Australian Football

The original Aldinga Football Club was formed in 1879 and for its first few years mainly engaged in informal, but no doubt fiercely contested, matches against its near neighbour Willunga. In 1886 both Aldinga and Willunga were heavily instrumental in the establishment of the first formal controlling body for football in the region, the Southern Football Association.

Aldinga’s early years in the Association were noteworthy only for the club’s difficulty in raising sufficient players to field a team each Saturday. Nevertheless, it persisted, and soon after world war one began to give notice that its days of being in the competition merely to make up the numbers would soon be at an end. In 1926, Aldinga reached the premiership deciding match for the first time, losing to Noarlunga by 9 points. What happened next could scarcely have been predicted by even the club’s most ardent followers: in the eight seasons between 1927 and 1934, Aldinga qualified for every grand final bar one, and won them all. In full, the sequence went like this:

Six flags in a row, and seven in eight years, both remain SFLSA records. Just as remarkable as the achievements themselves is the fact that Aldinga had to battle hard to win on every occasion; there were no ‘blow outs’. Clearly, whatever the level of its raw football ability, this was a team of immense mental strength.

Aldinga’s fall from grace after 1934 in some ways reflected its rise, albeit in reverse. The side never again contested a grand final, and when football resumed after world war two it once again encountered its old bugbear, a lack of players, brought about this time by the steady trickle of young men away from rural areas to Adelaide. In 1952 the Aldinga Football Club simply did not have enough available players to continue, and reluctantly disbanded.

Aldinga Football Club Mark Two was born a quarter of a century later, and promptly rejoined the SFLSA just as the competition was spreading its wings to encompass two divisions. Nicknamed the Sharks, Aldinga remained a constant presence in Division Two until the single division format was restored in 2002. On two occasions, in 1991 and 1993, it succeeded in winning premierships. Recent seasons have seen the Sharks struggle and in both 2012 and 2015 they suffered the indignity of winless wooden spoons. In 2016 there was a modicum of improvement as they managed half a dozen wins to finish 11th of 14 clubs before finishing ninth of 11 teams in 2017. This was followed by another dire campaign in 2018 which produced just a solitary win and brought another wooden spoon, a result that was repeated in 2019, following which the Sharks only fielded a B Grade side in 2020. They enjoyed an encouraging campaign which brought finals qualification and an ultimate finishing position of third. The 2021 season will see Aldinga reinstated as an A Grade club.