There is little doubt that a soccer ball was kicked about in Australia in a playful manner and small scale during the 1870’s by immigrants, but most people knew nothing about the game. The first known group to form a soccer social "club" was organised by a school teacher named W.J. Fletcher. It (the social club) was called the "Wanderers" and began operation on the 14th of August 1880 at Parramatta. Another soccer group was organised at Kings School and social games were arranged between these two groups. During the 1880’s the round code of football became very popular not only in Sydney but also in the coal mining areas of Newcastle and the Illawarra. However, travelling long distances by teams were very restricted until the railway links were made to the areas outside Sydney although there were some coach travelling from the Illawarra prior to the opening of the railway link to the Illawarra in 1888. Travelling to Sydney by ship could not be considered due to shipping times and absence from work.
In Sydney early major clubs were: Pymont, Arcadians, Caledonians, Ambrose, Canterbury, Granville, Parksgrove and Balmain. In the Newcastle district there were: Hamilton, Greta, Carrington, Burwood, Wallsend, West Wallsend, Adamstown and Minmi Rangers. The early South Coast clubs were: Balgownie, Corrimal, Woonona, North Illawarra (Bulli) and Helensburgh. Unfortunately there are very few records if any, of how the early clubs of the South Coast were formed or the dates of origin and most of their history have came from hand me down stories and old newspapers.
1873 Hawthorn FC (Melbourne)
1881 North Illawara Rovers
1883 Footscray Thistle (Melbourne)
1885? Minmi Rangers
1887 Wallsend SC (Newcastle)
1888 Paramatta Meadows
1889 Adamstown Rosebud FC
Woonona FC
1890 Balgownie Rangers SC
Helensburgh Rovers
1891 Corrimal Rangers SC
1894 Dapto SC
1895 Helensburgh Thistle SC
1927 Melbourne Hakoah [founded as Club Nautico Israelita (Melbourne); in the
early 1980s merged with South Melbourne FC]
1936 Olympic (Adelaide) [became Hellas in 1962, then West Adelaide Hellas in 1977]
1938 Sydney City [founded as Hakoah Sydney]
1941 Metro SC (Claremont)
1945 Canterbury-Marrickville Berries (Sydney)
1946 Adelaide City Force SC
1948 Brunswick Juventus SC (Melbourne)
Croatia SC (Melbourne) [became Melbourne Knight SC in 1953]
1949 NS Polonia (Sydney)
1950 Cracovia Club (West Perth)
1952 Polonia (Melbourne)
1953 Blacktown City Demons [founded as Toongabbie SC]
North Ryde SC (Ryde City)
1954 APIA Leichhardt Tigers FC
1956 Paramatta Eagles SC (Sydney)
1958 Marconi Fairfield Stallions FC Sydney
Sydney United SC [founded as South Sydney Croatia]
Heidelberg United SC (Melbourne) [founded as Fitzroy Alexander United]
1959 South Melbourne Lakers SC
1967 Pine Rivers United SC (Strathpine)
1971 Balga SC (Perth)
1975 Saint Albans Saints SC
1977 Sydney Olympic FC [founded earlier as Pan Hellenic]
Canberra City
1980 Wollongong City Wolves
1988 DOSA SC (Hobart)
1993 Brisbane Strikers FC
Frankston Strikers SC (Melbourne)
Leeming Strikers SC (Willetton)
1995 Perth Glory FC
Canberra Cosmos
1997 Northern Spirit FC (Melbourne)
2003 Adelaide United FC
NB: see also http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Clubs/ClubIndex.html
Women Club Foundation Dates
1920 Railway (Southern Cross)
Rovers (Southern Cross)
1921 Jul 8 Brisbane City [aka South Brisbane Ladies FC; disbanded 1922]
Jul 8 Brisbane Ladies FC [disbanded 1922]
Jul Toowoomba Cities
Jul Toowoomba Rovers
Balgownie
Boolaroo (Newcastle)
Brisbane Celtics
Cawdor Ladies
Latrobe Ladies FC (Brisbane)
Sydney Ladies Soccer Club
Wallsend (Newcastle)
West Wallsend (Newcastle)
Woons
1926 Brisbane City Ladies Soccer Club [in Winter 1926 splitted into Brisbane Kangaroos and Brisbane Wallabies]
Brisbane Kangaroos [split from Brisbane City Ladies SC]
Brisbane Wallabies [split from Brisbane City Ladies SC]
1928 Abermain
Bellbird
Cessnock
East Grets
Kurri Kurri North End
Pelaw Main
Stanford Methyr
Weston
1929 Kurri Kurri/Weston [disbanded 1930]
Speers' Point
Speers' Point/Teralba [disbanded 1930]
Teralba
1931 Blue Birds (Lithgow) [founded Jun 3; disbanded 1932]
Coledale Ladies
Scarborough Ladies FC
State Mine [aka Royal Coal Mine Ladies; disbanded 1932]
Vale of Clwydd Rovers [disbanded 1932]
Zig-Zag (Lithgow) [founded Jun 3; disbanded 1932]
1933 Bluebirds (Ipswich)
Booval (Ipswich)
Favorites (Ipswich)
Northern United (Ipswich)
Robins (Ipswich)
1936 Brewer's Arms (Broken Hill)
Railway Town (Broken Hill)
Southern Cross
Wests (Broken Hill)
2008 Adelaide United FC
Brisbane Roar FC
Canberra United FC
Melbourne Victiory FC
Newcastle United Jets FC
Perth Glory FC
Sydney FC
2012 Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Source for foundation dates women clubs until 1936: Faller, H.: "Waltzing Down Under: soccer in Oceania before World War Two", 2018.
With thanks to James Hothersall
Prepared and maintained by Hans Schöggl for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Hans Schöggl
Last updated: 21 Oct 2021
(C) Copyright Hans Schöggl and RSSSF 2005/21
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.