Tea Tree Gully

A team representing Tea Tree Gully, and known as The Rifles, was recorded as engaging in a match with the Adelaide Football Club near Modbury on 30th August 1862. The rules in force would presumably have been those fostered by Adelaide; in any case it was ‘The Adelaideians’ who won the match by a score of 2 goals to nil. (As was the common practice at the time, the first team to score 2 goals was proclaimed the winner.)\n\nThe precise origins of today’s Tea Tree Gully Football Club are difficult to pinpoint but the club was definitely in existence by the early years of the twentieth century. Prior to world war one and between the wars Tea Tree Gully participated in various different suburban competitions with limited recorded success. During the second world war the club combined with Hope Valley and after it affiliated with the East Torrens Football Association which later metamorphosed into the Norwood North Football Association. Between 1978 and 1987 the Gullies were members of the South Australian Football Association before commencing in the amateurs in 1988. They took just eight seasons to progress from division six to division one, although most of their promotions were as losing grand finalists. The sole exception came in division four in 1990 when the Gullies saw off the grand final challenge of local rivals Modbury by a margin of 5 goals. The club’s second senior grade SAAFL flag was procured in division two in 2006.