The Southern Metropolitan Football League (SMFL) was 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 ...

competition based in the southern suburbs of

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 ...

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 ...

until it folded at the end of the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

season. It first formed in

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

as the Sturt Football Association, and during its history was also known as the Mid-Southern Football Association (1920-1930), Glenelg District Football Association (1931–1949), Glenelg-South-West District Football Association (1950–1966) and Glenelg-South Adelaide Football Association (1967–1983), before finally being named Southern Metropolitan Football League (1984–1986). The association first affiliated with the

South Australian 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 governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

in 1921. In 1927, the association made a special request to the SAFL for financial assistance.

Collapse

The remaining clubs at the end of the 1986 season were distributed in 1987 as follows:
Joined SAFA –

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, Mitchell Park
Joined

Hills Football League The Hills Football League (HFL) is an Australian rules football league, situated in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, to the south east of the state capital Adelaide. The League has over 3000 players belonging to 20 member Clubs. T ...

–

Blackwood Blackwood may refer to: Botany * African blackwood (''Dalbergia melanoxylon''), a timber tree of Africa * African blackwood ('' Erythrophleum africanum''), (''Peltophorum africanum'') also Rhodesian blackwood, trees from Africa * Australian blac ...

Joined

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

, Morphettville Park,

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient Stannary, stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down riv ...

Joined Central District Football Association –

Ovingham Ovingham is a village and civil parish in the Tyne Valley of south Northumberland, England. It lies on the River Tyne east of Hexham with neighbours Prudhoe, Ovington, Wylam and Stocksfield. The River Tyne provided an obstacle between Ovi ...

Merged and joined

SAAFL 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 ...

- Camden (merged with Greek FC)

Member Clubs

Clubs in Bold indicate teams playing in the final season (1986)

Premierships

Sturt Football Association

Mid-Southern Football Association

Glenelg District Football Association

Glenelg-South-West District Football Association

Glenelg-South Adelaide Football Association

Southern Metropolitan Football League

H.S. Rugless Medallists

The H.S. Rugless Medal was awarded to the player adjudged the Fairest and Most Brilliant in the competition. During the Sturt Football Association years (1912–19) it was known as the Thomas Medal.

Thomas Medal

*1912 *1913 *1914 – Jack Rowlands (Blackwood) *1915 *1916 *1917 *1918 *1919

H.S. Rugless Medal (A1)

*1920 *1921 *1922 – Mick Martin (

Reynella Reynella is a metropolitan suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located 20 km south of the Central Business District of Adelaide in the north of the City of Onkaparinga. It is bordered to the east by Main South Road, to the south by ...

) *1923 *1924 – Bob Chapman (

) *1925 – William Hender (

) *1926 – Purdie ( Sturt) *1927 – A. "Pop" Williams (Goodwood) *1928 – A. "Pop" Williams (Goodwood) *1929 *1930 *1931 *1932 *1933 – F. Whitford (

) - 24 votes *1934 *1935 – R. McNamara ( Camden) *1936 – W. Egan ( Sturt) *1937 – Clarrie Radford (

) – 40 votes *1938 – F. Alcock (

) *1939 – ''tied'' C. Brown ( Sturt) & N. S. Gunn (

) – 34 votes *1940 – F. Alcock (

) *1941 – N. Edwards ( Sturt) *1942 – C. Brooker (

) *1943 *1944 – G. Cox ( Sturt-Brighton) *1945 – K. Rohrig ( Edwardstown) *1946 – B. Woollard ( Brighton-Seacliff) *1947 – R. (Bob) Ryan (

) *1948 – Mel Brock ( Camden) *1949 – Harold Partridge ( Sturt) *1950 – Max Chambers ( Sturt) *1951 *1952 – Alan Naulty (South Adelaide Ramblers) *1953 *1954 – P. Partridge ( Sturt) *1955 *1956 *1957 *1958 *1959 *1960 *1961 *1962 *1963 *1964 *1965 *1966 *1967 – Garry Bonner (

) *1968 – J. Cook (

) *1969 – J. Cook (

) *1970 – Ian Winton ( Morphettville Park) *1971 *1972 *1973 *1974 *1975 *1976 – John Cloonan ( Morphettville Park) *1977 *1978 – Robbie Magarey (

) *1979 *1980 *1981 – I. Hine (

) *1982 – Brad Mesecke ( Morphettville Park) *1983 – J. Carracher (

) *1984 – Brad Mesecke ( Morphettville Park) *1985 – Chris Prior (

) *1986 – Brad Mesecke ( Morphettville Park)

J.C. Morrow Medal (A2)

In 1936 the Morrow Medal was established for the fairest and most brilliant player in the then B-Grade competition.

Division 2 A-Grade Medal

* 1980 - Neil Wuttke * 1983 - Geoff Drechsler * 1984 - Glenn Todman

Division 2 B-Grade Medal

* 1983 - David Heard

References

{{Aussie Rules in South Australia 1912 establishments in Australia 1986 disestablishments in Australia Defunct Australian rules football competitions in South Australia