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The Southern Football League (SFL) is an amateur Australian rules football league in South Australia. The League was formed, as the Southern Football Association, in 1886.
The league is a suburban competition which also acts as a feeder competition for the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and in turn the Australian Football League (AFL). Some AFL players from the SFL are Adam Cooney,Nathan Eagleton, Ben Rutten and Andrew Mackie. SANFL clubs that have recruitment zones linked to the Southern Football League are West Adelaide Football Club, Glenelg Football Club and South Adelaide Football Club. The league is an important community social and sporting hub.
The SFL consists of:
The Southern Football League has also been known as the Southern Football Association and the Alexandria Football Association during its history. Originally a country league, with urban expansion it has more recently become a suburban league in Adelaide's far southern suburbs.
The League was formed (as Southern Football Association) in 1886 with competing clubs being Aldinga, McLaren Vale, Sellicks Hill and Willunga. In the early 1900s the Association changed its name to Alexandria Football Association and participating clubs were Aldinga, Hillside (called McLaren Flat from 1946), McLaren Vale, Morphett Vale, Noarlunga and Willunga.
In 1919 the Association changed its name back to Southern Football Association and participating clubs were Aldinga, Hillside, McLaren Vale, Morphett Vale, Noarlunga, Reynella and Willunga.
In 1964 the Association changed its name to Southern Football League and participating clubs were Aldinga, McLaren Flat, McLaren Vale, Morphett Vale, Mount Bold, Myponga, Noarlunga, Port Noarlunga, Reynella, Willunga and Yankalilla.
Clubs that have previously competed in the league include[1]:
Following is a brief overview of the current competing clubs.
Aldinga FC was a founding club at formation of the League in 1886. Originally playing in black and white colours, their current colours are black and gold. They are known as Willunga Thirds.
The latest revolution to come out of AFC, is the chosen one, quite simply known as "Shrive". It's thought that Shrive is so tough, he can yawn with his eyes open - he is finding sneezing with his eyes open a little hard at the moment.
Aldinga have appointed 2 new senior coaches in 2009.
A grade - Brad Wyatt B grade - Greg Robins
Both bring a fresh look to a promising side and have already put much needed structure into the club.
Aldinga has grown vastly over the years to be right on the verge of the fastest growing suburb in Australia. The football club is leaving nothing behind by tapping into local resources and calling on newly local people to join the club in one way or another but to get on the train as Aldinga start their climb back to the top of the SFL table.
Brighton FC, the winners of the 2008 southern football league club championship, are situated in Brighton. Their colours are black, white, and yellow. Their nickname is The Bombers. The playing group are a massive bunch of legends exuding much talent and skill. The A grade are coached by former Collingwood champion Tony Francis, while the B Grade is "coached" by a strange looking man that resembles a walrus. Brighton contains the highest percentage of hairdressers in the SFL.
Christies Beach FC are known as the Saints and are a shadow of their former self. Much like Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League, Christies Beach start each season with much fanfare and just miss the finals. The club is inundated with Rangas.
Cove FC was founded in 1984 and is located at Hallett Cove. Their colours are red, white and blue. Their nickname is The Cobras. Have become a powerhouse team in recent years. Cove F.C are Premiers for 2008 defeating morphett Vale. Cove like to worship a big cobra and pray to it on a regular basis, some may say this is weird, but if you have ever seen it, it's just so darn cute.
Cultural Aspects Cove are especially known as one of the most culturally significant clubs in the Southern League. On joining the club, members agree to relinquish their existing religious affiliations and are inducted into the worship of the serpent. One important ritual for this cult group is the "Feeling of the Venom", this is performed after a victory on the football field and involves bowing and genuflecting a statue of three snakes entwined, participants chant "Feel the Venom". The statue is lit from behind by electric lights and is proceeded by three candles. In 2008 a special ceremony was held to celebrate the A-Grade premiership lasting 36 hours of contant chanting and bowing, some members were seen to be speaking in tongues about the Vick Viper and the Mighty Surp.
History In 1983 a meeting was held in the Trott Park Community Centre to discuss the formation of a football club that would best serve the needs of all football players, junior and senior, in the Sheidow Park, Trott Park and Hallett Cove area.
What followed next was a series of meetings with the SANFL, Glenelg Football Club, the Southern Football League (S.F.L.) and Marion Council as to how and where the Cove Football Club would begin.
In 1984 the Cove Football Club was affiliated with the S.F.L. and the foundations for the Cove Football Club were laid.
In that first year the C.F.C. had no home ground so training was split between beach sessions, road running and thanks to an offer from Merv Mules, one night a week under lights at Morphett Vale F.C. where we also played our “home games” because the Cove Oval was not quite ready.
The senior coach in the first year was Derek Reavill and our other team, U16’s, was coached by Russell Coppock.
From the “A” graders that first year, Kent Birmingham, Chris Galley, Lynton Jones, Steve King, Paul Kinnear, Barry Ramsey and Derek Reavill have all had sons go on and play for the Cove Cobras and so the family club tradition, formed back in the 80’s has already shown promise
History is made in many ways and Premierships and Mail Medals must be included. By the end of the 2001 season the Cove F.C. had won eight Premierships and six Mail Medalists have been produced with 1998 being the “major” with the Club’s first “A” grade flag.
As the 2002 season approached, the Cove Football Club was elevated into the Division one competition of the S.F.L.. New challenges arrived and, after 18 years and the 1378 matches that had been contested, the Cove Cobras progressed as a professional unit.
With 5 out of the 6 senior teams making the finals and the A Grade missing out on percentage only after coming in at equal 6th position, it was certainly a grand debut into 1st Division.
Not much is known about the Edwardstown Football Club, they will join the SFL in 2009. It is rumoured that the play in a velodrome and local rules allow one player from each team to use a bicycle pump during games, it is unknown what purpose the bike pump has. They are known as the Townies.
Flagstaff Hill FC (FHFC) is located in Flagstaff Hill and is nicknamed the Falcons . Originally began as Brighton Methodist, and after some debate decided to move to Flagstaff Hill, and thus became the Flagstaff Hill Bushpigs. The closest state league (SANFL) club to FHFC are the South Adelaide Panthers and the West Adelaide Bloods. The club has had some success mainly in juniors and has produced AFL players; 2008 Chas Brownlow Medalist Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs), Nathan Eagleton (Western Bulldogs) and Danny Meyer (Richmond Tigers) in recent years. [2]
Hackham FC are known as the Hawks. They wear the colours Brown and Gold because their home ground, Hackham Oval, was a former sewage treatment works and these colours were seen to be most appropriate to reflect their history and origins. They had their best years in the '90s. The club is going thru a rebuilding stage at the moment with a large junior base. Things are looking to brighten for the future. The club with the biggest noses in the league.
Happy Valley FC are the most backward club in the SFL. They live in Viking times and have yet to discover the internet. They also enjoy prancing to and from the field holding onto each others blouses.
The Marion Football Club was formed in 1891 and was originally known as Sturt Football Club. Shortly before the formation of the Sturt Football Club in the SANFL the club changed its name to Sturt Marion and then in the early 1900s to the Marion Football Club as it is known now. The Marion Football Club is now associated with The Southern Football League after being a foundation member of the Mid Southern and then Glenelg South West Associations. They have pokies and do not make any money some how. They like to hold horse races and play in the sand and occasionally like to play football.[3]
Morphett Vale FC was originally established in 1898. There were some interruptions during its history due to temporary mergers with other clubs and stoppages for world wars but the club has run continuously since 1883. During the 1990s and 2000s their star player, who mimics a "Prancing Horse" while running, went from having 100 goals kicked on him to becoming a "Superstar" in the London metro competition, during this period also it was not uncommon to see Michael Johnson running the boundary in preparation for the Olympic Games. During this same period a large T-rex has also been seen in the centre square putting his small arms up and yelling at players. They are currently captained by former AFL player John Ironmonger.
Morphettville Park FC is situated in Morphettville Park and was founded in 1958. Their Colours are Red & Yellow (which is possibly the absolute worst colours ever known to man, besides the Green & Red strips of North Pines) and are nicknamed the Roos and sometimes as the Twisties. They play on a pastie. [4]
Noarlunga FC are known as the $hoes and are habitual underachievers. They are based in Old Noarlunga and train in the ruins of the burnt-down Horseshoe Inn. They are known to suck struggling teams dry of all talent, and then going on to miss finals anyway.
OSB Lonsdale are a result of a merger between Mawson FC and O'Sullivan Beach FC. They play on a high school oval because they got kicked out of their oval complex at O'Sullivan Beach by a soccer club. They are Lions, hear them roar.
The Port Noarlunga Football Club play in a swamp infested with mosquitos and rats. Their clubrooms have been condemned five times and the tennis club is the only modern building at their location. In spite of this, their ground is one of the best to watch football at, with wide open spanning areas for ample car parking. The oval has been a major cause of pollution to the nearby Onkaparinga River due to fertiliser seepage and the traditional blessing of the ground after Grand Final victories (Port Noarlunga Oval was used as the Grand Final venue for the SFL for many years). In recent years Port Noarlunga have been known for their mob-like violent fans and high speed chases (eg Round 5 2008)
Reynella FC are known as the Wineflies or Mozzies. They wear bridesmaid dresses and don't win A-Grade Premierships because it is much easier to win them in the Reserves and Junior grades.
Following is a brief overview of the previous competing clubs.
The Kangarilla Football Club are known as the Big Fish, this is due to their affinity with Small Ponds. When the Division 2 competition was disbanded at the end of 2001, Kangarilla were thrust into Division 1 with a number of other clubs. Moderate initial success was achieved by qualifying for the finals in 2002 but the club soon realised that the benefits of staying in a lower division without forced promotion were much more fun than attempting to be the best. Kangarilla promptly left and joined the Hills Football League Country Division where they could play against other minnows and continue on their way of winning minor division premierships every couple of years. They play in a cow paddock.
The Willunga Football Club are known as the Bigger Fish. In the first 50 years of the Southern League, Willunga were a dominant force, winning many premierships. However from the mid 1950's onwards, this dried up due to the Southern League expanding and accepting pesky teams from the north into the competition. No longer could Willunga spend their weekends belting lesser teams from McLaren Vale, McLaren Flat, Aldinga, Myponga and Yankalilla, they now had to contend with clubs from growing suburbs like Port Noarlunga, Christies Beach, Morphett Vale, Reynella and later Happy Valley and Flagstaff Hill. Willunga needed to find a lesser competition to fulfil their need to be top dogs, so they joined the Great Southern Football League where they could get back to the job of bullying teams from McLaren, Myponga and Yankalilla; They now dominate this competition - they have been a more than sufficient replacement for Milang.
McLaren are the result of a merger between McLaren Vale (The Crushers) and McLaren Flat (The Eagles). McLaren Flat was traditionally the stronger club, but a period of misfortune let to them being taken over by McLaren Vale. McLaren Vale had previously won premierships in Division 2 and refused to be promoted (commonly known as the Kangarilla Effect) but spat the dummy when they choked in a grand final as the newly merged club and wanted to be promoted while not being eligable due to a financial windfall clause if they were in a Division 1 competition. They ran off to the Great Southern Football League to be belted by Willunga for the rest of eternity.
The Bulldogs joined the SFL upon the collapse of the old South Australian Football Association. They won the A-Grade Premiership all three years they were in the competition until they were kicked out after the legendary "Moment". They have since fallen to the lower divisions of the South Australian Amateur Football League in an existance of mediocrity. Moral: Don't mess with the South.
Due to declining standards of some clubs, disparity between results and a desire from some to return to 2 divisions, there have been many recent rumours of clubs joining and leaving the SFL.
The following clubs have been linked to a possible inclusion in the SFL competition:
Adelaide Lutheran FC (SAAFL)
Blackwood FC (Hills FL)
Callington United Eagles FC (Hills FL)
Colonel Light Gardens FC (SAAFL)
Edwardstown FC (SAAFL) - confirmed to start 2009 season
Flinders University FC (SAAFL)
Ironbank-Cherry Gardens FC (Hills FL)
Kangarilla FC (Hills FL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
Kenilworth FC (SAAFL)
Macclesfield FC (Hills FL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
McLaren FC (Great Southern FL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
Meadows FC (Hills FL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
Mitcham FC (SAAFL)
Mitchell Park FC (SAAFL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
Plympton FC (SAAFL) - former club rumoured to be looking at return
Plympton High Old Scholars (PHOS) Camden FC (SAAFL)
Wingfield Royals FC (SAAFL)
Woodcroft Old Collegians FC - new startup
The following clubs have been linked to a possible exit from the SFL competition:
Aldinga FC - Hills FL or Great Southern FL
Morphettville Park FC - SAAFL
O'Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale Football Club FC
DIV.1 RES SOUTHERN F.A.
1950 - 2008 Aldinga Football Club 2012 - Hackham Football Club
Competition held 1977 to 2001.
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