Club History

Founders Sam Ingram and Dave Nicholls met up in early 1997, when the two decided it would be a great idea to form a footy club in St. Louis, and so the Blues were born. St. Louis became the 7th team to join the United States Australian Football Association (now the USAFL). Sam Ingram was the first president and coach until 2000 when Ryan Richardson assumed both positions. In 2001, Jim Martin took over as president and head coach and Dan Sarbacker took over coaching responsibilities in 2006, Martin remained president. Ruckman Dan Sergott would follow Sarbacker with Martin continuing as president where they would remain until 2010 and 2011 respectively. During these early years St. Louis was also a member of the Mid America Australian Football League where they were premiers in 2003 and 2004. St. Louis developed some of the best American talent during their early years, sending five players to join the Revolution team at the International Cup in 2005. One of those players, Chris Caroll, trained with the Essendon Bombers in 2005 and Old Haileybury in the Victorian amateur leagues. Dan Sarbacker, another Revolution player, also spent time in Australia in Goulburn Valley Football League in Victoria. Several others would play for the Revolution through 2010. New players Dave Zitko and Peter Nagel joined the club as numbers dwindled from 2009 to 2011, when Zitko spent a year abroad playing in the South West Football League in Western Australia. Upon his return, Pete and Dave assumed control of the club as the last remaining active members and joined up with Louisville and Cincinnati to form the Ohio Valley River Rats. They would continue to play with Ohio Valley until 2019. In 2020 several players had relocated to St. Louis and were looking to continue their USAFL careers and found Pete and Dave were still kicking the footy around, albeit just themselves, and a resurgence was on. In 2021, St. Louis played at nationals donning their own navy blues once again. The 2022 season saw St. Louis develop many players from the restart in 2020 and 2021. Now with several players having a couple of seasons under their belt, they were poised to make some waves in the USAFL central region. The Blues put together several metro games with 10 players a side throughout the season, helping to further develop their new talent. However, halfway through the season on a trip to Minnesota for the Central Regionals, they had yet to win a game. Paired up with the Denver Bulldogs, expectations were high to bring home some hardware with a quality side making the trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Despite a strong showing, there was further disappointment with the results. The team was unable to secure a victory at the regional tournament, leaving some to ponder their future with the club. Participation continued though, with many players showing great improvement in the second half; the race for the coaches’ award was hotly contested all the way until the end of the year. The draw for Nationals paired St. Louis with the veteran Las Vegas Gamblers in Division 4. A midwest rival in the Des Moines Roosters was the first game. St. Vegas came out strong but was unable to finish the Roosters and dropped the first of three on the weekend. The second game on Saturday came against Golden Gate, where the team finally started to gel and put together a quality performance, keeping the Roos out of the goal until the last 10 minutes and keeping their grand final hopes alive. Sunday morning St. Vegas took on the locals, a combined side of Los Angeles Dragons and Orange County Bombers. It was expected to be a hotly contested match, but a dominant performance from St. Vegas held the SoCal club to only one goal, all but securing their ticket to the final. A Sunday afternoon rematch from the pool stage against the Des Moines Roosters was set for the Division 4 Grand Final. Early on was hotly contested but it didn’t take long for St. Vegas to establish their dominance and start piling on the goals. A stalwart defense and the boundless energy of the midfielders were able to supply the forwards with the football all game long, preventing any scoring threat from Des Moines. They were held to 0 points in the first half. Des Moines made a couple late pushes but were once again thwarted, only scoring two points, allowing St. Vegas to cruise to a relatively comfortable victory to secure the premiership. St. Louis midfielder Alex Tajkowski was elected best on ground for the club on the weekend and Dave Zitko won the Cooper’s Medal for most consistent in Division 4.

The Future

St. Louis continues to grow as a social and athletic club. We recently received 501(c)3) status and are recruiting for the 2024 season. We welcome all as athletes and club supporters! Come have a kick!

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a platform for individuals to engage in physical activity through the exciting sport of Australian Rules Football, fostering a sense of community among players, supporters, and the wider local area. We aim to cultivate the spirit of competition while promoting camaraderie, inclusivity, and personal growth within our club.