West Adelaide Football Club
| West Adelaide | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Names | ||
| Full name | West Adelaide Football Club | |
| Nickname(s) | Westies The Bloods Blood and Tars The Wolves Red and Blacks The Bottle Tops |
|
| 2016 season | ||
| Leading goalkicker | Aaron Fielke | |
| Best and fairest | Chris Schmidt | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1892 | |
| Colours | Black and Red | |
| Competition | South Australian National Football League | |
| President | Richard Sykes | |
| Coach | Mark Mickan | |
| Captain(s) | Chris Schmidt | |
| Premierships |
9 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1927, 1947, 1961, 1983, 2015 |
|
| Ground(s) | Richmond Oval (currently City Mazda stadium) (capacity: 16,500) | |
| Uniforms | ||
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| Other information | ||
| Official website | westadelaidefc.com.au | |
West Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Commonly known as The Bloods and Westies, the club's home base is Richmond Oval (currently known as City Mazda Stadium under a sponsorship agreement). The Oval is located in Richmond, an inner-western suburb of Adelaide.
The club has won nine SANFL premierships, the most recent coming in 2015 – breaking a thirty-two year premiership drought dating back to 1983; the second longest in the SANFL.
West Adelaide was formed in 1892, adopting Magenta and White as their colours and the club played in the Adelaide and Suburban Association from 1892 to 1896. Wests won the Adelaide and Suburban Association premierships in 1895 and 1896 and following the club's annual general meeting on 30 March 1897, the club joined the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) in 1897. The SAFA would subsequently become the SANFL.
Upon entering the SAFA, West Adelaide changed their colours to black and red, the colours previously worn by the defunct Adelaide Football Club and moved its training headquarters from the South to the West Parklands. The club often struggled to field a full team in its early years as clubs were then controlled by wealthy businessmen and it was no secret that players were regularly poached from less wealthy clubs. West Adelaide was one of the "poor" clubs and consequently won only one of its first 31 matches.
From the 1899 season the SAFA introduced district football in which players had to play for the club in the district where they lived. West Adelaide immediately gained the services of one of the best players of the time, "Bunny" Daly who threw himself into developing the club. Nonetheless, the club still struggled and had won only twenty and drawn two of 127 games by the end of 1907, including a second winless season in 1906. However, with a number of young players such as Richard "Dick" Head joining veterans James Tierney and former South Adelaide champion "Dinny" Reedman, West’s fortunes were about to change and the club would enter what is known as its "Golden Era"
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