Wandsworth Demons

Wandsworth Demons Football Club
Names
Nickname(s)	Demons, Dees
Motto	Pugnus Addo Magis
2014 season
After finals	Runners Up
Leading goalkicker	Trent Georgiou (club and league)
Best and fairest	Trent Georgio (club and league)
Club details
Founded	1990
Competition	AFL London
President	James Perret
Coach	Conor Wilson
Captain(s)	Trent Georgiou
Premierships	10 League 7 (1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2010) Conference 1 (2009) Social 3 (2007, 2009, 2011 )
Ground(s)	Clapham Common

Wandsworth Demons jumper

The Wandsworth Demons are an Australian Rules Football club who play in the AFL London competition (formerly the British Australian Rules Football League). They are a founding member of the league and have been based at Clapham Common in south London since 1990.

The club fields sides in each of the 4 divisions; Premiership, Conference, Social and Women. Wandsworth are the most successful side in the Premiership with seven flags whilst the reserves grade side, the Clapham Demons, started playing in the Premiership in 1999 and were a founding member of the Conference in 2001. The South London Demons began in the Social Division in 2007, winning the inaugural flag. In 2014 the Demons were the first club to announce a ladies team for 2015.

History

Two Australians living in Clapham in 1990, Sean Angle and Craig Stephens, sourced a list of names in the area and held the first training session on 14 February, and the club was born. The club went on to win the inaugural season despite being regarded as underdogs in the Grand Final, beating Earl's Court by two points.

As the league was formed on the basis of promoting Australian Rules Football overseas, not just as a recreational outlet for itinerant travellers, the rules stipulated that 50% of the team had to be British. The club now fields the highest amount of players picked from the London league to represent their country in the GB Bulldogs.

With the amount of Australians looking to play in London increasing, in 1998 Martin Tunley and Sam Percy devised the idea of starting a second team, the Clapham Demons. The West London Wildcats followed suit in 2000, and the year after that the rules for the London Conference division were forged. North London, Wimbledon and the Gryphons subsequently entered second sides as well.In 2001 the Demons and Wildcats fielded three teams for the season.

In 2003 the club grew into a multi-sports outfit. The Demonettes began playing netball, and a basketball team started as well. The netball club has grown into a fully sufficient outfit with its own committee.

In 2007, Sam Percy as League President encouraged clubs to each try to field a third side, and the London Social grade began, with the South London Demons winning the first flag. This grade started with thirds sides from the big clubs in London, the seconds of Wimbledon, and teams from further afield such as Bristol, Reading, and Nottingham. It has since been joined by South East London Giants.

In 2014 the Demons announced a women's team, with Wimbledon Hawks, South East London Giants and North London Lions following suit. In 2015 the women's team won the inaugural women's league after finishing the season top of the ladder.

For the majority of the 1990s Wandsworth wore the jumpers of the Melbourne Demons club from the AFL, and these were replaced with the club's own design in the early 2000s, a jumper based on a pre-season cup jumper of the WAFL side the Perth Demons.

Their club song is sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

The senior team has always been a force in the league and has never missed finals. The seniors have played in 15 Grand Finals, winning seven of them and so claiming premierships in 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2010. The reserves side won their first Conference Premiership in 2009. The thirds side won the Social Division premiership in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015. The women's side won the Women's League in 2015.

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Honour Board

Notable players

Retired jumper numbers:

• K.Schubert - Number 4. Retired in 1996.
• M.Tunley - Number 11. Retired in 2001.
• S.Percy - Number 55. Retired in 2003.
• J.Cumming - Number 13. Retired in 2009.

Players

The AFL season in London runs from around May to August with about 10 games followed by three weeks of finals. The Demons start pre-season training in January, on Sundays. They train this way for several months until the clocks go back in April, when training becomes more regimented; from 6pm onwards on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Demons play matches and hold training sessions on Clapham Common, which has been home to the club since it began. Clapham Common is one of the largest public parks in London, and as such it is the main place where the league can showcase the sport in the UK.

Non-Australians

Despite a strong Australian majority, league rules stipulate there must be a certain amount of players from non-Australian backgrounds. The sport appeals to rugby, gaelic rules and soccer clubs in order to keep them fit in their summer break. In the past the Demons have had players who are Irish, Belgian, French, Italian, Canadian, Ghanaian and Dutch.

Ladies

In 2015 The Wandsworth Demons added a fourth team to their playing line-up, joining the inaugural AFL London women's league. The Wandsworth Demons women were minor premiers and premiers in their first season.

Social

The Wandsworth Demons and Demonettes are one of the largest large Australian sporting and social clubs in the UK, with around 200 players playing Aussie Rules and Netball, and organise social occasions throughout the year.

The Demons play two competitive pre-season games; one domestically and another internationally, and always end the season with an international trip/celebration.