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Official name
South Gambier Football Club
Known as
South Gambier
Formed
1926
Colours
Red and white
Emblem
Demons
Affiliation (Current)
Western Border Football League (WBFL) 1964–2024
Affiliations (Historical)
South Eastern Football Association (SEFA) 1926–1935; Mid South East Football League (MSEFL) 1936–1940; South East and Border Football League (SEBFL) 1946–1963
Senior Premierships
South East Football Association (SEFA) - 1927, 1933 (2 total); Mount Gambier and Districts Football Association (MG&DFA) - 1949, 1951 (2 total); Western Border Football League - 1974, 1992, 1994, 1996-7-8-9-2000, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2015 (12 total)
Postal Address
PO Box 362, Mount Gambier, South Australia 5290
The South Gambier Football Club took its bows in the South East Football Association in 1926, and reached a grand final at the first attempt only to lose to Naracoorte. A year later South made amends by turning the tables on the same opposition on grand final day, winning by 32 points, 13.6 (90) to 8.10 (58). A third grand final appearance and a second premiership came South Gambier’s way in 1933. Millicent provided the opposition on that occasion, with South triumphing by 10 points, 12.12 (84) to 10.14 (74).
Between 1936 and 1945, with the exception of several years during the war, South Gambier competed in the Mid South East Football Association without achieving any premiership success. The 1946 season saw the club lining up in the Mount Gambier and District Football Association in which it would spend a total of eighteen seasons, earning premiership glory in 1949 and 1951. These were the only two occasions that the club qualified for the grand final.
In 1964 South Gambier was a founder member of the Western Border Football League which included clubs from both sides of the South Australia-Victoria border. Success in this new competition was a while in arriving but after capturing their breakthrough premiership in 1974 with a 15.12 (102) to 10.8 (68) grand final defeat of East Gambier the Demons have not looked back. Since then they have added another eleven senior grade premierships making them by some measure the WBFL’s most successful club. Between 1996 and 2000 the Demons established a league record, which will take some overhauling, of claiming five flags in succession.
Their eleventh recent premiership was attained in 2009 with a 12.11 (83) to 9.12 (66) grand final defeat of East Gambier. In 2015 they made it a round dozen - by some measure, a competition record - with a come from behind 14.12 (96) to 12.10 (82) victory over North Gambier. Subsequent seasons have seen a decline in fortunes with the Demons even failing to qualify for the finals in 2017 before slumping to the 2018 wooden spoon.
John Devaney - Full Points Publications