Farum Cats
| Full name | Farum Australsk Fodbold |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 as Farum Lions |
| Ground | Lyngholmskolen, Farum |
| Chairman | Simon Malone |
| Senior Coaches | Troels Ottesen Morten Engsbye |
| League | DAFL |
| 2015 | DAFL, Premiers (Giants), semi finalists (Cats) |
Farum Australsk Fodbold (English: Farum Australian Football) is a club under the Danish Australian Football League. Formed in 1994 as the Farum Lions, the team played their first season of DAFL Premier League 1995 finishing 2nd, after losing the grand final. The next year, the team, called Farum Lions at the time, won the DAFL Premier League. The team has won a total of 8 premierships, aside from 1996, they've also won 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. They are the only team to win four premierships in a row. The team changed names from the Farum Lions to the Farum Cats after an agreement with AFL club Geelong Cats. In 2015, the club changed name from Farum Cats Australsk Fodboldklub to Farum Australsk Fodbold to be more modern and to indicate that the club now runs two different teams.
The Farum Cats (and Lions) have competed in the DAFL Premier League every year since 1995. They have also hosted the Farum Local League (later North Zealand Australian Football League) and fielded two teams for the DAFL Sjælland 9's league every year. In 2004 the team fielded both Farum Cats and Farum Lions for the DAFL Premier League and in 2008, they fielded both Farum Cats and the majority of Værløse Bulldogs, a team meant for players playing the national team, but which was unsupported by most of the players from other clubs. The bulldogs folded halfway through the season.
In 1994 Jim Campion played for the Copenhagen Crocs, but decided to start his own club in Farum where he lived. The club was named Farum Lions after the Fitzroy moniker Lions, as their guernseys spelled FFC on the front, matching Farum Football Club, as well as the jumpers matching the colors of Farum BK. The club played well in 1995 and reached the Grand Final, but lost the game to Amager Tigers. In 1996, the Lions won the Grand Final against Helsingborg.
In 2002 the club changed their name to Farum Cats after reaching an agreement with the Geelong Cats, the favourite club of founder Jim Campion. On March 1, 2012 the club officially changed their name from Farum Australsk Fodboldklub (English: Farum Australian Football Club) to Farum Cats Australsk Fodboldklub, after using the name for several years. The club has won four premierships as the Cats, all of the times they've had exchange students from the Geelong College playing for them (usually two, but in 2011 only 1).
The years as the Cats started out as the years of the Lions had ended, though they won the first game of the year, against the Aalborg Kangaroos, however this was one of only two games the club won that year, and they ended up second last, only better than wooden spooners Helsingborg Saints, who had an abysmal season, finishing with -4 point In 2003, Farum came out of their finals drought (the longest and only in the history of the club, 01-02) After being nearly unbeatable in the newly founded Sjælland Conference, but striking out in the semi final against later premiers Amager Tigers. In 2004, they split up, forming the Farum Cats, and reviving the Farum Lions. Many of the young players from the junior programme plays for both teams and Morten Engsbye plays his 50th game before he turns eighteen. Only the Cats reach the finals, and in the Grand Final against the NC Cudas, they manage to kick more goals than the opposition. However, they kick 10 behinds less, and finish up losers by just 4 points, after a 5-goal last quarter by Mikkel Norlander. In 2005 the team started an exchange programme with the Geelong College getting 2 players for the duration of the DAFL, these are Rhys Bennet and David Burns-Wallace. The year ends in triumph for the Cats, as they claim their second overall premiership, and David Burns-Wallace wins Best on Ground in the grand final, even though playing most of it with a broken wrist. This was the first of the Farum back to back to back premiership run. The year after, the team is joined by Scott Williams and Scott Witham and they continue the trend of only losing one game of the year. Again, the Beston Ground in the Grand Final is a Geelong boy, this time it's Scott Williams. In 2007, the names of the Geelong boys were John Bailey and Steen Balodis, and they continue the trend of dominating in the DAFL, as Farum claims their third premiership in a row. Mikkel Norlander is leading goalkicker in DAFL and Mikkel Højgård is best 1st year player. David O'Sullivan, another Australian of Farum, is crowned Best on Ground in the Grand Final, crowning of a great year for the Cats. In 2008, the Cats have to cancel the Geelong boys due to lack of funds, and furthermore, the team splits up in the younger Farum Cats, and the better Værløse Bulldogs, a team supposed to be used to bring together the boys for the National Team. However, this team is mostly unsupported by the national players of the other teams, and as a result, a lot of the newly promoted juniors has to play 2 games each weekend - for the second time in 5 years. Halfway through the season Værløse is doing great, while Farum is struggeling in last position, and the club decides to fold the Værløse team. Amazingly, after winning the remainder of their games, the Cats goes to the Finals, and end up in the Grand final against Barracudas in Copenhagen. But that is where the fairy tale story ends, as the Cats go down to the Cudas, and finishes runners up. As a result of the split up, the 2 players to play the most DAFL games this year is Nathan Campion and Simon Malone.
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