North Adelaide's history can be traced directly back to the formation of the Medindie Football Club. Medindie was formed in 1881 when a group of nearby College students (from Prince Alfred College and the now defunct Whinham College) formed a team to play some football matches in the nearby parklands. They took their colours of red and white from Prince Alfred College and wore a strip not dissimilar to the one that Prince's football team wore.Medindie was elevated to the South Australian Football Association (later to become the SANFL) in 1888. After struggling to match it with the "senior" teams (South, Port and Norwood) over the next 5 years, and with a promise of support from North Adelaide residents, the Club changed its name to North Adelaide in 1893.This made North Adelaide the fourth-oldest, continuously-operating club in the SANFL competition.Although there were numerous other clubs that used the name of "North Adelaide" prior to 1893, none of them bore ties to the current club.