The Balmain Australian Football Club was established in 1903 as a foundation club in the Sydney based, New South Wales Australian Football League. Remaining one of only three foundation clubs still in existence in the Sydney competition. Its first home ground was the historic Birchgrove Oval on the shore of Sydney Harbour, where the team still plays today.

The Balmain “Seagulls” as they were first known found success early in the new League, finishing runners up in their second season in 1904. The Premiership Final took place at Sydney Cricket Ground and Balmain were defeated by North Shore (5.13 43 to 2.8 20). This was followed by a strong showing in the 1905 and 1906 seasons, finishing 4th & 3rd respectively.

Some challenging years were ahead for the club, in 1907 for the first and only time they went scoreless in a match, losing to Redfern. This was followed by a patchy 1909 season where Balmain struggled to field a team most weeks until moving to the 2nd Grade competition in 1910. In 1913 it returned to the 1st Grade competition but soon merged with the Northern Districts club to become known as Central Western for the 1914 and 1915 seasons.

The war years brought highs and lows for the club. In 1916 and playing as Balmain again, the club was unfortunate to lose the Grand Final against Paddington. That year had been the most successful on the field for Balmain, with 16 wins and only 2 losses. But with more players serving in the AIF during WWI, Balmain struggled to put a team on the field and in 1918 they forfeited the season after only two games.

Following the end of the war, the Balmain “Tigers” (by this time adopting a new nickname inline with many sporting teams in the Balmain community) returned to the field for the 1919 season. For the next 7 years they struggled to find success and finished no higher than 5th on the table. A major restructure of the competition in Sydney in 1926 meant the club was excluded from the league and went into hibernation. The 1925 season would be its last until reforming in 1948.

After 23 years the club was back in Sydney’s top grade and now playing in black and white jumpers. The next 20 years didn't see much success on the field, finishing no better than 5th. By 1967 things were starting to turn around for the Tigers,  when they moved to a new home ground at Jubilee Oval in Glebe and returned to the Yellow & Black colours. In 1969 they made their first finals since 1917, finishing 4th and winning 13 games with 6 loses.

The rise back towards the top half of the table was to be short lived, with Balmain not making finals again until 1983. This included its worst season on the field in 1978 where the club went winless (0-21). The ‘83 season was the Tigers best year since 1916, but unfortunately they lost the Grand Final against East Sydney.

In 1987 Balmain was dropped from the Sydney Football League to the Sydney Football Association. This setback would finally bring victory for Balmain, claiming their maiden Premiership Flag in 1988, only a 85 year wait! They would go on to play in 5 consecutive Grand Finals and win 3 Premiership Flags (‘88, ‘89, ‘92).

On the back of this golden period, by 1994 the Tigers were back in Sydney's premier football competition, the Sydney Football League. The return was not going to be a happy one, with Balmain having a winless season in 1994. Things would turn around quickly for Balmain, with the greatest period for the club coming in the late 90s. Winning 2 Premierships in ‘97 and ‘98 and just missing out on a third in ‘99. 

In 2001 Balmain welcomed a Women's Team for the first time. Proving one of the more successful Women’s teams in Sydney at the time, they would win Flags in 2011 and  2012. The Balmain Women would unfortunately just miss out on the magical 3 in a row and finish runners up to Sydney University in 2013. Their final year in the Womens competition was in 2015, but a Balmain return to Womens Football is planned for 2022.

Balmain Australian Football Club had seen many changes since its founding in 1903 and none was any bigger than in 2007 when they became the Balmain Dockers, a partnership arrangement with the Fremantle AFL Club. Losing the traditional Tigers name with the Yellow and Black colours was not going to be lucky for Balmain as they went winless for a third time in its history in 2007.

A tumultuous period for the club led to relegation to AFL Sydney's second tier competition, known as Division One, at the end of the 2013 season. In 2014 Balmain returned to its traditional colours and the Tiger was back with an inspiring Division One Premiership, a 6th Men’s Flag for the club.

The 2014 success continued with a 3rd place finish in 2015 and then followed by some middle of the table placings until 2020 when the Tigers were back in the finals again, finishing 2nd in the regular season of the Sydney AFL Platinum Division. A strong performance in a COVID impacted season, but losing to Penrith Rams in a close fought Semi Final.

2020 also saw the club grow to over 150 members, with the formal merger with Balmain AFC Masters. Balmain AFC and the Masters club had been in a partnership arrangement since 2017, with the Masters wearing the Tigers colours and logo and sharing players and training facilities. In this short time the Balmain Masters team has grown to be the biggest Masters AFL club in Sydney.

With 2021 impacted by world events and leading to a cancelled season, the Balmain Tigers are ready to take to the field once again with a Men’s, Masters and the return of a Women’s Team in 2022.

Go Tigers!