Katandra Football Club

The Katandra Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Kats, is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the small Victorian town of Katandra West. The club teams currently compete in the Picola & District Football League.

History
After much talk in the district for many years the Katandra Football club was founded in 1911. Their first opponents were Rockville and Pine Grove.

Reforming after World War I in the 1922 the club played in a small local association centred around Dookie. The small completion lasted until the height of the depression before taking a break for a few years. In 1936 the reformed to play in a competition with the small towns around Shepparton until the outbreak of World War II.

Despite the blemish of 2012, the club has experienced success over the past decade. Winning premierships in all grades of football and many grades of netball. The most recent Senior premiership was in 2004. The A Grade netball team won their first premiership in 2009 and were able to follow this by being Runners Up in 2011 and winning the 2012 pennant. The Senior team recently completed a remarkable feat of completing 8 seasons with no worse finish than being Preliminary Finalists. This 8 season streak included 2 Premierships, 3 Runners Up and 3 Preliminary Finals losses. Unfortunately, the proud club has not competed in finals since 2010 and received its first wooden spoon in 2012 after finishing last in the eight team PDFL-South East competition.

Past players to play AFL include Footscray ruckman Les Bartlett, Melbourne tough man Rod Grinter and Carlton best and fairest winner, David Teague.

The club changed leagues following an administration disagreement between the AFL Goulburn-Valley and the Picola & District Football League. The club wanted to remain under the AFL umbrella for player development and insurance so they joined the Murray Football League. They rejoined the Picola & District Football League in 2020.

Football competitions timeline
Katandra FC have played in the following football competitions.
 * 1936: Goulburn Valley Second Eighteens Football Association
 * 1937: Goulburn Valley Football Association

Football Premierships

 * Seniors
 * Picola & District Football League (3):
 * 1998, 2003, 2004
 * Tungamah Football League (8):
 * 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1992
 * Benalla Tungamah Football League (5):
 * 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1966
 * Central Goulburn Valley Football League (2):
 * 1950, 1951

Football – Runners up
The club was runner-up in the –
 * Seniors

Picola & District Football League Tungamah Football League Benalla Tungamah Football League Central Goulburn Valley Football League Goulburn Valley Football League
 * 2006, 2007, 2008
 * 1970, 1971, 1972, 1989, 1991
 * 1960
 * 1952
 * 1939, 1940

Wooden Spoons

 * Picola & District Football League (1):
 * 2012

Football League: Best & Fairest winners

 * Seniors
 * Goulburn Valley Football Association
 * 1940 – Sandy McIntosh
 * Benalla Tungamah Football League – Lawless Medal
 * 1956 – Harry Brittain

AFL players
These Katandra players made their VFL / AFL debut in the following years –


 * 1942 – Eddie Ford, Richmond
 * 1945 – Stan Le Lievre, St Kilda
 * 1968 – Les Bartlett, Footscray
 * 1972 – Lloyd Burgmann, Melbourne
 * 1985 – Rod Grinter, Melbourne
 * 1993 – Derek Hall, West Coast and Geelong
 * 2001 – David Teague (footballer), North Melbourne & Carlton