The club competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) with Flinders University Stadium as its home ground.

A set of rules was adopted, and the following officers were elected: President, Mr. A. G. Chapman; Vice-Presidents, Messrs. G.Colyer, R. Couche, A. Farr, W. Holland, and M. C. Morris; Captain, Mr. George Kennedy; Vice Captain, Mr. Mehrtens; Committee, Messrs. Bridgland, Colbey, Cole, A..Holmesby, Jones, Simmonds, and Wallace; Treasurer, Mr. J. Holmesby; Secretary, Mr.C.

[9] South Adelaide was led from 1888 to 1898 by captain and "proto-coach" Dinny Reedman who is generally seen as the first to view team combination and planning as a critical component of success in football.

This was difficult for South Adelaide, who had under Reedman obtained most of its top players from Christian Brothers College,[10] and even in 1899 when it won its sixth premiership in eight years half its side came therefrom.

With the loss of Reedman and Jones to North Adelaide, and after one season goalsneak "Bos" Daly to West Torrens in 1900, the blue and whites declined steadily.

Following an enforced halt to SAFL football during World War I, the presence of champion defender Dan Moriarty made South highly competitive between 1919 and 1924, though it never rose above third in 1921.

However, after his retirement South took four consecutive wooden spoons from 1926 to 1929 and did not finish above sixth in an eight-team competition between 1925 and 1934, winning only thirty and drawing three of 160 games.

1941 saw South slip to fifth with only six wins, but that could hardly have prepared them for the experiences of the two decades after full-scale football resumed after World War II.

However, under champion player Peter Darley as captain-coach the Panthers declined very quickly owing to the loss of key followers Kerley and David Kantilla,[16] winning only two games in 1969 for another wooden spoon and not improving until another renowned coach in Haydn Bunton, Jr. took over the reins in 1975.

Under Bunton, the Panthers, playing fast, skilful football firmly rooted in the South "tradition",[12] contested the major round for the first time in eleven years in 1977 and reached the Grand Final in 1979.

The Panthers fluctuated in yo-yo fashion under Bunton, never playing in two consecutive finals series before he departed to return to Subiaco after a sabbatical at the end of 1982.

In 1979, South Adelaide's recruiting zone in the southern suburbs was extended to cover all the developing areas around O‘Halloran Hill, giving the club a potential community base for the first time in its long history.

Under John Reid, South developed rapidly after a one-win season and twenty-six successive losses during 1988 and early 1989.

Kingston played for South Adelaide, Dean Brown became Patron and Mike Rann was Number One Ticket Holder.

During his Premiership Rann presented the club with a 100-year peppercorn lease over the Noarlunga Oval site owned by the State Government in what he described as 'land rights for the Panthers'.

It was following this game that the South Adelaide Football Club made the decision to move permanently to Noarlunga.

[1] In late 2010 the South Adelaide Football Club obtained permission from the City of Onkaparinga to install four light towers at the oval with the intent to host night SANFL games at the venue.

The record night attendance at the oval was set just a few weeks later in Round 4 of the 2011 SANFL season when 2,700 saw the clash between the Panthers and Port Adelaide.