to remain in South Australia. While this Scheme saw a
short-term increase in the quality of the competition, attendances
soon began to drop again.
Meanwhile, on-field, night football came to the SANFL in 1984 with
floodlights installed at Football Park following a long battle with
nearby residents. The heavyweights Port Adelaide, Norwood and
Glenelg dominated the competition, winning eight premierships
between them.
1990-1999
The 1990s was the most turbulent decade in the history South
Australian football. The SANFL continued to resist the temptation
to enter a side in the AFL. However matters came to an abrupt head
on July 31, 1990, when the
Port Adelaide Football Club,
feeling it was subsidising the other SANFL clubs, made an
independent bid to the join the AFL. The shock announcement took
everyone by surprise and instigated the most controversial period
in South Australian football.
The SANFL was left with little option but to submit its own bid to
enter the AFL. In a thirty-minute meeting the SANFL formed the
Adelaide Football Club, a composite side made up of players from
all SANFL clubs. While Port Adelaide had by far the largest
supporter base in South Australia, they could not compete with the
SANFL's offer of a composite club and the use of Football
Park.
In November 1990, following a vicious legal battle, the AFL
announced the Adelaide Football Club had been granted the licence
and would enter the competition in 1991.
After a tumultuous summer, the Adelaide Crows debuted in 1991
wearing the state colours of navy blue, red and yellow. While the
Adelaide Crows enjoyed crowds of over 40,000 every week and
dominated local media coverage, crowds at local SANFL matches
plummeted. The 1990s was the first decade in the SANFL's history
that it was not South Australia's premier football event every
weekend.
In 1997, Port Adelaide finally achieved their goal of joining the
Australian Football League under a new name, the Power. After just
missing out on the finals in their first season, the Power finally
made their first finals series in 1999.
The Crows were the first of SA's two clubs to taste premiership
success in the big league, winning back-to-back cups in 1997 and
1998.
Locally, Port Adelaide Magpies dominated the competition winning
seven premierships in the 1990s.
Regional variation
Some variations of Australian Rules Football in South Australia
compared with other Australian states still exist:
Points system: In South Australia, most leagues
award two points for a win, and one for a draw. Elsewhere in
Australia generally four points are awarded for a win and two for a
draw.
Percentage: In South Australia, ladder percentage
is usually calculated as "For" ÷ "For and Against" × "100".
Elsewhere in Australia it is generally calculated as "For" ÷
"Against" × "100".
Behind posts: Behind posts have generally been
coloured red in South Australia, as opposed to white
elsewhere.
Goalkicker listings: Match reports in South
Australia generally list goals and behinds scored by player,
whereas elsewhere in Australia goals only are generally
shown.
Field markings: The "50" on the 50 metre line at
AAMI Stadium is in a
serif font, whereas at
Victorian grounds a sans-serif font is used.
Participation
In 2007, with 14,825 senior players in SA and a total participation
of 72,971, South Australia has the second most players of any state
in Australia. With a participation rate of around 4% per capita,
makes it the equal third most supported state (with Victoria and
South Australia).
[290435]
Audience
Attendance Record
Major Australian Rules Events in South Australia
Great South Australian Footballers
Great players from SA to participate in elite football include:
Barrie Robran,
Malcolm Blight,
Russell Ebert,
John
Platten,
Neil Kerley,
Stephen Kernahan,
Craig Bradley,
Tony
Hall,
Nathan Buckley,
Tony Modra,
Tony McGuinness,
Andrew Jarman,
Darren
Jarman,
Gavin Wanganeen,
Fos Williams,
Mark M. Williams,
Andrew
Payze,
Garry McIntosh,
Michael Aish,
Bruce Lindsay and
Mark Ricciuto.
Notable South Australian Players in the AFL
Governing Body
The
governing body for Aussie
Rules in SA is the
South Australian
National Football League. South Australia is the only state
governing body for Australian Football in Australia that is also a
league.
Leagues & Clubs
Professional Clubs
Open
Adelaide
Metropolitan Leagues
Regional Leagues
Each year the South Australian Country Football Championships
showcase the best regional football talent from around the State.
In 2006 the Central zone was the premier side.
[290436].The competition is made up of the
following representative sides:
- Central (comprises the Barossa Light and Gawler, Adelaide
Plains, Northern Areas, North Eastern and Yorke Peninsula Football
Leagues)
- Southern Districts (River Murray, Great Southern, Hills,
Southern and Kangaroo Island Football Leagues)
- South East (Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara, Mid South Eastern and
Western Border Football Leagues)
- Eyre Peninsula (Port Lincoln, Great Flinders, Easterm Eyre, Mid
West and Far West Football Leagues)
- Northern Cities (Whyalla, Woomera & Districts and Spencer
Gulf Football Leagues)
- Murray Mallee Barrier Zone (Riverland, Mid Murray, Broken Hill
and Mallee Football Leagues)
Junior
Representative Team
The South Australian representative team is known as the
Croweaters and have played
State
of Origin test matches against all other Australian states. The
side had a particular rivalry against Victoria, defeating them on
many occasions despite Victoria having the bigger population and
arguably stronger league. In the 1980s,
Kick a Vic was a
popular catchcry. The SA representative teams still play at Under
16 and 18's level.
- See Also Interstate
matches in Australian rules football
Principal Venues
Sources
- Full Points Footy
- More chase Sherrin than before -
realfooty.com.au
- South Australian National Football League
- Adelaide Crows
- Port Adelaide Magpies
- Port Adelaide Power
See also
External links
, Adelaide
)
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