Established in 1896 as Irishtown Union, and renamed Irishtown in 1906, the Canaries, as they are known, are without doubt one of Australian football’s most successful local football clubs, with at least forty-two (and possibly even more) senior grade premierships to their credit. Their forty-first flag came in 2011 courtesy of an 11.16 (82) to 11.10 (76) grand final win over Trowutta City. More recently they were runners-up to Forest Stanley in both 2016 and 2017 before breaking through for a long overdue flag in 2018. Underdogs going into the clash with Forest Stanley they left no doubt whatsoever that they were the better team in surging to victory by 37 points, 14.7 (91) to 8.6 (54).

The club has spent most of its long existence playing in the Circular Head Football Association (CHFA), apart from a short lived sojourn in the top tier North West Football Union (NWFU) in 1947 and 1948 when the CHFA was admitted as a 'division' within that league, and 1949-1951 when it stayed on after the CHFA and the NWFU parted company.