Editing Sydney Swans (section)

===Origins: 1873–1876===
The club's origins trace back to 21 March 1873, when a meeting was held at the Clarendon Hotel in [[South Melbourne]] for the purpose of establishing a junior football club, to be called the South Melbourne Football Club.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1873-03-24 |title=MONDAY, MARCH 24, 1873. |work=Argus |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5850573 |access-date=2022-07-16}}</ref>

According to club historians, it was incorporated at the Temperance Hall, Napier Street at Emerald Hill 19 June 1874.<ref>[https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1361548/birth-of-a-club Birth of a club] from Sydney Swans.com.au Jun 19, 2023</ref> It was first known as "Cecil Football Club" (after Cecil Street, [[South Melbourne]], one of the early thoroughfares),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243864985 |title=SOUTH'S JUBILEE |newspaper=[[The Herald (Melbourne)|The Herald]] |issue=14,881 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 January 1925 |access-date=10 December 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> but adopted the name "South Melbourne Football Club" four weeks later on 15 July.<ref>[http://sydneyswans.com.au/Swans/TheClub/History/tabid/7210/Default.aspx History – Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901004841/http://sydneyswans.com.au/Swans/TheClub/History/tabid/7210/Default.aspx |date=1 September 2007 }}</ref> The club was based at [[Lake Oval]] alongside the lake in Albert Park, also home of the [[South Melbourne Cricket Club]].<ref name="Lakeside Stadium">{{cite web|url=https://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/lakeside-stadium|title=Lakeside Stadium|access-date=9 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/club/history/timeline/1874-1897|title=Timeline: VFA era and the birth of a new club (1874–1897)|access-date=9 April 2022}}</ref>

While one of the early favourites to win, South Melbourne were a notable exclusion from the [[Challenge Cup (Australian rules football)|Challenge Cup competitions]] of the 1870s with entry to this competition strictly limited to clubs playing under the [[Melbourne Football Club]]'s rules. The club's lack of adherence to the Victorian Rules (and insistence on playing by its own rules) resulted in some controversial early wins.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138066466 |title=TO THE EDITOR OF THE AUSTRALASIAN. |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |volume=IX |issue=229 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 August 1870 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> This, along with ability to regularly field a full senior team, may have contributed to its absence during the football season competition begun in the 1870s. Throughout this period South Melbourne, along with neighbouring Cup member club Albert Park, had experimented with [[rugby football]] rules which in May 1874 had advocated strongly for their widespread adoption in Victoria;<ref>The Record and Emerald Hill and Sandridge Advertiser. May 1874</ref> however, this did not meet favour with the more powerful clubs in the colony.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Despite not being part of the big league of clubs, South Melbourne by the mid-1870s is recorded to have enough senior players to field two teams of twenty and played matches against non-Cup clubs during this time against nearby clubs including Fawkner Park, Elwood,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202167497 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=6368 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 July 1875 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> [[West Melbourne Football Club|West Melbourne]], Southern Rifles in 1875<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220460157 |title=FOOTBALL |newspaper=[[Weekly Times]] |issue=308 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=31 July 1875 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=5 (TOWN EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and Sandridge Alma,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7439717 |title=SATURDAY'S SPORTS. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=9,340 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 May 1876 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> St Kilda Alma,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220460944 |title=FOOTBALL NOTES. |newspaper=[[Weekly Times]] |issue=356 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 July 1876 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Victoria Parade,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220462808 |title=FOOTBALL NOTES. |newspaper=[[Weekly Times]] |issue=358 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 July 1876 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=5 (TOWN EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and [[Williamstown Football Club|Williamstown]] in 1876<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5890598 |title=SATURDAY'S SPORTS. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=9,352 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 June 1876 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> among others. Many of this group of clubs most of which had primarily juniors had also begun to discuss starting their own cup competition.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

South was one of Victoria's most prolific touring clubs. Seeking more regular senior competition in 1876 South Melbourne also went on one of its first regional tours playing against newly formed clubs at [[Beechworth Football Club|Beechworth]], [[Blackwood, Victoria|Blackwood]], [[Taradale, Victoria|Taradale]] and [[Ballarat]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60095607 |title=SPORTING. |newspaper=[[Illustrated Australian News]] |issue=237 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 May 1876 |access-date=7 April 2022 |page=70 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>