Initially the Club fielded just one side, but in a Reserves team was formed in line with a similar progression throughout the VAFA and in both teams won Premierships. From that time, despite a number of finals appearances, there was a premiership drought which continued through until Reserves and both teams. At the end of , in recognition of a major change in the membership of the Club, with a significant number of Old Geelong Collegians in particular having joined it in recent seasons, the name of the Club was changed to the Old Geelong Football Club.
Whilst the Club endeavours to recruit from and retain close connections with both Geelong schools we welcome and actively encourage players from all sources. The s saw the establishment of an Under 19 side which lasted for some five seasons before inadequate numbers caused it to fold.
It was subsequently revived on a number of occasions in the late s and s, depending on the number of players available. Captain coach Cliff Rankin finished the match with 5 of Geelong's 10 goals, being joined on the best players list by half forward flankers Jack Chambers and Arthur Rayson, full back Keith Johns, and half back Ken Leahy. After the match, a civic reception attended by nearly 10, people awaited all the players on their return to Geelong:.
Thousands of people congregated at the station, and subsequently escorted the players to the City Hall, where congratulatory speeches were made. Three of Collingwood's leading officials came to Geelong by car on Saturday night especially to join in honouring the Geelong players and congratulatory messages were received from all parts. A suggestion has been made that, apart from the trip to be given by the committee, the citizens of Geelong should make some small gift to each of the players in the team.
The club's supporters did not have such a long wait this time before their heroes returned to the fore. After contesting the finals - without success - in and the Cats missed out for two seasons before going within an ace of another flag. After downing Carlton Exercising their right of challenge the following week the Magpies, after trailing by 21 points at the long break, added Geelong had the smell of a flag in their nostrils, however.
The following year the VFL, in common with numerous other leagues around Australia, introduced the Page-McIntyre system[5] of playing finals, and the Cats proved to be the VFL's first beneficiaries of the new system, for after succumbing to a second semi final loss at the hands of Richmond they recovered well with wins over Carlton, by a single straight kick in the preliminary final, and then, in the return against the Tigers, with surprising comfort, 9.
Geelong's point defeat of Richmond constituted the first official VFL grand final. Prior to - with the exception of and , when a round robin system had been tried - the destiny of the premiership had either been determined on the basis of a final, in which the minor premier proved successful, or a challenge final, in which the minor premier, having been unsuccessful at some stage during the finals, played off against the winner of the final.
The Cats' best during the grand final included wingman Jack Carney, follower Len Metherell, reputed by some to be the first VFL player regularly to use the drop punt, centre half forward Jack Collins and centreman Edward 'Carji' Greeves. A classical, long-kicking pivot player in the traditional mould, he was also a runner up for the Medal in As has been mentioned, Greeves was later chosen in Geelong's 'Team of the 20th Century', an honour which was also bestowed on his team mates Reg Hickey, George Todd and Les Hardiman.
Jack Collins and Tom Quinn were named as emergencies. There were half a dozen survivors from the Class of '31 when Geelong next graced the MCG on grand final day six years later. Opposition was to be provided by Collingwood, premiers in each of the previous two seasons and, at that stage, the most successful VFL side in history. There was nothing between the sides for three quarters in a match played in good spirits in front of a then record crowd of 88,, some of whom sat or squatted up to two metres inside the boundary line.
With scores deadlocked on 80 points apiece at the final change the match was set for a riveting conclusion, but Geelong, in no mood for a cliff-hanger, added 6. Ultimately the Cats had too much pace and system for the Magpies, with wingman Angie Muller, rover Tom Quinn, brothers Les 'Splinter' and 'Peter' real name Harold Hardiman, both of whom were followers, and four-goal forward pocket Jack Metherell in his last VFL game, especially prominent.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, given that for many years the grand final was regarded as the finest example of classical, open football in VFL history, only two players from the Cats' winning line up - Reg Hickey, who coached and captained the side, and Les Hardiman - gained selection in the club's 'Team of the Twentieth Century' although, as mentioned above, Quinn was named as an emergency.
In the Cats bowed out to eventual premiers Carlton at the preliminary final stage, and the following year managed just 7 wins to miss the finals completely. There was a partial recovery in as the side finished fourth, but this proved to be the club's last finals foray for a decade.
Indeed, with wartime travelling restrictions in full force in and Geelong did not even participate in the competition. The s, however, would be another story altogether. By then, the club would have a new home base, Kardinia Park, and the navy and white hooped jumpers would be being donned to telling effect each Saturday by some of the most legendary names in football history. The season represented something of a watershed, not just in the history of the Geelong Football Club, but in the development of the code of Australian football itself.
Reg Hickey, one of Geelong's and the game's greatest ever players, who had captained the Cats to their last flag in , took over from Tommy Quinn as the team's non-playing coach.
He was a man with very definite ideas on how the game should be played, and although it would take a while for the players to catch up with those ideas, the eventual upshot was that Geelong managed to obtain a significant jump on the opposition, implementing and perfecting a style of play which was at once both revolutionary and effective, an all too rare combination:.
Speed and sensational ball handling were Geelong's secret weapons This Geelong team was no fluke. Reg Hickey had planned it, step by step. Geelong sides were traditionally fast. This was the answer, but it was not blind speed. Hickey carefully chose his speedsters, and then drilled them. Every kick and every move was part of a pattern.
Mobile rucks and a long striding half back line got the ball forward, and the forwards fanned out to provide a host of opportunities. Underlying these strategies, and in a sense a key to their success, was a training philosophy which verged on the modern:.
Remember that you play only as well as you are fit. The three quarters player lacks the will to win. If he's finished physically he can't go on with the job when the call is greatest. So again I say, never slack your training.
Some people talk of teams going stale. Personally I don't think any team goes stale if they retain their interest to improve. It's hard to come up fighting Saturday after Saturday if you are being whipped.
To lose five or six matches on end is a 'killer'. I've been through it, and I can sympathise. But there's only one remedy. Get up with the field. The field won't come back to you.
So it's back to the old grind, training, developmental work, and more training. In Hickey's first season in charge, , the Cats played intermittently well, winning 9 of their first 15 games to appear in a strong position to contest their first finals series since However, an injury to key defender John Hyde badly unsettled the team, and contributed to a horror run of 4 successive losses which effectively de-railed the Cats' season.
A key to Geelong's improvement in was the recruitment from Essendon of talented full forward George Goninon whose senior opportunities at Windy Hill had been limited owing to the presence there of the greatest full forward in the game, a certain John Coleman.
Goninon's arrival proved especially timely as the Cats' primary goal kicker of the previous decade, Lindsay White, snapped his Achilles tendon in a match against South Melbourne and never played again. Afforded greater responsibility in the wake of White's departure, Goninon's form improved, and his overall contributions to the team effort increased, as the season wore on. With 10 wins from 18 home-and-away matches, Geelong qualified for the finals in in fourth place.
The Hickey 'pace and space' formula finally clicked in With experienced and highly gifted individuals like future 'Team of the Century' members Bob Davis, Fred Flanagan and Bernie Smith now at their absolute peak as footballers, Geelong had a nucleus of talent unequalled anywhere. Goninon it was who virtually proved the difference between the combatants on second semi final day, contributing half of Geelong's 22 goals in an 82 point annihilation of Collingwood.
According to future VFL chief commissioner Jack Hamilton, who was at full back for the Magpies when Goninon entered his name in the record books:. It was the worst day I have ever had. I had handled Goninon quite easily in two matches in which we had met earlier in the season[11] and was confident of being able to subdue him again. As it turned out, George couldn't do a thing wrong and I couldn't do a thing right.
Geelong had the ball on their forward line for most of the match and I had no chance of stopping some of the passes that were delivered to him. His kicking was superb, he was credited with One of his shots went straight through the middle and the goal umpire signalled a behind! It wasn't my place to argue. Two factors combined to bolster the Cats' confidence in advance of their grand final showdown against reigning premiers Essendon, which had ended Collingwood's season with two-point victory in the preliminary final.
The first was that Bomber spearhead John Coleman, the biggest superstar in the VFL, would miss the match after having been suspended by the VFL tribunal for striking Carlton's Harry Casper in the last minor round game of the year. Coleman had averaged more than 4 goals a game in and it went without saying that, without him, the Bombers would be a significantly less troublesome opponent.
The second boost to the players' confidence came from classy and irrepressible back pocket Bernie Smith being awarded the Brownlow Medal, the first Geelong player since 'Carji' Greeves, in the Medal's inaugural year of , to be so honoured.
The grand final started well for Geelong as George Goninon had a goal on the board within a minute of the opening bounce. Full of confidence, the Cats surged forward again and again, but their next half a dozen shots for goal all resulted in minor scores.
Meanwhile the Bombers, with virtually their only coherent forward foray of the term, goaled through Hutchison. Goals for Geelong late in the term through Norman and Goninon gave the Cats a 3. Perhaps predictably, Essendon proceeded to punish Geelong's waywardness during the second term, adding 5.
It enjoyed early success as runners-up in , and Premierships in D and C Sections in and respectively. A with a changing room with no shower. If we wanted to get rid of our sweat the only option was to jump into the adjacent Yarra River. It then moved to the small St Kevins No 2 ground for seasons In it transferred to a larger ground in Burnley, and after a couple of years there, was fortunate to secure the use of Como Park, South Yarra, where it has been based ever since.
One could argue the Geelong Cats have been the strongest team in the competition over the last decade, taking home three premierships in the years , and Founded in , the Cats are the second oldest club in the competition after Melbourne and are also recognised as one of the oldest sporting clubs in the world. The team has always played in the hooped dark blue and white jerseys but they have not always been known as the Cats, they took on this name in Past nicknames for the team were The Pivotonians and The Seagulls.
The blue on the jersey was chosen to represent the sea while the white was to represent the seagulls. The early Geelong home games were played on a field called Argyle Square. By the VFL was founded and many of the Melbourne teams we know today joined the competition.
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