Woodville Football Club History

Woodville Football Club had some newspaper references in 1869, 1877 and even 1910, but little is know about any of them.  The Club formed to play in the Port and Suburban Competition in 1938 is the origin of the SANFL Woodville Football Club.

In 1938 that Woodville team played in red and white but in 1940 changed its uniform, to purple and white, and its competition by joining the SA Amateur league.

Woodville had early success in this competition with Premierships in A2 in 1941 and followed, after the WW2 recess of 4 years, with a Premiership in A1 in 1946.

Woodville Oval was the team’s home ground from 1941.

1947 saw the Club again change its colours to the more familiar green and gold but further premierships in the Amateur league top grade eluded it.  The best results in A1 were runner-up in 1947 and third in 1948 and 1950.

A Premiership was attained by the A3 Reserve team in 1954.

Ron Batt, Woodville’s Captain/Coach for the years 1956-1958 won the Hone Medal in 1956, the award for the competition’s Best and Fairest player.

In the 1950′s Woodville and Central Districts were selected as the Clubs to increase the teams contesting the SANFL to ten and they were admitted as Reserves grade teams in 1959 to serve a 5-year apprenticeship.

By the time promotion to the A Grade arrived in 1964, Woodville had only reached the Reserves Finals on one occasion, 1960, when it finished 3rd.  They did possess a shining light in one Robert Simunsen, who would have waltzed into any other League Club had he not been loyal to his Woodville.  In 1961 and 1962 he won the Seconds Magarey Medal and was runner-up for the award in 1960 and 1963.

At the start of the 1964 season Bob Simunsen played his first League game as a Club Captain. Woodville in its first season was only able to score 3 wins, all against the other new Club, Central Districts.

27 seasons in the League were usually disappointing for its fans.   Finals were reached in only 3 seasons, 1979, 1986 and 1987.  The best result achieved was a loss in the Preliminary Final in 1986 thus finishing 3rd.

Woodville, to its credit, was able to win two night Premierships, the Coca Cola Cup, in 1972 and the Escort Cup in 1988.

Woodville did produce a Magarey Medallist in Malcolm Blight, in 1972.  He went on to greater things playing in the VFL premierships with North Melbourne and winning a Brownlow Medal in 1978.  Malcolm Blight returned to Woodville in the 1983 as Captain/Coach.  In 1985, his last playing season, he kicked a Club record 126 goals that topped the SANFL season.  In 1989 Malcolm commenced an illustrious AFL coaching career with Geelong and eventually the Adelaide Crows.