The Canberra Cats organising committee. Photo: Canberra Cats.
Geelong might be seven and a half hours from Canberra but that’s no impost on these diehard fans.
The Southern Cross Club in Woden will be dressed in navy and white this Saturday evening (26 July) for the 25th anniversary of the Canberra Cats – a dedicated fan club for the Geelong Cats, and the largest in the country outside the AFL team’s home city.
Former long-time board member from the Geelong Cats Alistair Hamblin will even make a guest appearance.
“Our club goes to Victoria for a Cats’ game each year and once or twice to Sydney each year as well,” Canberra Cats events organiser Kerry Fitzgerald says.
“On Easter Monday this year we went to the Cats vs Hawks game at the MCG – the Cats won – and we were part of the Guard of Honour and then sat with the Geelong Cats Fan Club behind the goals.”
It’s said the Geelong Cats are the second oldest continuously existing club at the elite level of any code in the world – after the Melbourne Football Club – after the co-founder of Australian football, Thomas Wentworth Wills, vouched for its formation in July 1859.
Its Canberra following began, as most fan clubs, with a group of friends perched in front of the TV “in someone’s lounge room” in 2000.
“Then the Southern Cross Club in Woden gave us a room for free every match during the season, and we’d all gather together and watch it down there,” Ms Fitzgerald says.
Canberra Cats host regular match watches at the Woden Southern Cross Club. Photo: Canberra Cats.
About 30 people attend these events, but the Canberra Cats’ email distribution list includes hundreds of local members.
She may be biased, but Ms Fitzgerald says a lot of the love comes down to the fact the Geelong Cats “really care about their fans and their players”.
Every year since 2022, it trains the next generation of AFL players through its Next Generation Academies (NGA) Development Academy, specifically aimed at “opening doors for young First Nations and Multicultural players, both boys and girls, who might otherwise go unnoticed”.
“Our vision goes beyond talent identification though. We aim to inspire multicultural and First Nations youth to fall in love with the game, not just as players, but as lifelong participants in every sense,” Geelong Cats says on its website.
Ms Fitzgerald also grew up there, and would attend matches with her dad.
“When he got too old to go on his own, I would go down to Geelong and take him,” she says.
“The city goes mad whenever they’re in the grand final – people decorate their shops and houses, it’s just amazing.”
The Canberra Cats hires buses to take members to games in Sydney or Melbourne several times a year, and members are in touch with each other “constantly”.
When they attend the home ground in Geelong, the club even organises for the Canberra Cats to have a tour of the facility.
Canberra Cats during a game at Manuka Oval. Photo: Canberra Cats.
“In fact, I met one of the main goal kickers when I was down there last week, Shannon Neale … and told him I’m part of the Canberra Cats and he said, ‘Oh yeah, the club’s been talking about you guys for years – you’re fantastic’,” Ms Fitzgerald says.
“Even the players acknowledge it’s a big deal.”
This Saturday’s event kicks off with a Cat-themed trivia game from 3:30 pm, followed by Mr Hablin’s speech, the auction of an autographed Geelong Cats guernsey, the cutting of the 25th anniversary cake by Canberra Cats founding member Bill Steen – and, of course – watching live the game between Geelong and North Melbourne.
It’s gonna be a ball.
To join the Canberra Cats, or visit the event, contact canberracats@gmail.com.
