Geelong Cats life member and historian Col Hutchinson has been awarded the Jack Titus Award by the AFL for his service to football.

The AFL announced on Monday that Hutchinson and St Kilda recruiter John Beveridge were joint winners of the award for 2020.

Hutchinson’s love affair with the Cats began in 1958 when he started attending Geelong home games. His 61-year streak of attending Cats home games came to an end in 2020 when fans were not allowed into games due to the coronavirus.

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Sixty years of Col

Col Hutchinson hasn't missed a Geelong home game in 60 years, hear some of his best memories.

But it was another of Hutchinson’s streaks that was nearly more impressive.

From 1963, Hutchinson attended every Cats home, away and finals match, an incredible 1294 game streak before it was also brought to an end by the coronavirus in 2020.

Hutchinson’s ability to attend every Cats game for nearly 60 years was in part due to the 33-year stint he had as the Cats official match day statistician from 1974 to 2007.

It is Hutchinson’s passion for the history of Australian rules football which is perhaps his greatest love. He has combined roles of both the club’s and the AFL’s historian since the early 1990s as well as being the chair of the Society of AFL Club Historians for over 30 years.

Hutchinson is also a published author with his 1984 release Cats’ Tales, A History of the Geelong FC providing fans with an array of humorous and interesting stories of the club since 1897.

Other past winners of the Jack Titus Award from Geelong include Bill McMaster (1994), George Clarke (1998) and Les Bailey (2016).

Col’s Career in Football

1958 – Began a 61-year streak of attending all Geelong home games until Covid-19 this year.

1963 – Began a 56-year streak of attending all 1294 Geelong VFL/AFL games, home/away/finals until Covid-19 this year. 

1974-2007 – Geelong FC match day statistician.

1992-2019 – AFL Historian. Responsibilities for all AFL/VFL Records Maintenance, (including 1996-2018 – Australian Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee, Statistics and Records).

Other:

1986-2017– Chair, Society of AFL Club Historians.

Author, Cats’ Tales, A History Geelong FC 1897-1983 (published 1984).