Australian Football history will be made on the Monaro in July when the Southern Cats (formerly Cooma Cats) football club celebrates its 50 year anniversary.

The celebrations will comprise of a dinner at the Southern Cross Club on 25 July, with bus transfers available from Cooma.

A team of the half-century will be announced and a Cats museum will operate for the evening, chronicling the past 50 years.

Aussie Rules was played briefly in Cooma in the late 1950s, when a team was put together by the late Stan Inkley and Frank Eastaway, with assistance and enthusiasm from several others.

The game of ‘aerial ping pong’ was in fierce competition with rugby league and rugby union competitions across the Monaro and ACT.

Unfortunately, although successful against strong Canberra opposition this team competed for only a few years.

It was not until Bill Bartling arrived in Cooma from Melbourne in the 1970s to operate The Alpine Hotel, that the code was re-ignited.

Bill, who had connections to North Melbourne VFL team, wanted to see an Aussie Rules club in the Snowy region. He met with the president of the Monaro Australian Football League and a proposal for a Cooma-based team was raised.

The first meeting was held on 29 October at the Alpine Hotel which unanimously agreed that a club should be formed.

The late Les Nancarrow was elected the interim president and the club was officially formed on 11 November 1975, entering the 1976 competition, with Max Reeve as captain.

A year later, the Cats played in their first ever grand final in the MAFL 2nd Division, losing to Queanbeyan 12.12.84 to 10.12.72.

A small consolation for the Cats was Peter Ohlin winning the Tom Moore Medal for Best and Fairest in the division.

It was another seven years before the Cats' first premiership.

A game that was expected to be won easily by Weston Creek was played in Yass for the MAFL 2B Division.

A second premiership was won in 2018, under coach Adam Asanovski, and the team has reached the finals series in the past few years as well.

In addition, the club now has a women’s team which recorded its first win at home only a couple of weeks ago.

The Southern Cats are embarking on a project to recover their history, much of which has been lost since the early 2000s.

If you have any information, photos, records, or memories please send them to history@southerncats.com.au