South Australian National Football League

The South Australian National Football League is an Australian rules football league which is based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in South Australia.

History
OOC: Its the same history up to until 1904.

1904-1915: Pre-war years
Coming into 1907, the league was the South Australian Football Association but in 1907, the league had a name change which turned it into the South Australian Football League. In the first season of the new name, Norwood took the championship but they would end up losing to the VFA champions Essendon in Adelaide. Norwood, Port Adelaide and North Adelaide dominated the league until the first world war with all of the titles being won by those teams.

1919-1940: The inter-war years
Sturt won the first ever SAFL after the first world war. Glenelg entered the league in 1921 but didn't win a game in their first four seasons. The league would have another change in 1927 with the league now called the South Australian National Football League. West Adelaide would win the first league under the new name. In the 1934 season, Glenelg took home their first premiership after they defeated Port Adelaide in the grand final to win their first premiership. The Second World War would stop the SANFL which would last five years before restarting in 1945.

1945-1959: Norwood and Port Adelaide domination
After the Second World War, West Torrens took the first title back in 1945 and with the win over Port Adelaide. For the West Torrens that would be the last ever title for the team as they would merge with Woodville in 1991. The next three titles would be soon won by Norwood as they defeated their final opponents by 30+ points in each match. Heading into the 1949 season, the prediction was going to be a Norwood victory. In what was the closest season in SANFL history, four teams finished on 11 and 6 and had to be separated on percentage. In the grand final, it would be Norwood by a single point over North Adelaide with Allan Crabb scoring the winning point for Norwood in what some would say as the closest season to date.

After Norwood took out the next season, Port Adelaide started to take out the season as they won the next three titles. The 1954 season would see Port Adelaide take out the title with a perfect season as they defeated West Adelaide in the final by 18 points. In fact it wouldn't be until 1956 where the Norwood-Port Adelaide dominance would officially break with West Adelaide ending that dominance with a goal on the siren to end the ten year dominance of those two teams as they defeated Port Adelaide by only two points. In 1958, all four Adelaide team's would make it to the finals in what would later be the only time that it would happen for over 35 years as West Adelaide took out the premiership by 15 points. They would win back to back as they also took out the 1959 title and the dominance was now over.