Adelaide will enter a team in the SANFL league competition in 2014.

A formal invitation to join the SANFL was tonight accepted by the Crows, who will for the first time establish a support team for their AFL-listed players.

The team will be called the Adelaide Crows and wear the club colours – but not the traditional Crows home hooped guernsey.

A pool of “top-up” development players will be provided by the SANFL clubs.

Crows CEO Steven Trigg said the Club was “thrilled” to proceed with its preferred option.

“It was critical to get all Clubs unanimous in their preparedness to work with us, regardless of how they voted,” Trigg said.

“All Clubs - including those who voted no - have extended that assurance. As we've said all along, that's critical to give it the best chance of success.

“We have had a long and very prosperous two-way relationship with the SANFL and we strongly believe this arrangement is the best outcome for South Australian football.

“We are about to enter a new and exciting era at Adelaide Oval and it is important that we all make the most of this opportunity.”

Trigg said a second team would provide the Crows with the best environment to be successful.

“The main benefits for us revolve around the advantages of having our own players together, playing with team-mates, being coached by our coaches on our structures and by our development staff,” he said.

“It’s clearly the best way to prepare our players for AFL competition and I think most football people understand this.

“A strong and successful Adelaide Football Club is critical for the health of South Australian football.

“But we also expect the Crows reserves team to generate significant interest in the SANFL competition and to provide a chain of benefits, wider media coverage, better TV deals, sponsorship opportunities, increased junior development and participation, and better crowds.

“And underpinning all of this will be our ongoing respect for the SANFL competition.”

It will not be the first time an Adelaide Football Club has been a part of the SA competition.

The original Adelaide Football Club was a founding member of the South Australian Football Association in 1877. The Club, which wore black, red and white and played at Adelaide Oval, won the SAFA premiership in 1886 but disbanded at the end of the 1893 season.