Blues History

St. Louis Blues A.R.F.C., est. 1997
By Jim Martin

Founders Sam Ingram and Dave Nicholls, both Aussies, met up in early 1997 and decided it would be a great idea to form an Aussie Rules team--and thus the St. Louis Blues were born. Sam was a lifelong supporter of the Carlton Blues (one of the most storied franchises in the Australian professional league), so he named the team "the Blues", established a sister-club relationship with Carlton and got some old practice guernseys, and incorporated the team in Missouri. The Blues became the seventh team to join the fledgling United States Australian Football League.

Sam was the St. Louis president and coach from the team's inception until 2000, when he returned to Australia and American Ryan Richardson assumed both positions, which began a tradition of All-American leadership for the Blues. In 2001, Jim Martin took the helm as both president and head coach, until relinquishing coaching duties to Dan Sarbacker in 2006. Dan Sergott took over coaching duties in 2009, and Jim Martin continues as president.

The Blues have a history of developing some of the best American talent in the country. In 2005, the Blues placed five representatives on the national team that finished 3rd in the International Cup in Australia--the most representatives from any team in the USAFL. To date, Revolution members from St. Louis have included Darrell Butler, Chris Carroll, Colin Carroll, B.J. Gambaro, Matt Jagger, Dan Kocka, Dan Sarbacker, and Dan Sergott.

The Blues also have a history of developing executives for the USAFL. Ryan Richardson, Matt Jagger and Cameron Murray held executive board positions with the USAFL during their tenure with the club, while Jim Martin just stepped down after ten years on the executive board.

St. Louis is a member of the Mid-American Australian Football League (the MAAFL, which is the midwestern region of the USAFL), and won back-to-back MAAFL premierships in 2003 and 2004, qualifying them for the first division at the USAFL National Tournament. The Blues also won the Division III premiership at the USAFL National Tournament in 2007 and 2009.

Individual milestones include:

USAFL All-American Team of the Decade: Matt Jagger, B.J. Gambaro

MAAFL MVPs
2003, Jason Goodger
2007, Dan Sarbacker