The North Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Roosters, is an Australian rules football club affiliated with the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and SANFL Women's League (SANFLW). The club plays its home games at Prospect Oval, located in Prospect, a northern suburb of Adelaide. The club joined the SAFA in 1888 as the Medindie Football Club (nickname Dindies and from 1890s Dingoes),[1] changing its name to North Adelaide in 1893. It is the fourth oldest club still in operation in the SANFL after South Adelaide (1877), Port Adelaide (1877) and Norwood (1878). North Adelaide's first premiership was won in 1900 (which finally broke the dominance of the 3 older clubs), and the club has won a total of fourteen senior men's premierships in the SANFL, most recently in 2018.
In 1880 a group of schoolboys from Prince Alfred College and the now defunct Whinham College got together and played football on a section of the Park Lands, previously known as Hawker’s Paddock. It was so called locally because it was leased from the City of Adelaide by George Hawker, a well known citizen of the suburb of Medindie. The schoolboys dubbed their football team the Medindie Football Club. They wore the red and white colours of Prince Alfred College and played other football teams on the site. One of those schoolboys was Charles Nitschke who would become Captain of the Medindie Club and would be known as the founding Father of North Adelaide Football Club.[2][3]
One of the club's first reported games were in May 1882 against Prince Alfred and St Peters Colleges Second Twenties both on Medindie's home ground. [4] [5]
Medindie was a foundation member in 1885 of the South Australian Junior Football Association, before being admitted to the Adelaide and Suburban Football Association in 1886. [6]
At the Annual General Meeting on 16 March 1888, held at the Red Lion Hotel, the Secretary Charles Nitschke was elected a Life Member for his valuable services to the Club.[7]
At the start of 1888, during a split of the SAFA, the Medindie Club was invited to join with 3 senior clubs, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide and the Adelaide (1885), into forming a new Senior South Australia Football Association. Once the dispute was settled the Club was still invited to join the senior Association for the 1888 SAFA season. [8]
On 14 March 1893, at a meeting held at Temperance Hall, Tynte Street, North Adelaide it was unanimously decided to renamed itself from Medindie to North Adelaide.[9][10] Although several other early clubs, including Victorians and Hothams which used the name of "North Adelaide" prior to 1893, none of them bore ties to the current club.
North Adelaide started playing at Prospect Oval from 1922 with the first game of the season on Monday 8 May 1922 against Glenelg[11] and it has remained their home ground ever since.
North Adelaide competed in the first match played at Football Park (now known as AAMI Stadium) in round 5, 1974. Their opponent was Central District. The match was won by Central District.
The longest serving coach for the club is Michael Nunan – 12 seasons from 1981 to 1992.[citation needed]
The Captain's record is held by Ian McKay, captaining the team for 8 years from 1948–1955.[citation needed]
The North Adelaide Football Club officially renamed both ends of Prospect Oval in 2012 after the two official Icons of the Club. The northern end around the goals was named the "Ken Farmer End", while the southern end was named the "Barrie Robran End".
South Australian Football Hall of Fame and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Jack 'Dinny' Reedman and future North Adelaide Premiership Captain began his career at Medindie in 1884.
North Adelaide was a foundation member of the SANFL Women's competition in 2017. The Roosters lost two grand finals in the league before eventually claiming their maiden women's premiership in 2020.
The North Adelaide Football Club has named two of their past champions as Icons. They are:
North Adelaide have had many versions of their club song in the past. All versions have contained the same lyrics, but have been changed rhythm wise to keep up with the times.[citation needed] The lyrics and tune, by well known Australian singer/songwriter Johnny Mac, are the only completely original written in the league, as all the other clubs have written lyrics to well known tunes.[citation needed] The most recent version was brought in during the early 2000s, but all versions can still be found on the club song CD.[citation needed]
It's a great, great club,
And the club we love,
We're the good old red and whites!
The mighty Roosters we're called,
All for one, one for all,
If we're down we fight, fight, fight!
We always play as a team,
And we play it clean,
We're never out of sight,
Be it wet, be it dry,
We try, try, try,
We're the good old red and whites!
North Adelaide 19.10 (124) defeated Norwood 15.15 (105)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 40,355
Date: 23 September 2018
Umpires: Bowen, Medlin, Harris
Jack Oatey Medallist: Mitch Grigg (Norwood)
Best: Schwarz Allmond Barns Tropiano Woodcock Castree[15]
Goals:
4 – Barns
3 – Harvey, Woodcock, McInerney
2 – Hender
1 – Ramsey, Sweet, Wilkie, Young
North Adelaide 21.22 (148) defeated West Adelaide 11.7 (73)
Venue: Football Park
Attendance: 39,276
Date: 5 October 1991
Umpires: Laurie Argent and Mick Abbott
Jack Oatey Medallist: Darel Hart
Best: Hart, Perkins, Sanders, Krieg, Redden, Parsons, Sims
Goals:
7 – Hart
4 – Burton
2 – Hamilton, Parsons
1 – Atkinson, Clisby, Krieg, Nunan, Perkins, Sanders
North Adelaide 23.7 (145) defeated Glenelg 9.9 (63)
Venue: Football Park
Attendance: 50,617
Date: 3 October 1987
Umpires: Neville Thorpe, Rick Kinnear
Jack Oatey Medallist: Michael Parsons
Best:
Goals:
6 – Parsons
5 – Roberts
4 – Sims
3 – Burton, D. Jarman
2 – A. Jarman
North Adelaide 19.14 (128) defeated Port Adelaide 10.12 (72)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 55,709
Date: 30 September 1972
Umpires:
Best:
Goals:
6 – Sachse
3 – Hearl
2 – Marsh, R. Robran, von Bertouch
1 – Phillips, Plummer, Rebbeck, B. Robran, Webb
North Adelaide 10.19 (79) defeated Port Adelaide 9.5 (59)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 52,228
Date: 25 September 1971
Umpires:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Rebbeck
3 – Webb
2 – Sachse
1 – Collins
North Adelaide 14.11 (95) defeated Norwood 13.12 (90)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 54,162
Date: 1 October 1960
Umpire:
Best: Potts, Gilbourne, Hammond, Gambling
Goals:
7 – Potts
1 – Barbary, Hughes, Kent, D. Lindner, Thomas, Trenorden, Whitford
North Adelaide 23.15 (153) defeated Norwood 6.9 (45)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 50,105
Date: 4 October 1952
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Kennett, McKenzie, Phillips
3 – Cox
2 – Proud
1 – Aldenhoven, Gilbourne, Griffin, Fuller, McKay, Renner
North Adelaide 13.17 (95) defeated West Torrens 9.18 (72)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 42,490
Date: 1 October 1949
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Stringer
3 – Cox
2 – Peddler
1 – Arbon, Kennett, Pash, Phillips
North Adelaide 17.13 (115) defeated Sturt 11.11 (77)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 34,202
Date: 3 October 1931
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
6 – Farmer
4 – Proud
2 – Furler, Willshire
1 – Burns, Hawke, Lock
North Adelaide 9.13 (67) defeated Port Adelaide 9.9 (63)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: 23,609
Date: 4 October 1930
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Farmer
2 – Barrett
1 – Burton, Furler, Hawke
North Adelaide 9.15 (69) defeated Norwood 3.3 (21)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: Approximately 31,000
Date: 18 September 1920
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
2 – Frost, Leahy
1 – Curnow, Lewis, Maloney, Sprigg, Trescowthick
North Adelaide 6.8 (44) defeated Port Adelaide 1.6 (12)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: Approximately 11,000
Date: 9 September 1905
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Jessop
1 – Fleet, Johns
North Adelaide 9.14 (68) defeated South Adelaide 4.7 (31)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: not recorded
Date: 6 September 1902
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
4 – Jessop
2 – Dickenson, Johns
1 – Daly
North Adelaide 4.3 (27) defeated South Adelaide 1.8 (14)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
Attendance: approximately 7,000
Date: 8 September 1900
Umpire:
Best:
Goals:
2 – McNamara
1 – Matthews, Shaw
Selected by a committee composed of Colin Walsh (Chairman), Don Lindner, Tom McKenzie, Jeff Pash, Barrie Robran and Gordon Schwartz. Each member provided a list of candidates for each position and the Committee then set about the arduous task of selecting the final team. The selected team was formally announced at a gala dinner held on 7 October 2000.
Campbell Combe 2020 Aaron Young 2022 ^ – awarded retrospectively
