The Adelaide Footy League, formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs playing over one hundred and ten matches per week, the SAAFL is one of Australia's largest Australian rules football associations. The league currently provides competition across eight Senior divisions with Reserves grades, accompanied by a separate C grade competition, all from Divisions 1 to 7.

History

The league was officially formed on 8 March 1911 and the first match was played on 6 May 1911. With the exception of recesses during the two World Wars, the competition has been continuous since that time. The South Australian Football Association (later to be renamed to South Australian National Football League) had existed as a competition since 1877, but in 1897 was restructured on an "electorate system" where players were zoned to clubs on the basis of their residential address for electoral enrolment. Adelaide University Football Club was keen to field a team in the SAFA competition and applied each year from 1906 to 1910. Each time the application was rejected as it was felt the inclusion of a university team would threaten the electorate system. In 1910 the Adelaide University Sports Association thought the case for admission to SAFA would be strengthened if the University had a team playing successfully in regular competition. It was felt that this could be achieved by forming a purely amateur league with other clubs not already in an association. By late 1910 Glenferrie, Marlborough and St. Bartholomew clubs had agreed to join with University to form the new association based on amateur principles. By 1911, as preparations were in hand for the inaugural season, the four clubs had become five with the inclusion of St. Francis Xavier. The clubs also had agreed to admit late applicant Semaphore Central for the 1912 season. In that first season only three ovals were used for matches – Jubilee Oval (Adelaide), Price Oval and University Oval. Price Oval (now known as Hawthorn Oval) in Mitcham and University Oval (at the corner of Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and War Memorial Drive) both still exist today. The Jubilee Oval however was built upon by University of Adelaide in 1946. Throughout the history of the league there have been many clubs join and leave the league. Affiliation peaked in 2001 with 72 clubs. Of the founding clubs, only Adelaide University remains. The 2010 season marked the 100th year of the league, with the last day in September won by Henley, who won their first Division 1 premiership in history. In 2017 the league decided to change its name from the South Australian Amateur Football League to the Adelaide Footy League.

Division 1

Club-by-club summary

This table summarises the total Division 1 premierships and grand finals from 1911 to 2023.

Grand Finals

The following list summarises the Division 1 Grand Finals from 1911 to 2023.

Clubs

Current

The following table summarizes the member clubs of the league for the 2023 season. {{legend|#FFFFBF |Playing in Division 1}} {{legend|#dfdfdf |Playing in Division 2}} {{legend|#ffdf9f |Playing in Division 3}} === Former ===

Senior Premierships

Men's

Women's

Controversy

Violence and abuse

The league has received media publicity over a number of incidents occurring at matches in recent years. 2005 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2021 2024

Unbalanced competition

The league received media coverage in 2014 due to extreme scores in a number of games.

Governance

An attempt to oust then President Gino Capogreco in October 2013 failed when the vote was defeated at an extraordinary meeting of the league. Mr. Capogreco was accused of altering a document and physically threatening a board member. Mr. Capogreco was later defeated at the following AGM.