Geelong Football Club


The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, the highest level of Australian rules football in Australia. The Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with three in the AFL era. The Cats have also won ten McClelland Trophies.
The club was formed in 1859, making it the second oldest club in the AFL after Melbourne and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Geelong participated in the first football competition in Australia and was a foundation club of both the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League in 1897.
The club first established itself in the VFA by winning seven premierships, making it the most successful VFA club leading up to the formation of the VFL in 1897. The club won a further six premierships by 1963, before enduring a 44-year waiting period until it won its next premiership—an AFL-record 119-point victory in the 2007 AFL Grand Final. Geelong have since won a further two premierships in 2009 and 2011.
The Cats play most of their home games at Kardinia Park and play the remainder at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Geelong's traditional guernsey colours are navy blue and white hoops. The club's nickname, "The Cats", was first used in 1923 after a run of losses prompted a local cartoonist to suggest that the club needed a black cat to bring it good luck. The club's official team song and anthem is "We Are Geelong".

History

Club identity and culture

Guernseys

Geelong's traditional navy blue and white hooped guernsey has been worn since the club's inception in the mid-1800s. The design is said to represent the white seagulls and blue water of Corio Bay.
The team have worn various away guernseys since 1998, all featuring the club's logo and traditional colours.

Song: "We Are Geelong"

"We Are Geelong" is the song sung after a game won by the Geelong Football Club. It is sung to the tune of "Toreador" from Carmen. The lyrics were written by former premiership player John Watts. Only the first verse is used at matches and by the team after a victory. The song currently used by the club was recorded by the Fable Singers in April 1972.

Stadium and training facilities

Geelong's administrative headquarters is its home stadium, Kardinia Park. The club trains here during the season, however it also trains at its alternate training venue, Deakin University's Elite Sport Precinct. The latter features an MCG-sized oval and is used often by the club in the pre-season, when Kardinia Park is being used for other events.

Rivalries

Hawthorn

The rivalry between Hawthorn and Geelong is defined by two Grand Finals: those of 1989 and 2008. In the 1989 Grand Final, Geelong played the man, resulting in major injuries for several Hawks players, Mark Yeates knocking out Dermott Brereton at the opening bounce; Hawthorn controlled the game, leading by approximately 40 points for most of the match; in the last quarter, Geelong almost managed to come from behind to win, but fell short by six points. In 2008 Grand Final, Geelong was the heavily backed favourite and had lost only one match for the season, but Hawthorn upset Geelong by 26 points; Geelong won its next eleven matches against Hawthorn over the following five years, under a curse, which was dubbed the "Kennett curse" which was attributed to disrespectful comments made by Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett following the 2008 Grand Final. It was later revealed that after the 2008 grand final, Paul Chapman initiated a pact between other Geelong players to never lose to Hawthorn again. The curse was broken in a preliminary final in 2013, after Paul Chapman played his final match for Geelong the previous week. Hawthorn went on to win the next three premierships. In 2016 Geelong again defeated Hawthorn in the qualifying final. In 20 matches between the two sides between 2008 and 2017, 12 were decided by less than 10 points, with Geelong victorious in 11 of those 12 close games.

Collingwood

In 1925, Geelong won their first flag over Collingwood. In 1930, Collingwood defeated Geelong in the grand final making it four flags in-a-row for the Pies. Geelong would later deny Collingwood three successive premierships in 1937, winning a famous grand final by 32 points.
The two sides played against each other in 6 finals between 1951 and 1955, including the 1952 Grand Final when Geelong easily beat Collingwood by 46 points. In 1953, Collingwood ended Geelong's record 23-game winning streak in the home and away season, and later defeated them by 12 points in the grand final, denying the Cats a third successive premiership.
Since 2007, the clubs have again both been at the top of the ladder and have met regularly in finals. Geelong won a memorable preliminary final by five points on their way to their first flag in 44 years. In 2008, Collingwood inflicted Geelong's only home-and-away loss, by a massive 86 points, but the teams did not meet in the finals. They would meet in preliminary finals in 2009 and 2010, each winning one en route to a premiership. They finally met in a Grand Final in 2011, which Geelong won by 38 points; Geelong inflicted Collingwood's only three losses for the 2011 season.

Corporate

Sponsorship

YearKit ManufacturerMajor SponsorShorts SponsorBack Sponsor
1977-92-Ford--
1993-FordFord-
1994-96-FordFordFord
1997-98AdidasFordFordFord
1999-2002FilaFordFordFord
2003-06SlazengerFordFordFord
2007SlazengerFordnibFord
2008-16ISCFordnibFord
2017-Cotton OnFordGMHBAFord

Supporter base

SeasonMembersAverage home
attendance		Ref
19847,70920,577
19857,71819,463
19866,98515,319
19876,98120,462
19889,66720,790
19897,76029,296
199015,08724,711
199111,35623,525
199213,53527,698
199315,50026,920
199414,31226,461
199515,92225,317
199617,34625,161
199718,85828,324
199819,97128,371
199921,03224,840
200025,59527,729
200125,42027,093
200223,75627,040
200324,01725,971
200425,02125,747
200530,82127,783
200632,29027,428
200730,16931,547
200836,85029,474
200937,16030,069
201040,32639,129
201139,34335,401
201240,20031,508
201342,88436,650
201443,80333,915
201544,31229,582
201650,57130,497
201754,85435,111
201863,818

Players and staff

Current playing list and coaches

Officials

Premierships and awards

Win-loss record

ClubTWLDWin%-
Club45 2520055.6
†15104170.0-
341915055.9-
220101117246.4-
234100133142.9-
21898115546.1-
†18310379156.6-
392613066.7-
1192081.8-
1072175.0-
1669075154.5-
21813185260.6-
16410063161.3-
332210168.2-
19610489353.8-
21513084160.7-
225124101055.1-
†1486057.1-
532626150.0-
16110257264.0-
Totals2454133510962354.9-

Match records

Reserves team

The Geelong reserves team began competing in the VFL Reserves competition with the league's other reserves teams from 1919. From 1919 to 1991 the VFL/AFL operated a reserves competition, and from 1992 to 1999 a de facto AFL reserves competition was run by the Victorian State Football League. The Geelong Football Club fielded a reserves team in both of these competitions, allowing players who were not selected for the senior team to play for Geelong in the lower grade. During that time, the Geelong reserves team won thirteen premierships, the most of any club.
Since the demise of the AFL reserves competition, the Geelong reserves team has competed in the new Victorian Football League, having won three premierships in that time. Unlike all other Victorian AFL clubs, Geelong has never operated in a reserves affiliation with an existing VFL club, having instead operated its stand-alone reserves team continuously. The team is composed of both reserves players from the club's primary and rookie AFL lists, and a separately maintained list of players eligible only for VFL matches. Home games are played at GMHBA Stadium, with some played as curtain-raisers to senior AFL matches.
In 2017, following the inaugural AFL Women's season, Geelong was among eight clubs that applied for licenses to enter the competition from 2019 onwards. In September 2017, the club was announced as one of two clubs, along with, to receive a license to join the competition in 2019. The club has also had a team in the second-tier VFL Women's league since 2017.

AFLW season summaries

^ Denotes the ladder was split into two or more conferences. These numbers refer to the club's overall finishing position that season.

VFLW season summaries

Sources: and

Footnotes

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