STIRLING UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB FOUNDED IN 1901
The Stirling United Football Club was formed in 1901:-
The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, Friday 24 May 1901
FOOTBALL.
A club, the Stirling United, has been formed at Stirling, and the Bridgewater secretary (Mr. J. D. Neaylon) informs us that he will be pleased to hear from teams in the neighbo(u)ring districts. (It is understood that this was the forerunner of what became the Stirling Football Club).
However there was a reference to a Stirling team in 1894:-
South Australian Register, Friday 7 September 1894
“STIRLING EAST. September 4.
A football match was played at Stirling East on Saturday between Mylor and Stirling.
From the following article it seems that the 1901 season was not played as an association but more like games or a game organised between clubs.
In 1902 there was a move to create a Hills Football Association:-
Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, Friday 28 February 1902
FOOTBALL.
A HILLS ASSOCIATION WANTED.
An endeavo(u)r is being made to form a football association in the Hills, the initiative being taken by the Oakbank Club, and in accordance with correspondence received the Mount Barker Club on Monday evening held a meeting to consider the proposal. After discussion it was decided to support the movement, and Messrs. R. Murray and A. H. Monks were appointed as delegates to attend a conference to be held at Balhannah in the near future. It is proposed that the Oakbank, Woodside, Lobethal, Hahndorf; Stirling, and Mount Barker Clubs, all of which are within easy distance of each other, should compose the association.
Interestingly the Stirling United Club was against forming an association:-
The Advertiser, Adelaide, Saturday 1 March 1902
“A. H. Rudd,” Bridgewater (hon, secretary Stirling United Football Club),writes in reference to the report of a football meeting at Stirling West, at which it was stated there were present representatives of the Hahndorf, Littlehampton, Lobethal, Mount Barker, Woodside, and Strathalbyn clubs. Our correspondent says:-“The facts are simply these – On Saturday last a meeting of the Stirling United F.C. was held to consider the advisability of an association of the clubs mentioned. A vote was taken, and the majority were against the proposal.”
In 2019 I ran the matter of the Stirling Football Club’s establishment by country football historian, Peter Lines. Peter responded with the following information:-
“Hello Chris,
“The Stirling football conundrum tends to only get more complicated the further that you delve into it. The Stirling United team that you mentioned as the first in 1919, I have checked back to 1901 and they were Stirling United from back then. In fact I have checked for the period 1901-1912 and they are exclusively referred to as Stirling United.
“Before association football began in the Hills in 1902, the teams that existed in the area played challenge and social matches. This would mean that a team such as Piccadilly which played in the early 1900s would challenge the Aldgate team. What would then happen say two weeks later Aldgate would play Crafers, and the Crafers team would bear an uncanny resemblance to the Piccadilly team with similar playing personal that Aldgate had played two weeks prior. The introduction of association football stopped teams from doing this allowing players to be registered and only play for one team, which is why a team like Piccadilly faded away.
“The Stirling team from 1919 shows a player representation covering a wide area and hence the title Stirling United. However as I have mentioned this title was in use as far back as 1901 before association football was introduced. One explanation could be that the title Stirling United could be a throw back to an English or Scottish football heritage.
“Teams that played against Stirling United in 1901 were Hahndorf, Oakbank, Mount Barker, Aldgate/Mylor (combined team) and Mylor on their own. They also played matches during the year against several Adelaide clubs. They applied to join the Hills FA in 1902 but the members voted against doing so, they eventually joined in 1904. They decide to leave the Hills FA in 1907 and did not play association football again until 1919.
“From 1909 it gets increasingly more difficult to find the results of Stirling United games until around 1912-1913 no mention at all. However I did find that a team called Mount Lofty Park played 17 matches, winning 15 and losing 2 in 1913. Maybe Stirling United had become Mount Lofty Park ?, a quite plausible theory until finding a score Mount Lofty Park 7-10 defeated Stirling United 2-8. In 1914 there is a little on Mount Lofty Park and nothing on Stirling United but there was only a small amount of football played in 1914 due to increasing enlistments.
“Mike Milton, who’s work I respect greatly mentioned a Stirling West team playing in the Mount Lofty association in 1928. My research taken from a 1928 Mount Lofty FA premiership table only reveals Uraidla, Stirling, Fifth Creek, Carey’s Gully, Ashton and Crafers. Mike also mentions a Stirling East participating in Hills Central FA in 1923. What I found in the Register 26-4-1923 is a listing of the inaugural teams as Kangarilla, Meadows, Scott’s Creek, Mount Barker (seconds), Stirling (seconds) and Echunga.
“I will keep looking and let you know if I find anything more.
“Cheers
“Peter Lines.”