Lameroo & Districts

Football was first played in Lameroo in 1907 when a club was formed with Mr J Mayfield as captain. During their early years Lameroo played matches against nearby towns along the railway such as Geranium, Cotton (Wilkawatt) and Pinnaroo. In 1910 Lameroo joined the Pinnaroo association where they remained members until 1922. Lameroo were controversially removed from the Pinnaroo association in 1923 along with Wilkawatt. This was the catalyst needed to form the Lameroo & Western association which also created the Lameroo North and South clubs.

The Lameroo & Western association continued to grow with extra teams as well as players. The drawback with more teams was increased traveling which instigated a split in the association. From the eastern end of Lameroo & Western came a new competition in 1925, the Lameroo & Districts Football Association. The founding members of the new association were Lameroo North, Lameroo South, Wilkawatt and Parilla. The boundaries for the two Lameroo teams were restricted to the hundred north of the railway line for Lameroo North and the boundary of the hundreds of Allenby and Bews south of the railway line for Lameroo South.

In 1928 Lameroo South were experiencing trouble with player numbers and advised the association that they may have to go into recess. The association did not wish the competition to become just three teams so accepted an application from Parilla Well to join. Despite the extra traveling it was deemed to be a better outcome than place the association at risk of closure. In the end Lameroo South remained but lost all ten of their minor round matches.

A conference was held at Parilla in 1934 to openly discuss the possibilities of a merger between the Pinnaroo and Lameroo associations. All that attended agreed that an amalgamation would result in a better standard of football. The format agreed upon was for each association to supply three teams each and for there to be an A and B grade competition. However the biggest sticking point was clubs losing their identity through mergers which would impact on community spirit. Discussion continued but there was no pressure to make any ironclad decisions. It would seem that once the war in Europe became a priority, amalgamation talks were put on the back burner.

Football resumed after the war in 1945 with four teams forming an association, Lameroo, Jabuk, Wilkawatt and Geranium. With the returned soldiers all now available in 1946, numbers increased to allow for two Lameroo sides once more. Pinnaroo and Lameroo associations played against each other regularly with all proceeds going to the Lameroo and Pinnaroo hospitals. Matches were also played against Murray Lands and River Murray.

In December 1954 the four Pinnaroo & Border clubs applied successfully to join Lameroo & Districts. Excitement was high leading into the 1955 season with anticipation of the good football a ten team competition would bring.