Old Adelaide Football Club

The club was founded at the Globe Inn Hotel, Rundle Street (c. 1860)

The Adelaide Football Club was formed on Thursday 26 April 1860 at the Globe Inn Hotel, Rundle Street with John Brodie Spence chairing the meeting.[1] It was the first in South Australia. The club had its own game rules later referred to as the "Old Adelaide club rules". They would ultimately be universally adopted in South Australia in 1876.

The club initially only played internal matches between players located North and South of the River Torrens. In the first ever internal game J. B. Spence led one side and John Acraman the other with the match held on the North Parklands on Saturday 28 April 1860.[2] The fourth meeting took place on the South Park Lands on 19 May 1860 with coloured uniforms adopted.[3] The team derived from players North of the River Torrens wore Blue and the side south wore Pink.[4] For this match the captains were O'Halloran and Cussen.[5] By mid June 1860 the club had already grown to over 100 members, including four members of the South Australian parliament.[6] The final game for 1860 attracted 200 spectators.[7] John Acraman was again captain of one side with the other captain T. O'Halloran.[8] North Adelaide would win by one goal.[9]

The first recorded match against a rival club was played in 1862 against the Modbury and Teatree Gully Football Club on a strip of grass near the Modbury Hotel. Adelaide won the game two goals to nil.[10] 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".[11]

During the final stages of the last match of the 1863 season between Adelaide and the Modbury and Teatree Gully Football Club some Indigenous Australians were allowed to participate for both sides.[12] The newspaper described the indigenous players by saying their "manoeuvres were ludicrous in the extreme".[13]

In 1864 the club produced printed copies of their rules to avoid disputes.[14] The club hosted a 'Town and Country' match in 1864.[15]

A match was played on 13 June 1868 between Adelaide and a local Collegian side with the latter winning.[16]

In 1870 the club lost many of its best players to the newly formed city club Young Australians.[17]

On 31 August 1876 the club played a match against a team from the 50th Regiment on the North Park Lands. The Adelaide club won 3–0.[18]

By 1873, the Kensington club rules became popular amongst the other clubs, along with attempts at standardisation. After Adelaide's attempts to retain their rules were rebuffed by Kensington and Port Adelaide, they went into recess until 1875.

After the clubs exile from inter club football in 1873 and 1874, the club had suffered significantly, and was no longer the premier football club. Adelaide had one win and a draw from its five its inter club fixtures for the season, finishing last.

On 20 July 1876, Charles Kingston organised a meeting at the old Prince Alfred Hotel and pleaded with the delegates of the other local clubs that the rules of the Old Adelaide club be universally adopted by South Australian clubs as they closely resembled those used in Melbourne. Part of Charles Kingston's argument to adopt the Old Adelaide club rules over the Kensington club rules was that by having rules similar to those being used in Melbourne, intercolonial football matches could be held in the future. By the end of the meeting Charles Kingston had his way and the old Adelaide club rules were adopted by all the clubs.

In 1877 Adelaide captain Nowell Twopenney was influential in calling for the establishment of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA). The club subsequently became one of the founding members of the SAFA (later renamed as the SANFL). In the SAFA's inaugural season, Adelaide finished third, winning 11 matches (one win by forfeit), losing three and drawing three, finishing with a positive goal differential of 18. Adelaide finished fifth out of seven teams in each of the next two seasons, and last in 1880.

The team's poor performances on and off-field forced the club to merge with Kensington for the 1881 season due to a lack of players. These problems continued, forcing the combined team to resign from the competition on 1 June 1881 after playing four matches, with a fifth being forfeited when the team failed to appear.[19] During the years 1882 to 1884, the club did not play in the SAFA.

Adelaide's 1886 premiership team

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.

Adelaide was involved in an experimental night game played under electric lights at Adelaide Oval on 1 July 1885. It beat South Adelaide 1 goal 8 behinds to 8 behinds.

Adelaide finished third out of seven teams in each of the next three seasons, also playing matches against the visiting Victorian Football Association (VFA) premiers Carlton in 1887, winning nine goals to three, and against a visiting British team in 1888, winning six goals to three.

After the triumphs of 1886 and 1887, very poor management led to the defection of many of the key members of the 1886 premiership team.

By the 1890s, the club was the chopping block of the SAFA, and struggled to field a team. Adelaide won three successive wooden spoons in 1891-1893 (with records of 0-16, 0-15-1 and 1-15 in those seasons), and also having a winless streak of 40 matches between 1890-1893.

With these on-field performances and the club being insolvent, Adelaide dropped out of the SAFA and folded at the end of the 1893 season.[19]