Broadview

At the end of the 2008 South Australian Amateur Football League season Broadview was relegated from division one to division two, bringing to an end three decades of involvement in the competition’s elite grade. Only Adelaide University, which has been an ever-present member of the SAAFL’s top division can better this record.

The Tigers were established in 1928, and between then and 1963 competed, with minimal success, in the North Adelaide District Football Association. Following their transfer to the SAAFL in 1964, however, they rapidly established themselves as one of amateur football’s pre-eminent clubs. They set their stall out in their very first season which saw them claim the premiership of A3 grade, thereby securing promotion to A2 section for 1965. After struggling initially Broadview developed into a force at this level, finishing runner-up in both 1968 and 1970 before securing promotion to A1 grade as premiers in 1974.

The Tigers’ initial stab at top flight footy lasted only a couple of seasons, but after being relegated in 1976 they bounced straight back as A2 grade runners-up the following year. Thus commenced the almost unprecedented involvement in the SAAFL’s top grade alluded to earlier. Between 1978 and 2008 Broadview contested a total of a dozen A1 grade/division one grand finals, emerging victorious from fifty percent of them. The wins came in 1980 at the expense of Adelaide College, 1987 and 1989 versus Greek Camden, 1993 against Kilburn, 1998 and 2004 against Goodwood Saints.

Since claiming their sixth division one flag in 2004 the Tigers’ fortunes have dipped markedly culminating in the aforementioned relegation to division two at the end of the 2008 season. Whether the club can once again immediately bounce back is uncertain, but even if it does not it is hard to imagine it remaining out of top grade action for long.