The South Gawler Football Club is a country Australian rules football club, founded by James Fitzgerald in the Gawler South area of the Barossa Valley town of Gawler, South Australia, in 1889. The Lions, who wear royal blue and white hoops, currently compete in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association. Their club and oval today situated at Eldred Riggs Reserve, Evanston, in Gawler.
The Lions have produced some champion footballers, many who have played SANFL and AFL league and state football. Names such as Winky Price, Eddie Mahoney, Howard Abbott, Laurie Rusby, John Nottle, Robin Mulholland, Steven Officer and Eddie Schwerdt lead up to Sam Butler who became their first professional footballer with the West Coast Eagles in 2004 and a member of the Eagles' 2006 AFL Premiership. Defender Yves Sibenaler has played in seven SANFL Premierships for the Central District Bulldogs, while Alan Obst (a 2007 Premiership player also with Centrals) has now returned from a stint with the North Melbourne Kangaroos.
Other names of the club honoured by the membership include Charlie Nottle, Herbert "Popeye" Adams, Max Heinrich, Garry Hurst, Jeff Brown and Aaron Bevis. Former great strongman Gus Barker is the current president.
According to a number of forums covering country Australian Rules football, South Gawler is possibly one of the most successful football clubs in Australia. With 37 first-grade premierships recorded and verified, discussion in 2008 suggested that the Lions currently have accumulated the second-most premierships in South Australia and were the equal fourth winningest Australian Rules club in Australia.
Although the Lions' last senior Grand Final appearance was in 1996, and they have not won an A Grade premiership since 1993, their junior development programs continue to produce success with the club's Junior Colts winning the 2012 flag yet again in recent years, following the Senior Colts' recent completion of a hat-trick of premierships from 2009 to 2011. After he was appointed coach in 2012, former Adelaide Crows and Central District champion Scott Lee took the A Grade to the finals for the first time in many lean years last season, while the Reserves emphatically captured the 2012 premiership, revitalising this historic club.
Read more about South Gawler Football Club: Premierships, Life Members, State of Origin Footballers, VFL/AFL League Footballers, SANFL League Footballers, Expatriate SANFL League Footballers, South Australia State Country Footballers, Association Best and Fairest, References
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