Federation and Early Years
USC Lion Soccer Club was founded in approximately 1952, and during its early years competed in the South Australian Soccer Federation (SASF). by 1956, USC Lion had won the SASF Cup (now FFSA Coca-Cola Federation Cup) and in 1965 Lion won it’s first SA Premiership as champions of Division 1.
USC Lion continued as an independent entity in the Federation until 1993, when it merged with fellow federation club Port Adelaide to form Port Adelaide Lion Soccer Club. Port Adelaide Lion continue to compete in the Federation to this day (now known as the Port Adelaide Pirates), contesting the FFSA State League for the 2013 season.
Adelaide Lion and Amateurs
In 1971, Adelaide Lion was formed in Division 3 of the South Australian Amateur Soccer League (SAASL), initially playing its home ground at Findon Reserve, Drummond Avenue, Findon. In 1981, Adelaide Lion moved to their current home ground at Grange and at this time the club changed its name to Grange Lion.
In 1993 when the USC Lion federation side merged with Port Adelaide, the merger was also reflected at amateur level with Grange Lion (having finished 9th in Division 6 in 1992) and Port Adelaide (Division 8) merging to become Port Adelaide Lion.
The merger proved the catalyst a highly succesful period for the merged entity, with successive promotions earned in 1995, 1996 and 1997 seeing Port Adelaide Lion competing in Division 3 for the 1998 season. This was to be the last season for the merged outfit, as in 1999 the Port Adelaide Lion name disappeared from amateur football, and their place in the 3rd Division was taken by USC Lion, having formed in 1997 and winning Division 6.
Recent Years
The club in its present form didn’t need to wait long to taste success, winning the Division 3 Championship in 2000. A period of moderate success followed through the early and mid parts of the decade, with Lion quickly winning promotion to Division 1 (as Division 2 runners-up in 2002), and finishing runners-up again in 2003, this time in Division 1. This success was followed by some mid-table results, before a Division 1 wooden spoon in 2009 saw the club re-evaluate its position in the Sunday league.
As a result, the decision was made to compete in the Saturday league for the 2010 season, with the club gaining entry into Division 3, which Lion duly won and earned promotion to Division 2 for 2011. Success was to be short lived, however, and Lion found itself again near the foot of the table, this time in Saturday Division 2.
On field performances were not Lion’s only problem, and in early 2012 it looked like the USC Lion name might disappear from South Australian football for good. Were it not for the efforts of a few dedicated volunteers and long-time servants of the club this might have been the case. Through a lot of hard work and dedication, Lion avoided oblivion and managed to field 2 teams in Saturday Division 4 (the lowest division), duly finishing runners-up and earning promotion to Division 3 for the 2013 season.
The 2013 season saw Lion finish in the top 4 after a slow start to the season, this result was great for a club just finishing a restructure it also laid the foundation which saw Lion successfully take out the Division 3 title in 2014. Lion were not done there and 2015 saw many achievements for the club. That season saw the introduction of a 3rd team due to increased numbers and a change in the coaching structure, Lion ended the season as runners-up which meant promotion to the Saturday Premier Division in 2016.
