The Colonel Light Gardens Football Club 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 that has senior men's teams in Division 4, Division 4 Reserves and Division C4 of the

Adelaide Footy League The Adelaide Footy League (AdFL), formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs play ...

. They also have a strong juniors program for both girls and boys. They are known as the 'Lions'.

History

The club was founded by the merger of Colonel Light Western (1927-1930, South Adelaide District & YMCA Association) and Mortlock Park (1927-1930, Mid Southern Association) in 1931. For its first two seasons of playing in the SAAFL, the club applied to join the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

. The club was admitted to the newly formed SA National Junior Football Association before moving back to the SAAFL in 1937. In 1938, it was represented at state level by Sturt player

Gil Langley Gilbert Roche Andrews Langley (14 September 1919 – 14 May 2001) was an Australian Test cricketer, champion Australian rules footballer and member of parliament, serving as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1977 to 1979 ...

who was one of the five state players the club produced. The Lions rose to Division 1 and contested the finals three consecutive seasons while the club was also fielding teams in the Sturt District Association. During the 1960s, Colonel Light Gardens saw a downfall, dropping down to Division 2 and then to Division 4 in the 1970s before moving again to the Glenelg South league in 1976. The Lions remained there until 1986 when it combined with th
Kenilworth Football Club
to form Kenilworth-Colonel Light and thus going back to the SAAFL. The merger only lasted for five years, with the Lions reverting to Colonel Light Gardens in 1991. In 1995 it was forced to share its home ground, Mortlock Park, with the Goodwood Indians Baseball Club who had their own facilities on the site, with th
Mitcham Council
ultimately ceasing the club's uses with the clubrooms for events due to complaints from local residents. The club has a strong junior player base and still continues to field junior teams in SANFL Juniors and senior teams in the

. The strength of the juniors has paid dividends as they move to senior levels with the club being promoted to Division 4 in 2025 after a strong showing in the previous year. A significant upgrade to the club's shared facilities was announced in 2024. It is expected to attract more female players.

A-Grade Premierships

* 1927 = Mid-Southern Association (as Mortlock Park) * 1932 = Division 2 (undefeated) * 1949 = Division 2 (undefeated) * 1962 = Division 4 * 1983 = Division 2 * 1993 = Division 6 * 1995 = Division 5 * 2007 = Division 7

Notable Players

Sturt and South Australian State representative

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willi ...

ist William Keith Dunn.

ist and

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

Mark Naley Mark Brendan Naley (11 March 1961 – 6 July 2020) was an Australian rules footballer who played with in the VFL/AFL and South Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Heritage Growing up, Naley had been told that h ...

played junior football at the club.

References

External links

Colonel Light Gardens Lions Football Club Website
{{Channel 9 Adelaide Football League Clubs Adelaide Footy League clubs