Australian Football

Jamestown has a long and distinguished football tradition highlighted by a total of a dozen senior grade Northern Areas Football Association premierships for the club bearing the town’s name between 1909 and 1971. In 1972 Jamestown merged with Appila and another half a dozen senior flags soon followed, including four in a row between 1988 and 1991.

Peter Kitschke, who played a total of 445 games for Jamestown between 1948 and 1974, is arguably the most noteworthy South Australian country footballer of all time. Winner of an incredible seven Mail Medals as the competition’s best and fairest player, he is the only member of the South Australian Football Hall of Fame to have spent his entire playing career in country football. There is obviously something special in the genetic make-up of the Kitschkes as Peter’s brother John was also a much decorated footballer, winning a total of five Mail Medals, including four in succession between 1953 and 1956.

The town of Peterborough also boasts a strong football pedigree. Known as the Saints, the town’s club entered the NAFA in 1962 and immediately showed that it meant business by contesting the grand final in its debut season, losing a low scoring affair to Crystal Brook by 26 points. Three years later the Saints made amends with a 15.5 (95) to 10.15 (75) grand final defeat of the same opponent before going "back to back" in 1966, once again at Crystal Brook’s expense. Peterborough had won a total of four senior flags by the time of the merger with Jamestown Appila in 2003.

Not surprisingly, Jamestown Peterborough fared well to begin with, claiming premiership honours in its first two seasons. However, the next three years were unaccountably dismal, producing just 7 wins from 48 matches for, almost inevitably, a hat trick of wooden spoons. Following that the Magpies gradually re-emerged as a force and in 2014 they claimed their third senior grade flag courtesy of a hard fought 13.12 (90) to 13.7 (85) grand final defeat of Crystal Brook. Fortunes thereafter have been mixed: the Saints made the finals in 2015 before slumping to the wooden spoon the following year. The 2017 season brought partial improvement as they rose one place on the six team premiership ladder but a year later they endured a dismal campaign which saw them win just once in 16 games to finish with the wooden spoon.