The first mention of a football team in St Kilda was made in 1859. The current club was started in 1873, based on the South Yarra Football Club which had closed the year before. The club colours were formed when the red and white of the South Yarra Football Club merged with the black and white of the new St. Kilda Football Club. The first guernsey worn by the club was red and black striped horizontally, with a white neckerchief. The club joined the new Victorian Football League in 1897, and lost its first 48 games. Their home ground was the Junction Oval, in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda. In 1964, the team moved from St Kilda to Moorabbin, where they now train.