Adelaide Crows

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Template:Infobox aus sport club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Crows, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League, based in Adelaide, South Australia.

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Club history

The South Australian National Football League, who ran the local competition, had been seeking to enter a team in what was then the Victorian Football League since 1981. Protracted negotiations were brought to a head in 1990 after an SANFL team, the Port Adelaide Football Club, reached agreement with the AFL to enter their competition. Because the Port Adelaide Football Club represented only a fraction of the interest of football followers resident in South Australia, legal action followed, and eventually the league agreed to enter the composite Adelaide team in 1991.

Image:Crows Shield.jpg

The nickname "Crows" was inspired by the traditional "Croweaters" nickname for South Australia's State of Origin teams.

The Crows did not take long to achieve success, winning back-to-back premierships in 1997 and 1998 under coach Malcolm Blight. Their fans base has quickly developed a distinct character of its own, caricatured as passionate but respectable fans contrasting with the "working class" Port Power fans. Port Power was created to join the AFL competition eventually in 1997. Rivalry between the players and supporters of the two Adelaide teams is fierce, with an edge not present in the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers situation in Perth. On one occasion, a meeting between players of the two teams in an Adelaide bar resulted in a widely-reported brawl. Many Crows fans enjoy the greater success their team has had in the AFL.

The club is based at AAMI Stadium (formerly Football Park) in West Lakes and the club song is "The Pride of South Australia", which uses the tune of the United States Marine Corps Hymn. Famous players include Mark Ricciuto, Andrew and Darren Jarman, Andrew McLeod and Tony Modra. The club is currently coached by Neil Craig, who replaced Gary Ayres when he resigned mid-season in 2004. Craig, initially a caretaker coach, was subsequently appointed to the position permanently from 2005 onwards.

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Membership Base

The Adelaide crows have a membership of 47,000 (and a waiting list), the largest membership of any club in the AFL. In 2005, the average home ground attendance was 42,336.

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Inaugural Match

Adelaide played its first official match against Hawthorn at Football Park. The Crows got off to the best possible start to their AFL life, smashing the eventual premiers by 86 points - 24.11 (155) to 9.15 (69) - infront of a crowd of 44,902.

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Notable Records

Greatest winning margin: 139 points - Round 16, 1993 v Richmond

Highest winning score: 29.11 (185) against Richmond at AAMI Stadium on 26/7/97

Longest winning sequence: 10 games (Rounds 13-22, 2005)

Largest home attendance: 51,140 against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on 26/4/03

Largest attendance: 99,645 against St. Kilda at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - 1997 Grand Final

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Premierships

Image:1997 Premiers.jpg
1997 Coca-Cola AFL Grand Final	G	B	Total
Adelaide	19	11	125
St. Kilda	13	16	94
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground	Crowd: 99,645

Image:1998 Premiers.jpg
1998 Coca-Cola AFL Grand Final	G	B	Total
Adelaide	15	15	105
North Melbourne	8	22	70
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground	Crowd: 94,431

Image:Wizard Home Loans Cup Logo.gif
2003 Wizard Cup Grand Final	SG	G	B	Total
Adelaide	2	13	8	104
Collingwood	1	9	10	73
Venue: Telstra Dome, Melbourne	Crowd: 43,571

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Premiership Teams

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Individual Awards

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All-Australian players

Ben Rutten (2005)
Simon Goodwin (2000, 2001, 2005)
Andrew McLeod (1998, 2000, 2001)
Darren Jarman (1996)
Shaun Rehn (1994, 1998)
Mark Ricciuto (1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Greg Anderson (1993)
Tony Modra (1993, 1997)
Ben Hart (1992, 1993, 1999, 2002)
Tony McGuinness (1992, 1993)
Chris McDermott (1992)
Nigel Smart (1991, 1993, 1998)

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"Team of the Decade"

While some sides named their "Team of the Century" to co-incide with the AFL centenary celebrations in 1996, Adelaide only joined the league in 1991, and so later on named their "Team of the Decade", covering the period from 1991 to 2000.

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1997 season/finals

With coach Malcolm Blight taking over, Adelaide went 13-9 in 1997 and Tony Modra was the clubs top goalicker for the 5th straight season and won the Coleman medal. The Crows finished in 4th spot and did what no side had ever done before, win 4 straight Finals games to claim the premiership. The Crows downed West Coast at home, Geelong at home, The Western Bulldogs and St Kilda at the MCG to claim the premiership. The preliminary Final was one of the greatest games in Crows history, they would lose Tony Modra to a season ending knee injury and come from 22 points down at 3 quarter time despite inaccurate kicking for a miracle 2-point victory. Andrew McLeod was the Norm Smith medalist after the Grand Final win.

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1998 season/finals

Adelaide again went 13-9 in the 1998 and went into the Finals in 5th spot. Adelaide was beaten badly by Melbourne in the Qualifying Final but had a 2nd chance. From then on the Crows dominated their way to the premiership beating Sydney at the SCG, and thrashing the Western Bulldogs at the MCG by 68 points. This set up a Grand Final meeting with the Kangaroos, led by the best player in the game Wayne Carey. Adelaide trailed by 24 points at halftime, but a superb comeback in the second half saw them run out with a 35 point victory. Andrew McLeod again was the Norm Smith medalist, joining Gary Ayres as one of only two players to have won the Norm Smith medal back to back.

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1999 season

The Crows quest for 3 straight premierships began in 1999, and despite a good start to the year they struggled all year long with injuries going 8-14. The worst game of the year was an embarrasing 74 point home loss to the eventual premiers Kangaroos in Round 22 the second worst home loss in club history, it was the end of an short era. The Crows were hapless, and battered. Malcolm Blight was chaired off the ground to one of the loudest standing ovations ever heard at Football Park, despite the bad loss. Rod Jameson also played his final game that day, a popular Crows player throughout the 90s. Gary Ayres took over from Malcolm Blight in 2000 as the Crows start rebuilding back into a contender.

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2000 season

After their worst ever year in 1999 at 8-14. The rebuilding begins in the 2000 season, it did not start well as Adelaide lost their first 5 games, they got their first win of the season in Round 6 and played against Port Adelaide in the 7th showdown in Round 7. The Crows faced a 42 point defecit, but pulled off a miracle victory in one of the greatest showdowns played. As Andrew McLeod's goal in the final minute put Adelaide in front. The Crows would improve to 9-10 but in the end they finished the season at 10-12 in 11th spot.

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2001 season/finals

Adelaide had an incosistent 2001 season, losing their first 3 games of the season but went 12-6 from Rounds 4 to 21. They struggled at home finishing a club worst 6-5 at home at the time. But their 6-5 away record assumed they finished 12-10. The Crows lost to wooden spooner Fremantle (who were 2-20 that year) in Round 22 and limped into the finals in 8th place and were quickly eliminated by Carlton by 68 points in a haples peformance. Darren Jarman played in his final season and was in tears after announcing his retirement after the game.

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2002 season/finals

The Crows finished in the Top 4 in 2002 with a 15-7 record, giving them 3rd spot. They defeated Fremantle at Subiaco in Round 22. But in the Finals, the Crows were crushed by Brisbane in week 1 at the Gabba by 71 points. They had another chance the following week vs Melbourne at the MCG and looked gone throughout the game. Andrew McLeod had sprained his ankle in the 3rd quarter. But rallied from a 29 point deficit late in the third quarter to pull off a miricale 12-point (2 goal) win, with an injured McLeod kicking a goal midway through the quarter to put Adelaide in front. The win meant they faced a superb Collingwood side at the MCG in the preliminary final. Adelaide built a 3 goal lead against the Magpies late in the 2nd term and things were looking good. But the injuries got to Adelaide as the Magpies rallied behind the deafening crowd and put away the game. Andrew McLeod suffered a bad Ankle injury during the game. The Crows started to make a comeback in the final quarter turning a 25 point defecit back to 13 points before the Magpies pulled away again winning by 28 points. Brisbane would defeat Collingwood the following week in the Grand Final.

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2003 season/finals

Adelaide were one of the favourites for the premiership in 2003. They had signed Wayne Carey in the offseason after finishing in the Top 4 in 2002. They stormed through the preseason and defeated Collingwood to claim the Wizard Cup. Adelaide overcame alot of injuries and went 13-9 in the home and away season and finished 6th, but it was certinally a painful year for Crows fans. The team's inabillity to win close games became a huge problem. The team was sitting 4-4 after a 5 point home loss to Collingwood in Round 7 and loss to Brisbane at the Gabba in Round 8 and needed to overcome a 23 point 3 quarter time defecit at home vs the bottom placed Western Bulldogs the following week after. With this win, the Crows would take 9 of next 11 games (with the losses by just 5 and 1 point) and were 13-6 after beating West Coast at Subiaco Oval in Round 19 and sitting in 2nd spot and needed to win 1 more game to finish top 4. The Crows were hammered by Collingwood in Round 20 and went home to face the Kangaroos in Round 21, a team they had struggled at home against. The Roos had no chance for Finals, while Adelaide were playing something big, a Top 4 berth and a qualifying final vs Port Adelaide. It did not happen, as the Kangaroos won by 10 points on a horrible wet day. The Crow were beaten in the Round 22 showdown vs Port by 16 points and went into September outside the Top 4, in 6th spot. After selling out every home game in the regular season. They easily defeated West Coast in the elimination final in front of a home crowd that failed to sell out. The win sent Adelaide to the Gabba to face Brisbane and the 2 time defending premiers Lions overcame a solid Crows effort on their way to another premiership winning the semi final easily. The game marked the final appearance for Mark Bickley, the Crows captain in their premiership years.

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2004 season

The Crows struggled in 2004 finishing 8-14, including a 5-6 mark at home. Adelaide lost its first 4 games of the season, before defeating Richmond in Round 5 and ended a long losing streak in Showdowns by defeating eventual premier Port Adelaide by 32 points in Round 7, the struggles continued after that an embarrasing 51 point home loss to Essendon followed and an ugly 3 point loss to Collingwood. But the Crows thrashed Hawthorn at the MCG by 86 points in Mark Ricciuto's 250th game. The team continued to struggle suffering a terrible 4 point home loss to Carlton and a 32 point loss to West Coast at subiaco, Wayne Carey who had kicked 27 goals in 12 games had suffered an season ending injury and announced he would be taking no part. The loss left Adelaide at a dismal 3-9 and were winless at home. Nigel Smart played his final game in Round 13 vs the Western Bulldogs at AAMI Stadium as Adelaide won its first home game of the season, the final player from the original 1991 squad and Gary Ayres resigned as coach after that game and was replaced by assistant coach Neil Craig. Adelaide gave 2nd placed Melbourne a blowout defeat in his first game as coach. The Crows would lose their next 3 and suffered its worst defeat in history, a 141 point loss to the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in Round 17. But finished the season strongly by winning 3 of its last 5 games and high expectations were back for the upcoming 2005 season.

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2005 season/finals

Template:Main Adelaide have had their best home and away season in the history of the club in 2005 after fininshing on top of the ladder on percentage 17-5 (West Coast finished 17-5 but with less percentage), the Crows were never on top of the ladder in the home and way season and needed to beat West Coast at Subiaco Oval in Round 22 to take the minor premiership and they prevailed by 8 points. The win put Adelaide into top spot for the only time in 2005. The week before In Round 21 Adelaide defeated a hapless Collingwood by 110 points, their biggest win of the 2005 season at AAMI Stadium. Adelaide went into the finals on a 10 game winning streak, although that ended at home in the first qualifying final against the more favoured St.Kilda in a low scoring struggle by 8 points. The tough loss set up a game against bitter cross-town rivals Port Adelaide, the premiers of 2004 which Adelaide won convincingly That win also gave the Crows 10 home wins for the first time ever in a season after finishing 9-2 at home during the home and away season and 10-3 if you include finals. Both Crows home finals which were played on Saturday Nights drew record finals crowds to AAMI Stadium, 48900 and 50500 (The maximum capacity of AAMI Stadium is 51300). However, the Crows struggled in a 16 point preliminary loss against the West Coast Eagles in a day game at Subiaco Oval despite bringing a 38 point defecit back to 9 points late in the final quarter. Adelaide started well but failed to build a lead of any more than 7 points and fell behind for good in the second quarter, especially when the rain came and were wiped out in the second half.

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2006 Season

In 2006, Ben Hart will enter his 15th season as he looks to become the first player in Crows history to play 300 games. Mark Ricciuto will play in his 14th season in 2006 and also will aim for 300 games, Andrew McLeod enters his 12th season in 2006 and is closing towards 250 games.

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