St. Kilda has been one of the pioneers in promoting Australian Rules football; it was also one of the earliest Australian football club which can be called as being truly organized. The original St. Kilda Football Club found form as early as 1858 but the team could not sustain for long due to poor administration but it was only a matter of 15 years before St. Kilda Saints would once again emerge as an Australian rules football club. It was the South Yarra Football club that merged with the St. Kilda Cricketers to give form to the modern-day st. Kilda Football club in 1873. Since then the club's motto has been �Fortius Quo Fidelius�, and they have religiously stuck to this motto which means, �Strength through Loyalty�. In 1896, St. Kilda Saints became an official competitor in Australian Rules football with taking part in the Victoria Football League.
The Australian football competition was not an easy-going affair for the St. Kilda football club and team effort to win a game was very poor. This poor team show was obvious through the team's record which shew that the team was able to garner only 2 wins for itself out of the first 100 games it played. The year 1907 ushered in the first success for the team when the St. Kilda Saints surprisingly garnered 6 successive wins and even made it to the finals of the VFL. Although 1908 was equally good as 1907, the team lost its sparkle in 1910 and 1911 once again brought back the dark days of the Saints. However, prior to the WWI, St. Kilda Saints showed remarkable improvement and even managed to enter into the finals of the VFL in 1913 where they ended as the runner-up. This period in the club's history is also notable for another shocking incidence when it was discovered that the team's jersey sported the color of the German flag. The incidence immediately led the Saints to change their jersey color and adopt red, black and yellow.
It was however, not until 1939 that St. Kilda could once again make a Grand final appearance and also seal their victory in the VFL against Richmond. But as is the characteristic trait of the Saints, they could not hold this winning streak for long and had to face a shameful preliminary round exit in the VFL of the following year. This was also the period when the club owned such legendary rules football players as Jack Davis and Bill Mohr. The team could not taste success even in the following 2 decades of the 1950's and 1960's. It was time to change the scenario and the administration appointed Alan Killigrew as the coach, who gave rise to the winning streak and fighting spirit in the Saints. The club recorded the highest successive wins in the championship of 1963 before they lost in the semi-final. The club produced 2 of the best players during the season, Darrel Baldock and Ian Stewart. The club won its sole premiership title under the captaincy of Baldock in 1966. After this period of glory, the St. Kilda Saints once again lost their winning streak until 1987 when Tony Lockett entered into the team. But the lead was not for long and faded away when Lockett was injured. The 90's saw the Saints possessing some of the most popular and glamorous names in the game. Some such names were Danny Frawley, Nicky Winmar, Robert Harvey, Stewart Loewe and Dean Rice. The 21st century once again saw a severe lack of team spirit among the Saints which also prevented them from sealing a top position on the league chart. Today, the Saints are more about individual popular players than team spirit. Fans gain consolation from idolizing these individual icons while they still wait for a big team victory.
