About The Wandsworth Demons

We are the most successful Australian Rules club in the United Kingdom, and arguably the biggest club outside Australia.

Aussie Rules on Clapham Common

We play our football in the AFL London league, fielding a side in each of the three men's divisions and two female divisions.

Our flagship team, The Wandsworth Demons, play in the AFL London Premiership, and have been playing in the top league in London since 1990. It is a full 18 per side division with rules requiring plenty of participation by European players. Each weekend throughout the summer - with a few breaks for social occasions of course - we play either on the Common or at our opponent's ground, and aim for the August finals.

The reserves team for the club, the Clapham Demons, have played in the AFL London Conference division since it began in 2001, and also played in the Premiership in 1999 and 2000, including matches against Wandsworth. The games are either 16 or 18 per side, with predominantly Australian players.

The South London Demons are the club's social grade, playing in the AFL London Social Division since winning the inaugural flag in 2007.

Last but not least is our women's team, formed in 2015. They competed and were the premiers of the inaugural AFL London women's league in 2015.


Our History - A quarter century of the Demons, and counting

The Demons have a proud history, and have a family of past players around the world.

Compared to clubs in Australia, the Dees would seem to be a young club. Clubs back in Oz have run for over 100 years, and we aren't anywhere near that yet. But London is a different place and things change far more rapidly here. With two year visas the norm, the turnover at the club is significant, and if you can measure it as such, the Demons are in their sixth or seventh generation of players.

The regularity of the changing of the guard has created a richness in history which belies our shortage of years. Current clubmen don't know the players of just a few years back, nor how things were done then. We didn't always wear red and blue, our song was different at the start, and O'Neills Clapham wasn't always our home.

This section of the site should help not only to store information about the club's past, but also to give those interested (or maybe just bored at work) some material to get a feel for the people and times which have built the club into its proud standing in British Aussie Rules.

It will hopefully also bring back some memories for those who have left now, and maybe prompt them to write in and help clear up the early years for us.

And that's obviously where it all began.

Where we play

 

We play matches and hold our training sessions on the Common. It has been our home since we began, and the park holds plenty of great memories for many current and past players. And a few bad memories of course.

All our home matches are held there, and the league has in the past used it as well for pre-season carnivals, and finals series.

Being such a great public space, we get plenty of passers-by, and so the Common is a favourite for the Dees and the league for showcasing the sport to London.