The Wildcats
Formed in 1990, the Hamilton Wildcats are a member club of the Ontario Austrailian Football League (OAFL). Currently the Men's and Women's teams boast a playing membership of some 40+ players who are drawn to the unique game of Australian Rules Football from many regions of southern Ontario. Currently, the Hamilton team continues to develop in strength both on and off the football field as the team is backed and encouraged by loyal supporters, families and sponsors.
Now that our Club has been blessed with both Men's and Women's teams, we're hoping that continued recruiting success and promotion throughout the City of Hamilton will potentially lead to the formation of a Divison 2 side and/or a junior Development program for local players under the age of 16 years old who are interested in learning more about this incredible sport.
History of the Wildcats
The Hamilton Wildcats AFC was founded by Bill Frampton who took a keen interest in Austrailian Football and was inspired by the rapid growth of other OAFL teams throughout the GTA in the late 1980s. Following local promotion and recruiting, the Wildcats established a team of keen grass-roots players who played their OAFL inauguration match in the 1990 summer season.
In response to enormous efforts made by the club's governing body, the Wildcats grew in strength during the early 1990s and hit new peaks in the seasons of 1995 and 1996. In July of 1995, the Wildcats demonstrated the game of Australian Rules Football in front of a crowd of 21,000 during a half-time break of a CFL match; following this, they established a deal to broadcast home games for the 1995 season on a local cable TV channel. Local support and tangible success was carried through to the 1996 season, where the energized team went on to become runner up in the league's premiership season.
In 2012, the Wildcats were proud to annouce the addition of a Women's team within the Club to compete against other women's teams in the OAFL Women's Competition. Since their inaugural season, the women have had great success in their competition and brought home the Club's first premiership in 2019.
Over the last decade or so, the OAFL has grown in scope and depth; in the face of increasingly tough competition from teams in the GTA, the Hamilton Wildcats have proved its mettle. Hamilton has seen local players go on to be Nationally selected for the Canadian Australian Football Men's and Women's teams, the "Northwind" and "Northern Lights", and play in many widely attended International series at home and abroad. Furthermore, both the Wildcat Men's and Women's sides reached the Grand Final in their respective competitions in 2019, after remarkable seasons. The Women's team went on to win the premiership flag while the Men fell short, finishing second.
The Wildcats Today
The Wildcats continue to foster new local talents in this burgeoning game. Club members relish the opportunity to teach game skills to newcomers and are strong proponents of Canadian players in Australian Football. As a club that values community and team spirit, the Wildcats hold several annual events including the Sponsor's & Family Appreciation Day, our Recruiting Social & Jumper Presentation event, a massive year end Awards Banquet to mark the many team and individual successes at the end of each season, and continue to be a very active contributor to local food-banks/charities and community fundraising events.
The Wildcats Consitution
With the club moving forward strongly on and off the field since the 2009 season, we felt it was time to bring ourselves in line with other sporting organizations around the Country and the world with the creation of a Club Constitution. Please Click here to read the Constitution.
