South Australia Australian rules football team
|
|||||||
| Nickname | The Croweaters | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governing body | South Australian National Football League | ||||||
| Most caps | Fos Williams, Walter Scott (34) | ||||||
| Home stadium |
AAMI Stadium (51,515) Adelaide Oval (53,583) Various SANFL grounds |
||||||
| First game | |||||||
 Victoria 7–0 South Australia  1879 |
|||||||
The South Australia Australian rules team, known as the "Croweaters", is the representative side of South Australia in the sport of Australian rules football.
South Australia has a proud history in interstate football, having a successful historical record and winning two out of the four Interstate Carnivals in the State of Origin era, including the last two.
South Australia has an intense and long rivalry with Victoria. The rivalry was characterised by the catchcry in South Australia called "Kick a Vic" and fans would bring signs of the cry to the games. The South Australia and Victoria rivalry was characterised by long-time South Australian player Andrew Jarman, who has said "it was the mother of all battles". Some of the games between South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia in the 1980s and 1990s have been described as "some of greatest games in the history of Australian football".
The rivalry with Victoria stems from before State of Origin started, the Victorian Football League being the richest league, used to buy a lot of the best players from interstate, and the standard rules prior to 1977 was that all VFL players played interstate football for Victoria. This contributed to Victoria's dominance in the pre-State of Origin era, it created a culture of disdain towards Victoria. Another component of the rivalry is a historical feeling in South Australia that Victoria doesn't rate any player or league outside Victoria. Another contributing factor is a feeling in South Australia that Victorians think they own the game.
The first game South Australia played was in the first intercolonial/interstate game in 1879 against Victoria. South Australia has played several games annually from 1879 till when interstate football ended in 1999. South Australia has also participated in every Australian National Football Carnival and always participated in section 1 when there were divisions.
The 1980s was a golden period for South Australia, winning the national championship three times, including an Interstate Carnival Championship.
...
Wikipedia