Australian Football

Flinders Park

Flinders Park’s nine decade long history has seen it compete in five different leagues and associations, and it boasts the distinction of having claimed at least one senior grade premiership in each of them.

The club began life in 1927 as Flinders Park Methodist, competing in the United Churches Football Association. Its six season stint in this competition yielded a premiership every year but one, and so in 1933 the club sought a sterner challenge by applying to join the South Australian Amateur Football League. The application proved successful, but Flinders Park’s initial stint in the SAAFL proved disastrous, as after just a single season the club was expelled because of bad behaviour on the part of its supporters. The 1934 season saw the Reds fronting up in the Adelaide and Suburban Football League where ithey would remain until 1946, the season that saw them claim their second senior grade premiership in the competition, the first having been won five years earlier.

In 1947 and 1948 Flinders Park was a member of the West Torrens District Football Association, and it enjoyed premiership success in both years. The club’s second stint in the SAAFL got underway in 1949 and on this occasion there were no supporter-related problems. Over the ensuing three decades or so the Reds made their way steadily up the SAAFL’s grading ladder. By the mid-1970s they were fielding the strongest teams in their history, as evidenced by their feat in winning back to back premierships in A1 Grade (nowadays known as Division One) in 1976 and 1977. The 1978 season saw the creation of a new competition, the South Australian Football Association, which was intended to be the second tier of organised football in the state. As a leading amateur club, Flinders Park was invited to transfer to this competition, which it duly did to conspicuous effect, claiming senior grade premierships in both of its first two seasons. It later added a third in 1981, and a fourth and last in 1983.

It is debatable whether the SAFA ever achieved its ambition of providing South Australian football with a recognised second tier of competition. In any case, by the early 1990s the standard of play had declined, leading to a corresponding drop in the competition’s profile. At the end of the 1995 season the SAFA disbanded, with most of its member clubs, including Flinders Park, transferring to the SAAFL.

Flinders Park had an immediate impact on its return to its former stamping ground, winning a Division Four flag in its first season. The club continues as a vibrant and successful member of the Adelaide Footy League, as the SAAFL is now known, with Division Three premierships in 2000, 2008 and 2011 the crowning points in its achievements. The Reds reached the Division Three grand final in 2020 only to lower their colours to Golden Grove by a margin of five goals.