The Angaston Football Club, nicknamed the ''Panthers'', is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club located in Angaston, a town on the eastern side of the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The club, established in 1879, currently plays in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association. Angaston was a founding member of the Barossa & Light Football Association (BLFA), predecessor of the current league, in 1908.

Club history

The Angaston Football Club was officially formed in 1879, playing its first game on 12 July 1879 against the Kapunda Football Club. Kapunda won the game kicking seven goals to nil. Football was initially played in Angaston nine years prior to the club's founding, in 1870. The club took part in trying to create a football association in the late 1800s but the association wasn't formed until 18 March 1908, the "Barossa & Light Football Association". Angaston was a founding member of the league and has not missed an official season in its 139-year history. The first official match of the Angaston Football Club was on 2 May 1908, defeating Kapunda 5.11.41 to 5.2.32. The ''Panthers'' also won their first premiership in 1908 too. In the early 1900s, Angaston won six premierships until 1915 when

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out and suspended football. But success continued for the club in the 1920s as Angaston won another three premierships and continued to be regarded as one of the best teams in the league by reaching five grand finals and winning four flags in the 1930s. After their successful era of the 1930s, football was suspended again due to World War II. When the local competition started again in 1945, Angaston went on to win another premiership, defeating Kapunda in the grand final but had to wait until 1955 to win another premiership. After their victorious 1955 season, the club suffered a thirteen-year premiership drought before winning back to back premierships in 1968 and 1969, followed by three more in 1971, 1972, and 1973 and another in 1977. The Angaston Panthers FC holds the record for being the only club to have drawn twice in a Grand Final, the first in 1969 against Nuriootpa F.C. and winning the replay and again in 1977, drawing with Kapunda and winning the replay. Angaston has won two more A-Grade premierships since 1977, in 1986 and 2003. Angaston has produced several players that have gone on to play in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

. These include

Kent Kingsley Kent Kingsley (born 26 September 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club, the Geelong Football Club and the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Career A full-forward, Ki ...

(

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Sean Tasker Sean James Tasker (born 18 June 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Tasker was North Adelaide's leading goal-kicker in 1989 but played as ...

(

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Shannon Hurn Shannon William Hurn (born 4 September 1987) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). From South Australia, he excelled at both cricket and football at junior level, a ...

( West Coast),

Sam Colquhoun Sam Colquhoun (born 20 December 1994) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Colquhoun was South Australia's Most Valuable Player and an All- ...

(

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

) and Jack Hannath (

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

). The Angaston Football Club still continues to field junior and senior teams in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association and has won the most premierships in the former BLFA but have only won one premiership in the current league. Since the 2010s, the club's recent seasons have been quite tough, earning the wooden spoon in 2012, 2013 and 2017.

A-Grade Premierships

* Barossa & Light Football Association (21): 1908, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1945, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1986 * Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association (1): 2003

References

External links

* {{Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association Australian rules football clubs in South Australia 1879 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1879