One of the most successful 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. At the end of the 1998–99 National Soccer League season, the club was overcome by financial turmoil and entered administration. West withdrew from the national competition and its senior arm declared bankruptcy while the club's juniors legally separated from the club and remained afloat.