| Names | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Adelaide Football Club |
| Club details | |
| Founded | 1860 |
| Dissolved | 1893 |
| Colours | black, red, and white |
| Competition | SAFA |
| Ground(s) | Adelaide Oval |
The Adelaide Football Club was an Australian rules football club, based in Adelaide, that played in the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) from 1877–81 and again from 1885–93. The team won the SAFA premiership in 1886. The club bears no relation to the present Adelaide Football Club playing in the Australian Football League.
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The club was formed in 1860, the fifth club using Victorian rules to be formed in Australia and the first in South Australia, and initially only played matches internally. The first recorded match against a rival club was played in 1862 against the Modbury Football Club on a strip of grass near the Modbury Hotel. However, no records remain of the result of the match. The two teams met again the next year, and "the game was kept up with the greatest spirit and good feeling, and so equally were the sides matched that not a goal was obtained".[1]
The club disbanded in 1873 after new rules became popular amongst the other clubs at the time. The club reformed for the 1876 season, and was one of the founding members of the South Australian Football Association the following year. In the SAFA's original season, the club finished third, winning ten, losing three and drawing three of its 16 matches, and finishing with a goal differential of 18. The team finished fifth out of seven teams in each of the next two seasons, and last in 1880, forcing the team to merge with Kensington for the 1881 season due to a lack of players. The combined team was forced to disband after the 1881 season when it again finished last.[2]
The club was re-formed before the 1885 season, combining with Adelaide and Suburban Football Association (ASFA) club North Park to again field a team in the SAFA. The new team finished last out of four teams in 1885, but surprised much of the competition to claim the SAFA premiership in 1886 under the captaincy of J. D. Stephens.
The team finished third out of seven teams in each of the next three seasons, also playing matches against the visiting VFA premiers Carlton in 1887, winning nine goals to three, and against a visiting British team in 1888, winning six goals to three.
By the 1890s, Adelaide were the worst-performed team in the competition, finishing last for four consecutive seasons from 1890–93. The team were forced to disband at the end of the 1893 season.[2]
| Preceded by South Adelaide |
SAFA Premiers 1886 |
Succeeded by Norwood |
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