The Wildcats are one of the founding clubs of AFL London, formerly known as the British Australian Rules Football League (BARFL). Since 1990 when the Wildcats took the field against other founding clubs – Earls Court, East Midlands, Lea Valley, London, North London, Thames Valley and Wandsworth – the Wildcats have built an imposing Grand Final record, with no less than twelve Grand Final appearances in the last eighteen years including winning the past 5 Grand Finals in the Premiership Division.
In 2001, as the BARFL competition continued to expand, the Wildcats added a second team to its ranks. Through some ruthless recruiting and a lot of dedication, the Shepherds Bush Raiders were formed and competed in the second, or Conference, division. They too enjoyed immediate success winning the inaugural Conference title and have maintained a vice-like grip on the division ever since. Eight straight premierships is no mean feat in any sport, let alone a game such as Australian Rules Football. Their success further demonstrates the strength of the club.
Further expansion by the club saw the introduction of a third team, the Ealing Emus, in 2002. Originally competing in the Conference division, therefore competing against their team-mates the Raiders, the Emus now compete in the third tier AFL London competition. The Emus couldn’t quite get over the line in their first attempt, but soon found what it takes and in their return visit in 2008, took out the Social Division premiership.
A brief, year by year account of the Wildcat’s is below.
1990
The Prelimary final was as far as we got in the initial season with the GF going down to the wire for two teams that should not have been there!
The end of season trip was to delightful Amsterdam where few can remember what went on or if they went on it. Only injury was to an unnamed player who forgot that Melbourne trams trundle on the other side of the road. All the boys agreed it was a good attempt at a hip and shoulder on the hapless 8 ton tram! or they think it was! it was all a bit hazy. There were no arrests as you can’t get arrested.
1991
Everywhere the Wildcats went the Green bus went. From our Sponsors the Walkabout the Routemaster double decker bus plied the way. We played at ‘the hankerchief’ (southfields) which was an ideal size for beach volley ball. Earls Court beat Wandsworth by six goals in the final with the Wildcats losing the Prelimary final.
The end of season trip was our first to Corfu and was extremely ‘colourful’. Bing found himself a footing as a sports commentator and did a marvellous job. Super job Bing! Richie is shitting himself. The club logo, the cat, was ‘designed’ here in respect to events on the trip. The rest was not so much as a hazy but more drunken blur.
1992
Grand Final: Wandsworth Demons 12.5 (77) def West London Wildcats 11.9 (75)
Everywhere the Wildcats went the Green bus spluttered. It finally died on the way to Thames Valley and Esher/Earls Court (for the seconds) This was the Wildcat Dream team. If the Wildcats had a golden year the 1992 was it. The back line the best in the League. With Davin Clarke, Al Dowdall and all running absolutely riot in the back line there was oodles of possession time for the centers (Jammo,Kyle etc) and forwards who converted truly. We played hard footy under the gaze of Supercoach Reidy, Newcastle Brown bottle close at hand and with the Pepsi Clipboard nowhere to be found.
The Grand Final was ‘eventful’. Rule number one. Never leave your jumpers in garbage bags! they might be thrown out! Thanks to North and the lovely pink dyed seconds jumpers (thanks to the nurses and a still yet to be identified piece of red lingerie).
The day was the exact opposite of the summer. Wet, windy and a leveller between teams. The Wildcats got away well though down at the start of the final quarter. Just two points up to four points down all quarter. With few minutes to go. Wandsworth came out of the centre and went forward. A kick from 25mtrs out, the ball sailed over the head of our full back. You could here the smack as hand came in contact with 10kg wet sherrin – the result – A goal! We did not recover – along with Dave “hoppa” Harbour nor did the bloke who got hit by our Welsh Physc nurse Guido with seconds to go finally losing be two points.
Our end of season trip was to Falarki, Rhodes. Court – lots of it – was held at Ziggys and Charlies bar and use to get tourists and locals viewing the “court room”. It was great to see the Wildcats take an interest in their environment by saving a foreign species of beached whale. Chooka must be congratulated on remembering every Kevin “Bloody” Wilson song along with the Aussie at the night club who kept pouring 300 Drachma (One pound) JD and JD drinks that ripped your head off!
1993
The Green Bus was still out at Thames Valley and so went to most games courtesy of a very large (and legal) drug company in executive comfort. Sometimes the bus did not come with an attached convenience and the Nurses were surprised about the number of creamy soda bottles we bought but never emptied after especially hard games. This year Wimbledon met Guido the Welsh Phsyc Nurse. On the boundry in front of Rossco, the Captain Cook (and soon to be Redback Publican), Reidy and 50 people. A Wimbledon guy hit poor Guido with the best punch he could give behind play. Guido stares straight into his eyes and asked “Is that the best you could do? Is it, is it” Reidy and Rossco, unaccustomed to shouting as they were – bagged this guy and we don’t think he played again. This was the last year of Leona’s awesome BBQ which use to bring the club £400 a game.
If the goal umpire had knackered us in the 1992 GF then Earls Court put it into us in 1993. Needing to score something like 422 to nothing to secure a better spot in the finals they managed to do just that even though the game was a technical forfeit! We ended up playing at the biggest ground (10mtrs longer than the MCG) in the League at North London, against North London, without the services of BARFL B&F Darryn Jammieson and two other key players. 1993 was not the year of the Wildcat.
End of Season trip was to Dublin, Ireland where it all foggy all of the time, though vaguely we did spend an enjoyable afternoon in a lock-in – right next to the cop-shop!
1994
Grand Final: London Hawks 15.8 (98) def West London Wildcats 8.11 (59)
A bad start to the year for the Wildcats. Big Northern Territorian Marc Gregson passed away on New years day in a truck accident in South Africa. With that fresh in our minds, club stalwart Laurie Winfield succumbed to the big C during the year. The best finals player now receives the Marc Gregson trophy and Laurie is remembered by the B&F trophy. Another go at the big one in which we failed to beat Wimbledon! BARFL Best First-year EC Mark “Scooter” Mcmanimen running riot. Dennis “Baggio” Radetic came third in the League B&F and was a power in the back line. Liverpool was a very interesting trip for most concerned and the last chance to see why Reidy should never put the boots on! Bristol was heart stopping for the people in Digger Dino’s car who careered around a huge roundabout the wrong way and survived!
The end of season trip was to Corfu and was up to expectations. Congrats must go to the player found performing the Horizontal tango with the club footy socks still on!
1995
Grand Final: Wandsworth Demons def West London Wildcats
Another Grand Final appearance for the Wildcats, and another disappointment.
1996
Grand Final: London Hawks def West London Wildcats
Yet another Grand Final…
1997
1998
We ended up on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season by dint of the BARFL lucid and excellent idea of ranking the ladder by percentage. The games we won, we won very well and the games we lost, we lost by less than two goals. Unfortunately there were two problems. 1. The other clubs (archaic, staid and lost in the pages of history) disagreed with this novel system which was bound to revolutionise AFL as we know it. More importantly 2. We lost a few too many games under esteemed leader “Minibus” – only half a coach!
Oh well – The first year ever we missed the finals so it was straight onto an extended footy trip at Ipsos on Corfu in the Greek Isles – our summer training camp – with a full compliment of players. WHOTT-SOTT
The only other highlight was a marvellous display by a homeless destitute from the Cardboard City at Waterloo Bull ring who managed to disrupt the “Fosters Cup” AFL luncheon in spectacular fashion!
The AGM put in place a committee and coach for season 1999 and the bottom of the J curve had been passed.
1999
Grand Final: Wandsworth Demons 14.10 (94) def West London Wildcats 14.5 (89)
Plenty of photos on their way including the Grand Final, semi final, gentleman’s lunch, B&F presentation and the 10 year reunion at the Pint on Punt.
2000
Grand Final: West London Wildcats 11.12 (78) def Wandsworth Demons 5.2 (32)
Undoubtedly a landmark year for the Cats – The Millennium Premiers!! Led by ‘Supercoach’ Billsy, the Cats soundly thrashed Wandsworth in the big one and finally took out the Premiership.
The footy trip to Corfu was an absolute blinder, and set a benchmark that future footy trips will find very hard to beat.
The Bushraiders were formed and played in the premiership alongside the Cats – and we began playing games at Trailfinders Sports Club in Ealing.
2001
After a fairly good year the Cats were third on the ladder at the end of the season, but for the first time in years the Cats didn’t make it to the Grand Final losing to Wandsworth in a semi final.
The Raiders however were playing in the newly formed ‘London Conference’ and after finishing the season, second on the conference ladder underneath North London’s Regents Park, were going into the finals as the underdogs. But the Raiders were strong and they came away with the first ever Conference Premiership beating Regents Park by 8 points!
It was Corfu again for another fantastic footy trip, and classics such as the boat trip along the coast, scooters, and beach cricket were again among the activites undertaken – not surprisingly most of the locals remembered us from the year before – the stuff of legends!
2002
Grand Final: North London Lions 18.11 (119) def West London Wildcats 8.5 (53)
After a finals dash that left the other clubs spinning, the Wildcats were again in the Grand Final. With earlier 2002 success in the Brit Cup, and after watching the Raiders comeback from the dead to reclaim the Conference Cup, the final score did not reflect the pride and passion that had become such a part of the Wildcat’s game through the finals.
2003
Grand Final: Wandsworth Demons 11.11 (77) def West London Wildcats 9.8 (62)
Both the Wildcats and the Raiders finished the season as minor premiers without a single loss for the whole year. Both sides proceeded through the finals unscathed however the Wildcats found out the hard way, that there is only one game all year that counts. Three premierships in a row for the Raiders but the Wildcats were once again left with a Grand Final loss – their seventh.
Wildcats Complete Clean Sweep in 2009
It was a year of change down at Wildcat land with many senior personnel, and some of the bigger personalities of the club in recent times, departing the London scene. Rivals saw 2009 as the year to take the mantle of London’s leading club from West London. How wrong they were.
The traditional pre-season trip saw the Wildcats take on the Stockholm Dynamite in sunny conditions in Sweden’s capital. Despite the locals possessing a 220cm giant nicknamed ‘Madszilla’, the Dynamite were no match for the Wildcats. There were several memorable performances off the field, with Shaun Truscott’s Monk costume the pick of the bunch.
The pre-season ‘ANZAC Cup’ got the ball rolling for the club for the season proper. Played in very warm conditions, the Wildcats went unbeaten all day, including a thrilling 2 point semi-final win against Wandsworth. The final was played against the North London Lions, with the Cats victors by 15 points. Adam ‘Golden Tan’ Hall the player of the day as judged by the umpires, with other notable performances by Paul Konderenko, Matty Ryan, Al Carlson and Dave O’Neill.
The home and away season saw mixed results for most of the year for all three teams. The Wildcats started strongly, only to suffer a mid-season form slump. Some severe, and season ending injuries to some key players gave opportunities to others to step up. The highlight during the regular season was the Wildcats gutsy 16 point win over a previously undefeated Wandsworth on their own turf in Round 6. Pete O’Connell, Dan Nankivell, Andrew Pettigrew, Leigh Bourke, Baz Malone and coach Justin Main were the standouts.
Having surrendered second place on the ladder, and the double chance, after the final round of matches, the Wildcats entered the final series with all the work ahead of them. The Cats were too strong for North London in the elimination final, with the class of Nick Ingall, Dan Nankiville and full-back Shaun Truscott showing. This setup a semi-final clash with the Putney Magpies for the chance to face Wandsworth in the Grand Final. With confidence high, the Wildcats produced a real team effort in defeating the Magpies by 56 points.
The Grand Final against Wandsworth was always going to be a classic. Wandsworth had their tails up having already claimed wins in the early games. The Cats shot out of the blocks in a dominant first quarter, only to be reeled in by a determined Demon’s outfit. In a see-sawing last quarter, where the lead changed more than 5 times, the Wildcats eventually claimed their 6th straight premiership victory by 7 points. Sam Chapman led the way with a superb performance, assisted by captain Dan Nankivell, Warwick Fenner and 17 year old local talent, Lewis Brackstone.
The Shepherds Bush Raiders were gunning for an incredible 9th straight Conference Division premiership in season 2009 and fell just short at the last hurdle. Going through the year with only 2 defeats, the Raiders were in prime position to again claim the silverware, but encountered a fast and skilful Demon’s side in the Grand Final, going down by 14 points. The team certainly did the club and the jumper proud however, and will be sure to bounce back again in 2010 with some added venom.
The Ealing Emus also had the chance to go back-to-back, but like the Raiders, fell agonisingly short in the Grand Final against the South London Demons in the Social Division Grand Final. The final margin of 24 points didn’t tell the true story of the match as it was really an arm-wrestle throughout. Despite the Grand Final loss, the Emus still had an enjoyable road-trip to Nottingham in the middle of the season and once again, showed the true spirit of the Social league.
It would also be remiss not to mention the Brit Cup victory by the Wildcats EU contingent, played at Reading in early July. With a superior blend of youth and experience, the Wildcats went undefeated all day and overcame the Putney Magpies in the final by 8 points. 16 year old ‘Big George’ was awarded the player of the day.
2009 also saw the Wildcats lose two club favourites. In a shock to all of those involved with the club, Simon ‘Umpy’ Drury tragically died in November 2009. Known as the Wildcats best and favourite goal umpire, Umpy was also a life member of the club. A memorial evening held his favourite establishment, the Three King’s, a moving photographic tribute was played in honour of Umpy, with his parents and sister also present having just flown in from Australia.
Alysson Swayne also passed away tragically in late October 2009 whilst on a short break away from London with boyfriend, and 2009 Emus coach, Ryan Lapish. A prominent member of the Wildkittens, Alysson will always be remembered for her warm and caring nature and her ability to light up a room with her smile.
Both Umpy and Alysson will be sorely missed by the Wildcats community. It is testament to the Wildcats communities both in London, and back in Australia, that such tremendous support was shown to the families involved, and also each other in difficult times.