The co-founder of Australian Football, Thomas Wentworth Wills, established Geelong Football Club in July 1859, making it the second oldest club of any football code in the world.
Wills formed Geelong Football Club for the same reason he and his cousin, Henry Harrison, had earlier established the Melbourne Football Club - to keep cricketers in the region fit during the off-season.
The code played by the clubs - Australian Football – was borne out of the Victorian goldfields to where people from various countries around the world had migrated to seek their fortunes.
It is likely rugby, Gaelic football and soccer all influenced the game, but through organised matches between Melbourne Football Club and Geelong Football Club – and other teams that sprung up in nearby areas – a formula for Australian Football evolved.
By 1877, the game had attracted such a following that more than 130 clubs were operating around Melbourne and Geelong, however Australian Football was about to undergo a major restructure.
Eight of the strongest clubs, Geelong, Melbourne, Carlton, St Kilda, Albert Park, Hotham (North Melbourne), Essendon and East Melbourne, formed the Victorian Football Association (VFA), the first official controlling body for the game of Australian Football.
Geelong Football Club itself also experienced a number of changes during the period, moving to Corio Oval from Argyle Paddock and becoming known as the Pivotonians – a reference to Geelong being the pivotal point for all shipping and railway routes in the region.
Previously, Geelong Football Club had been known as the Seagulls, with the dark blue and white striped uniform representing the blue water of Corio Bay and the white seagulls that inhabited the area.
The developments of 1877 signalled the start of a golden era for the Geelong Football Club with seven VFA premierships produced in the following nine years.
However, by the early-1890s, the association had again grown beyond its means, with the stronger clubs having to provide financial assistance to support other clubs and Geelong, led by the visionary Charles Brownlow, began agitating for another major administrative change.
And so it was that Geelong, Melbourne, Essendon, South Melbourne, Collingwood and Fitzroy decided to break away from the VFA and form a new body to be known as the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The inaugural VFL match took place in 1897 but it was not until 1925 that Geelong Football Club managed to replicate its VFA success by winning a premiership in the new league by defeating Collingwood in the grand final by 10 points.
In the interim, the club had assumed a new nickname, the Cats, which was adopted after a spate of losses early in the 1923 season prompted a cartoonist to suggest Geelong needed a black cat to bring it good luck, while centreman Edward “Carji” Greeves had won the inaugural Brownlow Medal, an award for the best and fairest player in the league, instituted in memory of Charles Brownlow, who died in 1924.
Geelong continued to perform well in the late-1920s and after making the grand final the year before, the 1931 team featuring Greeves and other club legends such as Reg Hickey, Jack Collins, George Todd and Jack Carney, defeated Richmond by 20 points to win another flag.
Reg Hickey also featured in the club’s 1937 grand final win against Collingwood when his master coaching moves helped turn the match around in front of the-then record crowd of 88,500.
The early 1940s were a tumultuous time for Geelong Football Club, with the club moving from Corio Oval to Kardinia Park at the start of the 1941 season, then being forced to withdraw from the league in 1942 and 1943 due to travel restrictions and a lack of players during the war.
The club’s absence during the war years impacted on its results for the remainder of the decade, but in 1951, a thrilling grand final saw Geelong hold on to defeat a resurgent Essendon by 11 points.
It was also in 1951 that Bernie Smith won the Brownlow Medal, the second time a Geelong player had won the award.
The champion Cats team of that era, which featured greats like Smith, Bob Davis and Neil Trezise, then backed up in 1952 to again win the flag, this time defeating Collingwood by 46 points in the grand final.
Geelong continued to challenge for the premiership until 1955, but it was not until 1963 that the club won its next flag.
Alastair Lord, who had won the 1962 Brownlow Medal, was in the team that defeated Hawthorn by 48 points in the grand final, as was his twin, Stewart, and other club champions like Graham “Polly” Farmer, Bill Goggin, John Devine, Doug Wade and John Yeates.
Amazingly, the superstar line-up was unable to replicate its achievement in subsequent years and for the remainder of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, Geelong Football Club reached only one grand final.
But the mid-1980s saw the club recruit some of its greatest players including Gary Ablett, Paul Couch, Mark Yeates, Andrew Bews and Mark Bos and that soon translated into grand final appearances.
Geelong featured in the 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1995 grand finals and under coaches Malcolm Blight and Gary Ayres, stamped itself as one of the top teams of the 1990s with an attacking brand of football.
In the new millennium, under coach Mark “Bomber” Thompson, a wave of talented young players combined with some experienced champions are preparing for more grand final appearances…and more premierships…for the Geelong Football Club. |
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