By 1886, Adelaide, under the inspirational leadership of John Stephens and with his brother Richard the standout player, was SA footy’s premier side. 

And, for good measure, Port Adelaide came last. Could they be called Showdowns in 1886? Well Adelaide won four of them, losing just one.

Grand finals did not become a traditional way to decide the premiership until 1898, so Adelaide claimed the flag by being on top of the table at the end of a closely-fought season. Adelaide won nine, lost five and drew one of its 15 matches, South Adelaide had a 7-6-2 record, Norwood was 8-5-2 and Port Adelaide 3-11-1. Norwood dropped from second to third because it was disqualified in one game. The Register noted its win was removed for “playing McGrath in a match against South Adelaide before his fine was paid”.

The Register’s Goalpost, in his review of the season, noted: “Without an exception the Adelaides are, I believe, South Australians. Nearly all have learnt their football in the colony, and certainly no prominent footballer from the other colonies has been found in their ranks. The success that has attended the Adelaides proves the necessity for good training and the use of the brain in football. The team trained consistently, and the result has been the successive defeat of all the Association clubs.”

Pace was the name of the game for this side as “with one exception they have played no slow men”. Their predominantly long kicking was described as “good” and their marking “excellent”, while John Stephens was described as having “played half-back in the centre” where he “had few superiors in that position”.

Follower in The Chronicle noted: “To their speed they owe to a great extent their present position at the head of the list. It has been their aim all through to increase this advantage, and flyers have at all times been welcomed.”

While leaping for high marks already was becoming a crowd pleaser, formal training was becoming a key for success, The Chronicle’s scribe writing: “As last year, the premiers have been trained by D. Green, who has made the most of the material at his disposal, the team having invariably lasted well despite the pace at which they travelled.” Richard Stephens “stood head and shoulders above his confreres, and it has been frequently asserted by the supporters of rival teams that he won the Adelaides’ matches for them”. With 17 goals Stephens “kicked far and away more goals than any other man in the association”.

A member of Adelaide’s victorious 1886 team was future Australian Test cricket captain Joe Darling. He was just 15, fresh from scoring a then record 252 for Prince Alfred College in the previous summer’s inter-collegiate match against St Peter’s College. In one clash against Port Adelaide, “the Prince Alfred College boy” kicked the first goal after five minutes play. Adelaide won 3.19 to 1.5. Darling went on to play 34 Tests, captaining Australia in 21 of them, winning three series against England. In 1894, Darling played in a premiership with Norwood.

Adelaide finished third in 1887-89 in a seven-team competition but in ’87 it gave South Australia reason to be proud by beating visiting Victorian Football Association side Carlton 9.11 to 3.11. Carlton won the VFA premiership that season. The Register of July 15 noted Richard Stephens “kicked no less than six goals, hit the post twice, and sent the ball between the post once just as the bell rang” in a stunning matchwinning effort. That evening “the Adelaides gave a social to the Carltons at Beach’s Refreshment-rooms. There were about 100 gentlemen present … the meeting was enlivened by numerous songs and recitations”. The club’s president (Mr. L. P. Lawrence) presented Stephens “with the colours of the club mounted in silver as a memento of his goalkicking in the match”.

The glory days did not last long. Adelaide’s hot-and-cold history finished with three successive bottom placings, this club’s last hurrah in 1893.

The next time an Adelaide Football Club was to make the headlines was almost a century later, in 1990. Just as the original Adelaide Football Club had done, it dramatically changed the landscape of SA footy. And for the better.