The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, are a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League, the highest level of Australian rules football in Australia; the Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with three in the AFL era. The Cats have won ten McClelland Trophies; the club was formed in 1859, making it the second oldest club in the AFL after Melbourne and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Geelong participated in the first football competition in Australia and was a foundation club of both the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League in 1897; the club first established itself in the VFA by winning seven premierships, making it the most successful VFA club leading up to the formation of the VFL in 1897. The club won a further six premierships by 1963, before enduring a 44-year waiting period until it won its next premiership—an AFL-record 119-point victory in the 2007 AFL Grand Final.

Geelong have since won a further two premierships in 2009 and 2011. The Cats play most of their home games at Kardinia Park and play the remainder at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Geelong's traditional guernsey colours are navy white hoops; the club's nickname, "The Cats", was first used in 1923 after a run of losses prompted a local cartoonist to suggest that the club needed a black cat to bring it good luck. The club's official team song and anthem is "We Are Geelong". Geelong's traditional navy blue and white hooped guernsey has been worn since the club's inception in the mid-1800s; the design is said to represent the white seagulls and blue water of Corio Bay. The team have worn various away guernseys since 1998, all featuring the club's logo and traditional colours. "We Are Geelong" is the song sung after a game won by the Geelong Football Club. It is sung to the tune of "Toreador" from Carmen; the lyrics were written by former premiership player John Watts. Only the first verse is used by the team after a victory.

The song used by the club was recorded by the Fable Singers in April 1972. We are the greatest team of all We are Geelong. Stand up and fight, remember our tradition Stand up and fight, it's always our ambition Throughout the game to fight with all our might Because we’re the mighty blue and white And when the ball is bounced, to the final bell Stand up and fight like hell Geelong's administrative headquarters is its home stadium, Kardinia Park; the club trains here during the season, however it trains at its alternate training venue, Deakin University's Elite Sport Precinct. The latter features an MCG-sized oval and is used by the club in the pre-season, when Kardinia Park is being used for other events; the rivalry between Hawthorn and Geelong is defined by two Grand Finals: those of 1989 and 2008. In the 1989 Grand Final, Geelong played the man, resulting in major injuries for several Hawks players, Mark Yeates knocking out Dermott Brereton at the opening bounce. In 2008 Grand Final, Geelong was the backed favourite and had lost only one match for the season, but Hawthorn upset Geelong by 26 points.

It was revealed that after the 2008 grand final, Paul Chapman initiated a pact between other Geelong players to never lose to Hawthorn again. The curse was broken in a preliminary final in 2013, after Paul Chapman played his final match for Geelong the previous week. Hawthorn went on to win the next three premierships. In 2016 Geelong again defeated Hawthorn in the qualifying final. In 20 matches between the two sides between 2008 and 2017, 12 were decided by less than 10 points, with Geelong victorious in 11 of those 12 close games. In 1925, Geelong won their first flag over Collingwood. In 1930, Collingwood defeated Geelong in the grand final making it four flags in-a-row for the Pies. Geelong would deny Collingwood three successive premierships in 1937, winning a famous grand final by 32 points; the two sides played against each other in 6 finals between 1951 and 1955, including the 1952 Grand Final when Geelong beat Collingwood by 46 points. In 1953, Collingwood ended Geelong's record 23-game winning streak in the home and away season, defeated them by 12 points in the grand final, denying the Cats a third successive premiership.

Since 2007, the clubs have again both been at the top of the ladder and have met in finals. Geelong won a memorable preliminary final by five points on their way to their first flag in 44 years. In 2008, Collingwood inflicted Geelong's only home-and-away loss, by a massive 86 points, but the teams did not meet in the finals, they would meet in preliminary finals in 2010, each winning one en route to a premiership. They met in a Grand Final in 2011, which Geelong won by 38 points. President: Colin Carter Vice President: Bob Gartland Chief Executive Officer: Brian Cook General Manager – Football: Simon Lloyd Statistics are correct to end of 2019 season The Geelong reserves team began competing in the VFL Reserves competition with the league's other reserves teams from

Group Captain Leonard Henry Trent, was a New Zealand aviator, senior Royal Air Force officer, recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Born in Nelson, Trent obtained a short-term commission in the Royal Air Force in 1938 after receiving flight training in New Zealand. Travelling to England, he was posted to No. 15 Squadron RAF and was sent to France shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, flying Fairey Battles on photo-reconnaissance missions into Germany. After his squadron returned to England and converted to Bristol Blenheims, he flew several bombing missions during the Battle of France. Afterwards he spent several months on instructing duties before being posted to No. 487 Squadron in August 1942. He was shot down over Holland while on a bombing mission, codenamed Operation Ramrod 16, on 3 May 1943, becoming a prisoner of war. After the war, he was awarded the VC for his actions during Ramrod 16.

He was commander of No. 214 Squadron during the Suez Crisis. He retired in June 1965 and lived in Australia, New Zealand, in his years, he died in 1986, aged 71. Leonard Henry Trent was born in Nelson, New Zealand, on 14 April 1915, the son of Leonard Trent, a dentist, his wife Irene née Everett. In April 1919 the family moved in the Golden Bay region. Three years his father paid for Trent to take a short flight in a Gipsy Moth piloted by Malcolm C. McGregor, a fighter ace of the First World War, subsequently Trent became captivated by flying, he was educated at Nelson College, boarding at the school from 1928. Not academically inclined he became interested in golf and in his final year at school, in 1934, won the Nelson Golf Club Senior Championship. Trent had intended to go to university to study dentistry, but the family could not afford to pay for his studies and he instead took up a position as a clerk in the administrative office of an abattoir in Hastings, he returned to Nelson to work with his father.

After a time he moved to Wellington. He was soon earning enough money that he could afford to go to night school and study aero engineering and maintenance. In early 1937, in response to an advertisement in a newspaper, Trent applied for a short-term commission in the Royal Air Force, he passed a selection interview and subsequent medical test and in August was accepted for flight training. Induction training was held near Dunedin, where he flew Gipsy Moths and Miles Magisters. Trent undertook flight training at the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Wigram Air Base in Christchurch, flying Avro 626 and Vickers Vildebeest aircraft, he gained his wings on 12 May 1938 and a month he sailed for Britain to join the Royal Air Force. He was granted a short-service commission of five years in the rank of pilot officer on 23 August 1938. Posted to No. 15 Squadron RAF, which operated Fairey Battles out of Abingdon in Berkshire, Trent spent the next few months learning bombing and reconnaissance flying techniques.

In February 1939, he spent three months at Hamble, near Southampton, attending a course of navigation. Here he met Ursula Woolhouse. In early September 1939, following the outbreak of the Second World War, No. 15 Squadron flew to France as part of the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force. Stationed at Vraux, the squadron was to fly high-level photo-reconnaissance missions over enemy territory, collecting information on German airfields and major infrastructure. Trent flew his first mission into Germany on 24 September 1939, No. 15 Squadron's first operational sortie of the war. This period of the war was known as the Phoney War, much the squadron's flying revolved around training and practice bombing missions; the squadron returned to England in early December to convert to the Bristol Blenheim IV, operating from Wyton. Initial conversion work was on the Bristol Blenheim I and during this time Trent had to forceland the aircraft he was flying, having become lost in overcast conditions while on a flight to Scotland.

In March 1940, he was promoted to flying officer The squadron returned to operations when the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940. That day he flew one of three aircraft. Further missions followed, including a bombing raid on bridges over the Albert Canal that saw six of the twelve participating aircraft destroyed. On another mission, his aircraft suffered damage from flak and an attacking Messerschmitt Me 109 fighter and he put down at an airfield on the way back to his base for repairs. However, advancing Germans threatened the airfield and as night fell, he and his crew had to fly to England as they could not navigate back to their base in France. On 23 May, casualties in the squadron saw Trent promoted to acting flight lieutenant and taking command of one of the flights of the squadron, he led several bombing sorties while Operation Dynamo was in effect and by mid-June had flown 14 sorties. Exhausted, he was sent on leave. On his return to duty, Trent was posted to No. 17 Operational Training Unit, stationed at Upwood, as an instructor.

He made navigational flights in Avro Ansons. He had the opportunity to fly other aircraft. In the meantime, his relationship with Ursula Woolhouse continued to grow and he married her on 7 August 1940 at Holborn, London; the previous month he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his outstanding performance during the Battle of France. In March 1941, his

Tarek Fatah is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author. Fatah is a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and served as its communications officer and spokesperson. Fatah advocates gay rights, a separation of religion and state, opposition to sharia law, advocacy for a "liberal, progressive form" of Islam; some of his activism and statements have been met with criticism from right-wing Muslim groups. He calls himself an Indian born in a Punjabi born in Islam. Tarek Fatah was born in Karachi, Pakistan into a Punjabi family which had migrated from Mumbai to Karachi following the Partition of India in 1947. Fatah graduated with a degree in biochemistry from the University of Karachi but entered into journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970, before becoming an investigative journalist for Pakistan Television.. He was imprisoned twice by military regimes. In 1977, he was barred from journalism by the Zia-ul Haq regime, he left Pakistan and settled in Saudi Arabia, before emigrating to Canada in 1987.

Of himself, Fatah asserts: "I am an Indian born in a Punjabi born in Islam. I am one of Salman Rushdie’s many Midnight’s Children: we were snatched from the cradle of a great civilization and made permanent refugees, sent in search of an oasis that turned out to be a mirage." Tarek was a long-time member of the Ontario New Democratic Party and had unsuccessfully ran for the 1995 provincial elections from Scarborough North. He subsequently worked for Rae's successor as Howard Hampton. In July 2006, he left the NDP to support Bob Rae's candidacy for the Liberal Party of Canada's leadership. In an opinion piece published in Toronto's Now Magazine, Fatah wrote that he decided to leave the NDP because of the establishment of a "faith caucus" which he believes will open the way for religious fundamentalists to enter the party. However, after Rae's defeat by Stéphane Dion, Fatah condemned similar racial and religious organizing activity in the Liberal Party, arguing in a Globe and Mail editorial that Tamil, Sikh and Islamist Muslim leaders had engaged in "blatant efforts to wield political muscle," "bargaining the price of their cadre of delegates" and creating a "political process that feeds on racial and religious exploitation."

"I respect the diversity of Canada," he wrote, "but I want to celebrate what unites us, not what divides us into tiny tribes that can be manipulated by leaders who sell us to the highest bidder."At a press conference on 2 October 2008, Fatah criticized the New Democratic Party. Fatah stated that he was a lifetime social democrat who had supported the NDP for 17 years but that he could no longer be affiliated with that party, he claimed that the NDP began opening its doors to Islamists under Alexa McDonough and that, under Jack Layton, he had seen them "flood" into the party. Fatah stated that Islamists in the NDP have pursued a campaign to instill a sense of victimhood in Muslim youth. In early 2011, Fatah said. Fatah contacted Toronto Police Service and met with two police officers from 51 Division. Fatah said that police intelligence officers, one a Muslim officer who had shut down a previous investigation into a death threat, shut down the investigation and claimed there was no threat. Fatah criticized the Toronto Police over the incident.

In a 2015 Toronto Sun article, Fatah wrote that he would be voting for Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the 2015 federal elections, while calling himself a social democrat. Fatah has favoured both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders for the United States presidential race in 2016, he said that many Muslim groups, he himself, have recommended curbs on immigration from countries that harbour Islamist sympathisers, similar to policies promised by Trump. From 1996 until 2006 he hosted Muslim Chronicle, a weekly Toronto-based current affairs discussion show on CTS and VisionTV, which focused on the Muslim community. In February, 2011, Fatah was scheduled to have a debate with Sheharyar Shaikh of the North American Muslim Foundation, after Shaikh issued an open challenge to Fatah to debate him. Fatah failed to show up. Shaikh, who had defended polygamy and opposed secular educations for Muslims, was a critic of Fatah's views. Fatah stated that he had cancelled his appearance because the moderator was changed shortly before the event was to begin, because the audience was "hostile".

Fatah claimed that he was warned by police of threats to his safety. Fatah and Shaikh appeared together in an interview for Sun News debating the role of Islam in ISIS. Fatah has been a staunch critic of Pakistan, he has advocated support for Baloch separatists. In February 2013, after the website of the Toronto Sun was blocked in Pakistan, he rejects anti-semitism as incompatible with Islam and has supported Israel's "right to exist" and Zionist projects. Fatah is a vocal critic of Sharia law. In a discussion hosted by The Globe and Mail in 2007, Fatah claimed that "most of the Islamic radicalism that you see today stems from the empowering of Saudi based Jihad groups that were funded and backed by the U. S. and the CIA throughout the Afghan war against the Soviet Union."In response to the Quebec City mosque shooting, Fatah endorsed the discredited conspiracy theory that Muslims had participated as perpetrators in the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting that killed six people. According to the National Post he has said "Islam is riddled wit