STRATHALBYN
Current Affiliation: Great Southern Football League (GSFL)
Colours: Red and white
Emblem: Roosters
Senior GSFL Premierships: 1963-4, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1979, 1981-2, 1987, 2000, 2010 (11 total)
Mail Medallists: J.Warton 1963; P.Gilbert 1970; K.Wray 1978; B.Smith 1981; J.Lehmann 1997; M.Cook 2002; N.Duffield 2003 (7 total)
Football was certainly being played in Strathalbyn during the nineteenth century, and indeed an embryonic version of the town's football club is known to have commenced a regular home and away series against near neighbour Mount Barker as early as 1881. The series continued until the outbreak of World War One, by which time the two teams had engaged in a total of 64 matches, with Mount Barker enjoying marginally more success.
After the First World War, Strathalbyn competed in the Hills Football Association, precursor of today's Hills Football League. In 1930, the club transferred to the Great Southern Football League, reaching a grand final in what was to be only a brief, one season excursion this time around. Opposed in that grand final by Victor Harbour, Strathalbyn went under by 40 points, after which they faced a three decade wait before being granted the opportunity to achieve revenge. That opportunity arrived in 1963, ten years after Straths had recommenced in the GSFL. Victor Harbour was the more seasoned side, having been a regular grand finalist over the preceding decade, but Strathalbyn won the '63 premiership decider with some comfort, 13.12 (90) to 6.8 (44). The victory was a prelude to a memorable era that overall saw the Roosters contesting ten out of eleven grand finals for a 50% success rate.
After a period in the comparative doldrums Strathalbyn re-emerged as a force in the late 1970s, winning a flag in 1979, running second to Mount Compass in 1980, and then procuring back to back premierships in 1981-2. The 1979 and 1982 triumphs were particularly satisfying in that the Roosters amassed what, at the time, were the two highest grand final scores in GSFL history, 23.20 (158) in the former match against Mount Compass, and 23.18 (156) against Encounter Bay in the latter. Strathalbyn went on to claim another flag in 1987 on the strength of an 11.9 (75) to 5.13 (43) grand final defeat of Willunga, making the 1980s, in terms of premierships won, the second most productive decade in the club's history.
A low often follows a high in the weather charts, and so it was on the field of play for the Roosters, who failed to win a single senior flag during the 1990s. The reserves at least managed to further the club's credentials with a grand final defeat of Encounter Bay in 1993, but runners-up in 1996 and 1998 was the closest the seniors came to a premiership.
The 2000 season proved to be one of the most notable in Straths' history as both seniors and reserves reached the grand final. The seniors duly accounted for Willunga by 8 points after a low scoring arm wrestle, but the reserves had to settle for 2nd place after going under to Myponga by 44 points.
The Roosters have qualified for senior grade grand finals on three occasions in recent years, losing by 12 points to McLaren in 2003, and to Willunga last year by 9 goals, before turning the tables on the Demons in 2010 with a 13.8 (86) to 12.11 (83) triumph.
Where now?
or