South Melbourne, Aussie Rules Football

The inauguration date of the club is officially 19 June 1874, and it adopted the name "South Melbourne Football Club" four weeks later, on 15 July.[6] In 1880, South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert-park Football Club, which had a senior football history dating back to May 1867 (Albert-park had, in fact, been known as South Melbourne during its first year of existence).[7][8] Following the amalgamation, the club retained the name South Melbourne, and adopted the club's now familiar red and white colours from Albert-park.[9] Nicknamed the "Southerners", the team was more colourfully known as the "Bloods", in reference to the bright red sash on their white jumpers[10][11] (the sash was replaced with a red "V" in 1932).[12] The colorful epithet the "Bloodstained Angels" was also in use. The club was based at Lake Oval, also home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the VFL was strategically interested in seeing a club based in Sydney, as part of a long-term plan to broaden the appeal of the game in Queensland and New South Wales. The league had started moving a few premiership matches to the Sydney Cricket Ground annually since 1979, and in 1981 was preparing to establish an entirely new, 13th VFL club in Sydney after the Fitzroy Lions staved off a proposed relocation to become the Sydney Lions in late 1980. These plans halted when the South Melbourne board, recognising the difficulties it faced with viability and financial stability in Melbourne, made the decision to play all 1982 home games in Sydney. On 29 July 1981, the VFL formally accepted the proposal, and paved the way for the Swans to shift to Sydney in 1982.