A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Adelaide Football Club | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Names | ||||
| Full name | Adelaide Football Club Limited[1] | |||
| Nickname(s) | Crows Crom Indigenous rounds: Kuwarna | |||
| Motto | We Fly As One | |||
| 2023 season | ||||
| After finals | DNQ (AFL) 3rd (SANFL) 3rd (AFLW) | |||
| Home-and-away season | 10th (AFL) 3rd (SANFL) 1st (AFLW) | |||
| Leading goalkicker | Taylor Walker (76) (AFL) Lachlan Gollant (42) (SANFL) Danielle Ponter (20) (AFLW) | |||
| Club details | ||||
| Founded | 12 September 1990[2] | |||
| Colours | Navy blue, red, gold | |||
| Competition | AFL: Senior men AFLW: Senior women SANFL: Reserves men | |||
| Chairman | John Olsen | |||
| CEO | Tim Silvers | |||
| Coach | AFL: Matthew Nicks AFLW: Matthew Clarke SANFL: Michael Godden | |||
| Captain(s) | AFL: Jordan Dawson AFLW: Chelsea Randall SANFL: Jack Madgen | |||
| Premierships | AFL (2) AFLW (3) | |||
| Ground(s) | AFL: Adelaide Oval (53,500) AFLW: Norwood Oval (10,000) Unley Oval (10,000) | |||
| Former ground(s) | Football Park (1991–2013) | |||
| Training ground(s) | Football Park Thebarton Oval (future) | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
| ||||
| Other information | ||||
| Official website | afc.com.au | |||
The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 1991, and a women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition since 2017.[3] The club's offices and training facilities are located in the western Adelaide suburb of West Lakes, at the site of the club's former home ground Football Park. Since 2014 Adelaide have played home matches at the Adelaide Oval, a 53,500-seat stadium located on the northern bank on the River Torrens in North Adelaide.[4]
The Crows were formed in 1990 as the de facto state team representing South Australia in the AFL. They were originally owned by the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), though they gained administrative independence in 2014.[5] They played their first season in 1991 and finished in 9th place, the highest ranking of any expansion club in the AFL in a debut year.[6][7] The men's team won both the 1997 and 1998 Grand Finals, and have appeared in 15 finals series in their 33-year history. Adelaide is the most successful team in the AFL Women's competition, and is one of two clubs (the other being the Brisbane Lions) that have won multiple premierships; winning in 2017, 2019 and 2022 (S6). It also fields a reserves team in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), along with the other South Australian football team in the Port Adelaide Football Club.
The men's team is currently coached by Matthew Nicks and is captained by Jordan Dawson.[8][9]
History
1990s: Foundation and back-to-back triumph
After the VFL was renamed the AFL for the 1990 season, the SANFL clubs unanimously resolved, in 1990, that a team would not be entered into the AFL until 1992.[10] The AFL refused to accept this, and revised negotiations with individual clubs Port Adelaide and Norwood.[11] Two months later, the Port Adelaide Football Club reached terms of agreement with the AFL to enter a team into its competition in season 1991. The other nine SANFL clubs reacted strongly and entered into litigation in an endeavour to halt Port's bid. As the terms offered were more favourable than previously offered, talks were resumed.[12] On 19 September 1990, the AFL approved the bid for a new South Australian club to enter into the league rather than a single existing SANFL club.[7][12]
The Adelaide Crows played their first season in the AFL in 1991.[13] Inaugural coach Graham Cornes[14] and captain Chris McDermott led Adelaide to a respectable ninth place out of 15 in the league, with 10 wins and 12 losses and a percentage of 89.44.[15] Adelaide's first AFL game was against Hawthorn on Friday 22 March at their then home ground, Football Park. The Crows defeated the eventual premiers by a hefty 86-point margin, winning 24.11 (155) to 9.15 (69).[16] The club reached its first finals series in the 1993 AFL season, eventually losing to Essendon in the preliminary final.[13]
Premiership glory in 1997 and 1998
The year 1997 marked the entry of a second South Australian club, Port Adelaide. The Crows finished fourth to qualify for its first finals series since 1993, and hosted fifth-placed West Coast in the First Elimination Final. In the first final ever to be played at Football Park, the Crows won 14.15 (99) to 9.12 (66). The next week, Adelaide benefited from the finals system in use at the time and hosted the higher ranked Geelong, who had finished two places above the Crows but were forced to play away due to losing the previous week to North Melbourne. The Crows won narrowly in a controversial match, where a clear forward 50 mark to Geelong's Leigh Colbert during a critical stage of the third quarter was not awarded by field umpire Grant Vernon, with the game concluding with the final scores as Adelaide 11.10 (76) to Geelong's 9.14 (68).[17] This set up an away Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Despite losing Coleman Medallist Tony Modra, who had kicked 84 goals for the season, to an ACL injury in the first quarter and trailing by 31 points at half time, the Crows kicked four unanswered goals in the last quarter to record a two-point victory, 12.21 (93) to 13.13 (91). Darren Jarman kicked a goal to put Adelaide in front with less than two minutes remaining, this qualified the Crows for their first AFL Grand Final, to be played against St Kilda at the MCG a week later. [18]
St Kilda, chasing just their second premiership in VFL/AFL history, were warm favourites to win the Grand Final, having come first in the minor round and won both of their finals by margins of 46 and 31 points, against an Adelaide side without Tony Modra, Mark Ricciuto and goalsneak Peter Vardy due to injury. However, the Crows again overcame a half-time deficit, kicking 14 second-half goals to win by 31 points, 19.11 (125) to 13.16 (94). Darren Jarman kicked six goals, five of which came in the last quarter, whilst utility Shane Ellen kicked a career-best five and Troy Bond kicked four. Andrew McLeod, who gathered 31 possessions across half-back and in the midfield, won the Norm Smith Medal for the best player on-field in the Grand Final. The win is arguably one of the finest moments in South Australian sporting history.
Few expected the Crows to successfully defend their premiership the following year. Adelaide often struggled in close matches during the 1998 AFL season; seven of their nine losses were by 13 points or less, compared to only three wins by corresponding margins (they finished the regular season fifth on the ladder, with a record of 13–9). The Crows were well beaten by Melbourne in the qualifying final at the MCG by 48 points, and at the time, looked far from a premiership threat. Since season 2000, a loss in the finals by a team outside the top four would result in instant elimination, but the Crows benefited from a quirk in the McIntyre finals system that was in use during the 90's and still progressed to the second week, drawn to play a semi final against the Sydney Swans at the SCG. The Crows bounced back from their disappointing first finals loss and recorded a comprehensive upset 27-point win against the Swans in the wet, which set up a Preliminary Final rematch against the Western Bulldogs. Despite going into the match as underdogs, the Crows played some of their best football of the year to soundly beat the Dogs by 68 points - 24.17 (161) to 13.15 (93). It was a complete contrast to the thriller that took place the previous year, with Matthew Robran kicking six goals and Andrew McLeod, opposed to renowned tagger Tony Liberatore, booting seven.
Like the previous year, Adelaide went into the Grand Final as underdogs, playing against North Melbourne, who had won the premiership in 1996 and had won eleven consecutive matches leading up to the Grand Final. North Melbourne led by 24 points at half-time, 6.15 (51) to 4.3 (27), with only their inaccurate goalkicking keeping Adelaide in the contest. However, as they had in the previous year, Adelaide dominated the second half to win by 35 points, 15.15 (105) to 8.22 (70) - the result making Adelaide the only club during the decade of the 1990s to achieve the feat of winning back to back AFL premierships. Darren Jarman kicked five goals, while Andrew McLeod won his second successive Norm Smith Medal, an unprecedented feat. Club legend Mark Ricciuto won the Crows' Club Champion award in 1998. Following a disappointing year in 1999, premiership coach Malcolm Blight resigned from the role and the Crows entered the new millennium with two premierships under their belt.
2000s: Finals and near misses
The Crows next made the finals in 2001 AFL season, though they lost their opening three matches for the season. Adelaide played fifth-placed Carlton at the MCG in the First Elimination Final and were roundly defeated, 17.16 (118) to 6.14 (50). High-profile forward Darren Jarman announced his retirement after the match. Adelaide's impressive 2002 AFL season (in which they achieved a 15–7 win–loss record) came undone at the penultimate stage, losing to Collingwood in the Preliminary Final at the MCG. Ben Hart won his second Malcolm Blight Medal in 2002, with Tyson Edwards finishing runner-up. Brett Burton led the Crows' goalkickers with 51. Hart and Mark Ricciuto were both named as All-Australians. Adelaide then exacted some revenge by defeating Collingwood in the pre-season competition in 2003, the club's first win in that competition. The Crows' impressive 2003 season was eventually halted by the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in the semi-finals. That season, Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto became the first and (as of 2023) only Crow to win the Brownlow Medal for the best and fairest player in the AFL in a three-way tie with Adam Goodes and Nathan Buckley.[19] The Crows returned to finals in 2005 and recorded a famous win in what remains the only Showdown match against rivals Port Adelaide in the semi-finals. They then lost once more at the penultimate stage (preliminary final), to the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco Oval by 16 points. This was repeated in 2006 when they again lost to West Coast in the preliminary final, this time at home and by an even smaller margin of 10 points.
Adelaide would qualify for finals for each of the remaining seasons in the 2000s, falling short at the elimination or semi-final on each occasion. Collingwood proved to be the biggest hurdle, knocking the Crows out of the finals race successively in 2008 and 2009. Andrew McLeod and Bernie Vince won the club's best and fairest awards in that time.
Adelaide's finals runs in the 2000s