Broadbeach Australian Football Club, also known as the Broadbeach Cats, is an Australian rules football club representing the suburb of Broadbeach on the Gold Coast. The club competes in the Queensland Australian Football League after having previously competed in North East Australian Football League. Its home ground is Subaru Oval - Nee Merrimac Oval. In the club's inaugural year in the QAFL the cats finished 4th but eliminated in the first round of the finals. The senior level won its first premiership in 1987 under Coach Wayne Ling And Captain Brian Rowe. The highest point of the club's history was in 1996 when the club won 3 of the Grades, Colts, Seconds and Firsts. Some believe a three-year plan/structure built from within the licensed club manager in 1994, the year the club was supposed to fold due to a heavy debt to the bank and private lenders. Despite having been in existence since 1971, the Broadbeach Football Club has only competed at the top AFLQ level since 1997. Nevertheless, it has shown steady improvement throughout its brief involvement, and in 2004, it won 14 of its 18 home and away matches and reached the preliminary final before losing to Morningside. In 2005, the Cats were one of eight inaugural members of Queensland football's new first Division set-up, and they once again reached the finals. Broadbeach has an infamous rivalry with fellow Division 1 team Southport Sharks. When the local derby is played between these two neighbouring clubs, the games are typically played in front of a larger than usual attendance due and with increased tension. The club made headlines in late 2008 when it signed reluctant AFL star Nathan Ablett for the 2009 season. However Ablett failed to perform. In 2011, the club was granted permission to enter the NEAFL, which is an even higher position within the AFL as a whole. With this, a new football board of management which has improved the off-field game plan, The game plan instigated by Geoff Bower in 2010 and exercised in 2011. The Broadbeach Cats have not seen such an improvement in the club since 1994 when Tiger McCormick dragged the licensed club out of over $100,000 in debt and into the black in under one year, and was able to sponsor and foster a team led by Harry Kennan in 1996, where the U-18s, Reserves and Seniors all won Premierships. In 2010 the club hosted a VFL match between the Gold Coast Suns & Frankston. The game which was Karmichael Hunt's first ever in Queensland. Broadbeach knocked off Queensland Rivals Morningside in a thriller in front of 1000 people in the curtain raiser game. That afternoon the ground held over 5000 people to watch the Gold Coast defeat Frankston, 15.13.103 to 7.4.46. At the start of the 2013 season the Cats opened new change-rooms. In 2017 BAFC charged back into September action under Brett Andrews playing in a preliminary final against Labrador. In 2018 Andrews and playing life member Nathan Quick led the cats to their maiden QAFL grand final against rivals Palm Beach but unfortunately lost by 34 points. In 2019 Beau Zorko brother of 4 x BAFC Best & FairestDayne Zorko took over as senior coach after life member, and premiership captain 1996 Brett Andrews resigned at the end of 2018 due to family commitments. In February 2020 the club announced the resignation of Beau Zorko, being replaced by Craig O’Brien as senior coach, growing tensions between the two.
