 West Adelaide became a founding member of the National Soccer League in 1977 and a year later became the first Adelaide team of any football code to be crowned national champion when it won the 1978 National Soccer League after a 1–1 draw with Adelaide City in the local derby.One of the newest clubs in South Australia, West Adelaide competed in the national league for 19 seasons, interrupted briefly by two short periods in which it was relegated back to state competition.In the late 1990s, the club renamed itself the Adelaide Sharks in an effort to attract support beyond its traditional base in the Greek community.