St Kilda Football Club logo
The St Kilda Football Club, known by their nickname The Saints, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League.
With only the one premiership in 1966 (beating Collingwood by one point), St Kilda have been the perennial dysfunctional strugglers of the competition, and their fans regarded as gluttons for punishment who in the absence of team success have idolized a succession of star players who could not bring their team success.
The team came close to success in 1997, losing a grand final to the Adelaide Crows, but reverted to type by sacking coach Stan Alves after a poor season in 1998.
After a period of rebuilding, in 2004 the Saints signalled improvement for the future with Premiership win in the pre-season competition, followed by an unprecendented ten game winning streak in the home-and-away season. Unfortunately injury and inexperience meant that the Saints only finished third at the end of the season, eiminated from the premiership contest by the eventual premiers in a closely-fought match.
Full-forward Fraser Gehrig won the Coleman Medal for the most goals (103) kicked in the 2004 season.
The Saints' motto is 'Fortius Quo Fidelius', a Latin phrase meaning 'Strength Through Loyalty'.
Since the inaugural International Cup of Australian Football in 2002, St. Kilda FC have sponsored the Japanese National Football team. Also known as the Samurai, the team members wear the St Kilda colours when representing their nation.
Premierships:
Brownlow Medal winners:
Club Song: "Oh When The Saints" (lyrics slightly changed from the well known dixieland standard).
External links
Official Website of the St Kilda Football Club http://www.saints.com.au/ Unofficial Forum for all Saint Supporters http://www.saintsational.com
Last updated: 02-19-2005 06:00:42
