In early times the Ladies also catered for the annual Presentation Social which was strictly a male only domain.
During the period of the 1950’s, Mr. Ern Cambridge, who conducted the High School Tuck Shop and Mr. and Mrs Harold (Buck) Lillee who conducted “Lillee’s Refreshments” café in South Terrace would sell food and refreshments at home matches.

Recognising the financial opportunity that catering at these home matches represented, Mrs. Mollie Richardson called a meeting to be held in the Town Hall in March 1959, with the intention to form a Ladies Auxiliary Committee.
It would seem that this was not entirely successful, however a group of ladies conducted a basic catering service at home matches for the following few football seasons.

At the SFC General Committee meeting held on 22nd March 1963 it is minuted that “General committee members were to approach the player’s wives and friends, with a view to form a Ladies Auxiliary to handle catering etc”.

Obviously this also was unsuccessful, as the following meeting saw each committeeman being given a list of ladies to approach re the formation of a Ladies Auxiliary.

At the meeting held on 1st May 1963, Mrs. Molly Richardson accepted the mantle of Head Convenor with Mrs. Nita Lang as Assistant Head Convenor / Treasurer and the Ladies Auxiliary was underway.

A conventional Ladies Auxiliary committee, with President, Secretary and Treasurer was established at the AGM, held on the 4th of March 1974.

The only facility available for the Auxiliary members to cater from, at the Strathalbyn Oval was the old Luncheon facility on the south western end of the ground.

This was a cold and draughty galvanised iron enclosure with a dirt floor and it is testimony to the dedication and devotion of the ladies, that they toiled in this unsatisfactory facility until 1978.

The Ladies Auxiliary was able to utilise the new clubrooms for their catering service, albeit with only basic facilities, for the final home game of the season on 19th August 1978 against Victor Harbour.

Since that time they have made steady and constant improvements, resulting in their excellent facility of today.

On Sunday the 30th of July 1989, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Strathalbyn Football Club, celebrated its 30th anniversary at the SFC clubrooms with about 60 ladies in attendance, spanning the entirety of those 30 years.
A celebratory cake was made by Mrs Ruth Smith and decorated in red and white by Mrs Judy Smith.

The Auxiliary’s three life members at that time, Mrs Mollie Richardson, Mrs Gwen Elliott and Mrs Dawn Peek were invited to light the candles and cut the cake.

Mrs Mollie Richardson spoke on the early days of the Auxiliary and the conditions under which the ladies worked.

Mrs Zel Thyer then spoke of the achievements in the latter years of the Auxiliary and also complimented the “pioneers” who toiled away under very unsatisfactory conditions.

The Mayor of the Strathalbyn Council, Mrs Val Ball, complimented the members of the Auxiliary for their loyalty and achievements, and wished the club every success in the future.

Up to 1989, the Ladies Auxiliary had provided $50,000 towards the building project and a further $20,000 for furnishing and fittings in the kitchen and canteen, and further improvements have continued until the present time.

In recognition of their incredible service to the Ladies Auxiliary and to the Strathalbyn Football Club in general, SFC Life Membership was also awarded to Lorraine Lamshed (1990), Zel Thyer (1992), Marlene Megaw (1996), Rhonda Duffield (2003), Di Wagenknecht (2010) and Elly Cousins (2014).
In 2002 Bronwyn Holdsworth was also awarded SFC Life Membership for her outstanding service to each of the General Committee, Colts Committee and Ladies Auxiliary.

The SFC in its entirety, owes an enormous debt of gratitude to the Ladies Auxiliary and its members, for the catering services and financial support provided over the years since its formation.

No official Ladies Auxilliary Committee has been appointed since the conclusion of the 2015 season

Following exploration, a Special Survey was gazetted in 1841 and the township of Strath Alben (Strathalbyn) was laid out on both sides of the River Angas.

The first recorded game of Australian Rules Football was played in Melbourne on the 7^th August 1858 between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College at Richmond Paddock, which is adjacent to the Melbourne Cricket Ground of today.

The match was refereed by Mr Tom Wills and Mr. John Macadam.

Various historians claim that Marn Grook, a collective name given to a number of indigenous aboriginal “football games” using a stuffed ball, had an influential role in the formation of Australian Rules Football.

The oldest surviving set of rules for the game, was drawn up on the 17^th May 1859 and appears to have been based on the rules utilised at the time by “Gaelic football, Association football, Rugby football and possibly Marn Grook”.

The formation of football clubs quickly followed, with Melbourne and Geelong (1859), North Melbourne (as Hotham 1860), Carlton (1864), Essendon, Hawthorn and St Kilda (1873), South Melbourne (1874), Footscray (1877) and Collingwood (1892) in Victoria.

In South Australia, the Adelaide football club was established in 1860 and Port Adelaide (1870), North Adelaide (1875), West Adelaide (1871), South Adelaide (1876) and Woodville (1877) soon followed.

The first inter colonial (interstate) match between Victoria and South Australia was played in 1879.

Matches between clubs were challenges, usually organised some weeks in advance due to communications and transport difficulties, and then the agreed rules were negotiated prior to matches getting underway.

The increasing requirement for uniformity of the rules, and their application by umpires, and for club structure, resulted in the formation of both the Victorian Football Association and the South Australian Football Association in 1877.

The inaugural VFA comprised of Albert Park, Carlton, Hotham, Melbourne, St Kilda, Geelong, Barwon, Ballarat, Beechworth, Castlemaine, Rochester and Inglewood clubs.

Organisational difficulties soon arose as new teams arrived and some disbanded and in 1897 the stronger clubs united to form the Victorian Football League.

The inaugural SAFA in 1877, comprised of South Park, Willunga, Port Adelaide, North Adelaide, Prince Alfred College, Gawler, Kapunda, Bankers, Woodville, South Adelaide and Victoria clubs.

Over time, new clubs entered the competition, while some left, and in 1907 the name South Australian Football League was adopted and changed again in 1927, to the South Australian National Football League of today.

As greater professionalism entered the game and more money was on offer, the best football players from S.A , W.A. and Tasmania were being recruited to the VFL which had a detrimental effect on the football standard in those donor states.

This lead, in 1987, to the formation of the Australian Football League of today and the VFA of the past has adopted the name VFL and comprises mainly of clubs aligned to AFL clubs, with only a few “stand alone” clubs.

The South Melbourne Football Club relocated to Sydney in 1982 and, in due course, adopted the name of the Sydney Swans.

The West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears (based at Carrara on the Gold Coast) joined the AFL in 1987

The Adelaide Crows Football Club entered the AFL in 1991 and the Port Power Football Club followed in 1997 and today, both clubs have their Reserves teams competing in the SANFL.

The Fitzroy Football Club was amalgamated with the Brisbane Bears in 1997, becoming known as the Brisbane Lions and relocated to Brisbane.

The Fremantle Football Club joined the AFL in 1995 and the “expansion clubs”, Greater Western Sydney and the Gold Coast Suns joined in 2011 to make up the eighteen team competition, which is the AFL of today.

Interest in this new game quickly spread into the rural areas of both Victoria and South Australia in the 1870’s, with Strathalbyn being one of the earliest to respond.