The reasons behind the SFL’s unusual nicknames such as Wineflies, Shoes and Cockledivers

IN Adelaide’s south when the Falcons (once the Bushpigs) take on the Wineflies, Cockledivers or Shoes it means just one thing — football. Matt Turner discovers how these clubs got their unusual names.

Sharks seemed a natural choice for Aldinga.

CLUB nicknames are a talking point when it comes to the Southern Football League.

“People always think they’re quirky,” SFL president Craig Warman says.

There are Bulldogs, Tigers, Cats and Demons in countless leagues across Australia but how many have a Wineflies, Shoes or Cockledivers?

The SFL also has the Cobras, Vikings and Emus and once had the Bushpigs.

Ahead of the league’s opening round this weekend, the Southern Times Messenger spoke to former SFL president Chris Leahy and club representatives about the origin of the nicknames.

Port Noarlunga Cockledivers:

Cockledivers — an unusual face of football?

FORMER Port Noarlunga president George Castleton introduced the left-field nickname during the late 1940s.

“He said ‘we’re down by the sea and we’ve got the swamps, we’ll be the bloody Cockledivers,” Leahy said.

Morphett Vale Emus:

THE Emu Winery was not far from Morphett Vale Football Club for years and officials adopted the bird more than 40 years ago.

Noarlunga Shoes:

NOARLUNGA’S nickname has nothing to do with football boots.

Instead it stems from the club’s location at the horseshoe-like bend in the Onkaparinga River.

Flagstaff Hill Falcons (formerly Bushpigs):

FLAGSTAFF adopted the Bushpigs emblem after joining the SFL in 1985.

Club president Brett Charlesworth said may have originated because the oval often resembled a pig sty at the time.

In the early 1990s, Flagstaff became the Falcons after officials thought the previous nickname had gained unwanted notoriety and they enjoyed the thought of the club soaring like the bird.

Reynella Wineflies:

An usual mascot: The Reynella Wineflies

THE club was previously surrounded by vineyards and flies would swarm around the open-top vats used in winemaking at the time.

Leahy said Reynella players and supporters adopted a tradition of drinking local Madeira wine under the club’s old grandstand on Sundays during the 1950s regardless of the previous day’s result.

“You’d always get a glass of Madeira when you went to Reynella,” Leahy said.

O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale Lions:

O’SULLIVAN Beach Primary School’s nickname was the Lions and the club took it on when it formed in the 1960s.

Mawson, which later became Lonsdale and merged with O’Sullivan Beach, was the Bears.

Morphettville Park Roos:

AFTER being the Devils for two seasons, Morphettville Park switched to its present nickname in 1983 after a committee member suggested the club’s red and gold guernsey resembled a big roo.

Opposing teams affectionately call Morphettville Park the Twisties because of their club colours.

Cove Cobras, Brighton Bombers, Happy Valley Vikings, Hackham Hawks:

LEAHY was unsure of the origins of these nicknames but believed they would likely have been adopted simply because they were alliterative.

Aldinga Sharks:

Sharks seemed a natural choice for Aldinga.

RODNEY Fox was attacked by a shark off Aldinga Beach in 1963 so when the club chose a nickname the following decade, the shark was a popular choice.

Aldinga president Danny Wilde said former member and player Peter Crafter was considered the first to refer to the club’s home ground as “Shark Park”.

Thirty years ago, an Aldinga member put a dead shark in the river at Noarlunga and alerted the media as part of an April Fool’s Day prank.

Marion Rams:

CLUB officials decided on the nickname during the early 1960s, according to president Min Adams.

Christies Beach Saints:

THE club entered the competition in 1966 with red, black and white jumpers in the mould of the St Kilda Saints so adopted that nickname.

Most Christies clubs in other sports are known as the Tigers — a nickname the football club gives to a junior team if it already has a side in the same division.

TELL US BELOW: What’s the best — or weirdest — sporting nickname or mascot you have heard of?