South Australian football spread nationally for the first time in 1991, when the Adelaide Football Club entered the Australian Football League.
It was far from an easy birth. The end of the 1990 season was overshadowed by three months of off-field turmoil that disrupted, divided and transformed football in the State boasting the oldest football league in Australia.
An outwardly united front among the SANFL clubs about the terms for any future bid to join the national competition was shattered when it was revealed that Port Adelaide had been in secret discussions with the AFL and reached a Heads of Agreement to enter the competition in 1991.
After a decade of debate, the SANFL was forced to act quickly to secure the licence. Out of the raging controversy emerged the Adelaide Football Club, a composite team called the Crows. It was founded by players, staff and officials with ties to the ten SANFL clubs of 1990 - Central District, Glenelg, North Adelaide, Norwood, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide, Sturt, West Adelaide, West Torrens and Woodville.
Owned by the SANFL, wearing navy blue, red and gold, and made in South Australia.
The Adelaide Football Club’s Interim Board met for the first time on October 15 1990, and there was much work to do to build a successful club. The exciting new era, however, captured the imagination of thousands of football fans. Game one, on March 22 1991 at a packed Football Park, ended with a stunning 86-point win against Hawthorn to escalate Crowmania.
Adelaide first played AFL finals in 1993, reaching the preliminary final before suffering a painful loss to Essendon. Four years later the Crows returned to the finals under new coach and SA football legend Malcolm Blight. To then win three consecutive finals and defeat St Kilda by 31 points in the 1997 Grand Final at the MCG was one of South Australia’s greatest sporting achievements.
Adelaide won another AFL premiership the following year. It became the first AFL club to win the flag from fifth, charging to a 35-point win over minor premiers North Melbourne after trailing by four goals at half-time.
Subsequent years have failed to deliver another AFL title, preliminary finals in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2012 the best results until 2017 when Adelaide won the minor premiership but lost to Richmond in the grand final.
The Crows have been the home of some of the greatest players of the AFL era. They include 2003 Brownlow Medallist Mark Ricciuto, Club games record-holder and two-time Norm Smith Medallist Andrew McLeod, premiership hero Darren Jarman and spectacular full forward Tony Modra, who kicked 129 goals in a remarkable 1993 season.
Adelaide has continued to evolve on and off the field. It built and updated facilities at Football Park, moved its home games from West Lakes to Adelaide Oval in 2014, and bought its AFL licence back from the SANFL. Adelaide first entered the SANFL competition in 2014, to keep its AFL squad together in the same training and playing system. Then, in 2016, Adelaide won the right to be one of the eight foundation clubs in the new AFLW competition. The Crows won the inaugural 2017 Premiership and was again successful in 2019 – when more than 53,000 fans watch the grand final at Adelaide Oval – and 2022 (season six). This proud legacy has been built by AFLW superstars including Erin Phillips, Chelsea Randall and Ebony Marinoff.
The Crows are now preparing to move to Thebarton Oval in 2027, building a $100 million new facility at a historic football and community venue for the Adelaide Football Club’s three teams, administration and supporters. Our history continues to grow.
Snapshot look:
Club formed: October 1990
Joined AFL: 1991
Home ground: Adelaide Oval
AFL Premierships (2): 1997, 1998
AFLW Premierships (3): 2017, 2019, 2022 S6
Brownlow Medallist: Mark Ricciuto 2003
AFLW Best and Fairest: Erin Phillips (2017, 2019); Ebony Marinoff (2024)
John Coleman Medallist: Tony Modra (1997)
Norm Smith Medallist: Andrew McLeod (1997, 1998)
AFLW Grand Final Best on Ground: Erin Phillips (2017, 2019); Anne Hatchard (2022 S6)
Record home and away attendance: 65,930 v Collingwood at the MCG, 2023
