Australian Football

In 1906 Ovingham Methodist was among the founder members of the United Churches Football Association, a competition in which it would participate, with considerable success, for many years. Early on, however, times were tough, and the club actually disbanded for twelve years from 1926. During the 1950s through to the 1970s, however, it was the dominant force in the UCFA, winning a total of fifteen senior grade premierships.

Between 1977 and 1982 the club was known as Ovingham United, with the ‘United’ being dropped in 1983. The club’s first stint in the amateurs commenced in 1980 and ended ingloriously with suspension following an ugly incident in which an umpire was struck by an Ovingham player. The suspension was not lifted until 1989, and if subsequent results are anything to go by, it appears in some way to have knocked the stuffing out of the club, which over the past couple of decades has conspicuously failed to recapture the glory of former years.

In 2009 the Cats’ senior grade side endured a torrid time, winning just 1 of its 18 minor round matches to finish at the very bottom of the SAAFL pile, in last place in Division Seven. This was a prelude to an extraordinarily difficult four years during which the club found it increasingly difficult to find players. In December 2013 the decision was taken to disband.