Sydney II

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.

According to club historians, it was incorporated at the Temperance Hall, Napier Street at Emerald Hill 19 June 1874. It was first known as "Cecil Football Club" (after Cecil Street, South Melbourne, one of the early thoroughfares), but adopted the name "South Melbourne Football Club" four weeks later on 15 July. The club was based at Lake Oval alongside the lake in Albert Park, also home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club.

While one of the early favourites to win, South Melbourne were a notable exclusion from the 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. 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 FC, had experimented with rugby football rules which in May 1874 had advocated strongly for their widespread adoption in Victoria; however, this did not meet favour with the more powerful clubs in the colony.

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, West Melbourne, Southern Rifles in 1875 and Sandridge Alma, St Kilda Alma, Victoria Parade, and Williamstown in 1876 among others. Many of this group of clubs most of which had primarily juniors had also begun to discuss starting their own cup competition.

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, Blackwood, Taradale and Ballarat.

VFA era: 1877–1896

South Melbourne was a junior foundation club of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, and attained senior status in 1879.

Amalgamation with Albert Park FC

In 1880, South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert Park FC, which had a senior football history dating back to May 1867 (Albert Park FC had, in fact, been known as South Melbourne FC during its first year of existence). The 1880 amalgamation adopted the red and white colours of Albert Park under the name South Melbourne FC. While relying on the Albert Park FC lineage to claim status as the world's oldest surviving professional football club to wear a red and white strip, the modern-day Swans recognise their foundation year as 1874 rather than 1867 (Albert Park) or the 1880 amalgamation date. Following the amalgamation the club became the strongest in metropolitan Melbourne. Nicknamed the "Southerners", the team was more colourfully known as the "Bloods", in reference to the bright red diagonal sash on their white jumpers The colourful epithet the "Bloodstained Angels" was also in use.

VFA success

Over its first decade as an amalgamated club, South Melbourne won five VFA premierships – in 1881, 1885 (undefeated) and three-in-a-row in 1888, 1889 and 1890 – and was runner-up to the provincial Geelong Football Club in 1880, 1883 and 1886. The 1886 season was notable for its 4 September match against Geelong, which generated unprecedented public interest as both clubs had entered the match undefeated.

The club was the second Victorian club to visit New South Wales in 1883 travelling to Newcastle where it also defeated the Northern Districts League by a goal before travelling to Sydney where it defeated Sydney by just a single goal in front of a large crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground and East Sydney Football Club by a goal in front of 600 spectators.

In May 1889, the Swans lost narrowly to a touring Maori team from New Zealand.