What is the most controversial incident in league history?

[mud n blood]

Tigertread .... that was actually the second of three Brisbane referee's strikes (and two threatened strikes). The first one was late-20's over the QRL, then the 50's, then the 60's over Barry Muir, then the 70's over Don Lancashire .... they're a controversial lot !!!!

Add these to a Brisbane list .... post 1970.

- Struddy's flying wedge
- Wynnum-Manly's early-90's survival
- The Souths v Wests Lang Park brawl in 1970
- The Bulimba Cup finale in 1971
- The finish to the 1975 grand final
- Stan Scamp's appointment to the 1981 grand final
- Tat Whaleboat's hit on Scotty Nielsen in the 1991 grand final
- Olszewski's late try in the 1995 grand final

 

[Ramit54]

A split developed between the Brisbane and Qld rugby league bodies in 1920. The six Brisbane clubs noted that they each paid the same affiliation fee as did Toowoomba and Ipswich but had only one vote between them. The other two centres ran their own affairs while the Qld rugby league had the final say as far as Brisbane was concerned.
The dispute took two years to settle but, when the fighting died down, Brisbane had won the right to its own club competition
In 1922 the first all Brisbane Premiership took place with six teams, Brothers, Carlton, Cooparoo, Fortitude Valley, University and Western Suburbs. Wests won that year going through underfeated.
Cheers Retread

 

[mud n blood]

Tigertread .... sorry to be a nit-picker .... BUT .... what you say only is technically true. Yes - 1922 was the first competition run under the auspices of the Brisbane Rugby League, but in actual fact, the first "all Brisbane" premiership was in the game's inaugural year in 1909, involving the Valley, Toombul, North Brisbane and South Brisbane clubs. The next time this happened was in 1912.

Once again, apologies for my usual trivial 'perfectionist' nit-picking habits ....

 

[Ramit54]

No worries Mud.
But what i read in the history of Brisbane rugby league it states that in the early years the competition contained teams outside of Brisbane.
Ipswich and Natives
Cheers Retread

 

[mud n blood]

Huh ? Now that is interesting !!! Ipswich - yes, in fact there was one then two teams from coal-mining city. Natives though, are definitely a Brisbane side based on the Northside. Can you remember which book it was ? I'd be interested in reading this bit and chasing up some details that may contradict my facts.

We also had Ipswich clubs Starlights and West End in the Brisbane comp as well.

Aside from this .... it always fascinates me that since Redcliffe appeared in first grade in 1960, that they are always included in 'Brisbane' sides, yet still represented Redcliffe in comps such as the Geraghty Cup. Interesting!

 

This message has been deleted by the author.

 

[Ramit54]

Mud here are a couple of articles that might help. I hope you can read them.
Cheers Retread

 

[pepe]

mud

was'nt wynnums revival around the mid 80's,how was wynnum able to attract so many big names to the club?

i remember the big fuzz about wally leaving valleys to go to the seagulls,it certainly was an unfair playing field with so many stars in there team,at the time it was good to see wynnum getting some revenge as they were a perrenial cellar dwellar for many years.

pepe

 

[mud n blood]

Tigertread -

What are those extracts taken out of ??? That is the first time I have ever seen a book (?) that correctly refers to the original Wynnum side of the 30's being the old rugby union club. They were known as the All-Blacks, and failed in the new code as the more talented players were reluctant to leave the local Wynnum competition to join a club previously of a different code. It is a common mistake. BTW, the Wynnum comp at the time consisted of up to 12 individual clubs from Wynnum, Cleveland and Stradbroke Island areas!!!!

I can also tell you for a fact that South Coast only played in the BRL in 1952 and 1953. Wearing a strip consisting of all white with a blue V, they found it too difficult to attract players to join them at the coast, especially in light of the fact they had always fallen under the Wynnum district previously. The club's highlight was probably all of their total of 8 victories .... a 38-8 win over Wynnum was their biggest - also counting towards the old Geraghty Cup competition. They also registered a win in 1953 over semi-finalist Norths.

**************************
Pepe -

There are two distinct aspects to Wynnum-Manly's glory days of the 80's. Yes, the club attracted plenty of big names during that 1984-1987 period .... but make no mistake that their maiden premiership in 1982 was legitimate in all senses of the word. Most were Wynnum-Manly juniors, and the others were either previously nobodies (Scott, Miles, Butler, French, Battese, Green) or outcasts from their old club (ie brothers Morris, Zillman, Johnson) .... there are many who attribute this first cup to three factors - Des Morris' coaching, the long-serving players' loyalties, and the public's anticipation and fervent enthusiasmaround the bayside as the early-80's saw increasing success during the regular season.

Speaking of which .... trick question - <u>who captained that inaugural Seagulls premiership ?</u> This is yet another classic piece of trivia which people get wrong .....

As for the attraction to join the club .... Wally had a number of reasons, including $$$$ - and the opportunity to play alongside his mate Geno, and a number of other rep team teammates. At the time, players were blinded by the big bucks on offer at the flourishing new, second-to-none leagues club with sponsors beating a path to the club's door. Yes, they indeed attracted some big names, and even tried to lure players like Joe Kilroy and Mal Meninga down to the bayside.

.......... aaaaaah - the good ole days !!! And that concludes our history lesson for today. For homework, could you all ..........

 

[pepe]

mud

as per usual you are a wealth of knowledge,i'm glad skokin joe never made his way down to the peninsula,as a young kid he was my hero,he actually used to stay at a mates house in caloundra quite often,you may remember the name,tim dwyer,if memory serves me correctly he played for brothers and then moved south to play for manly,unfortunatly for him he had a guy named mathew ridge in front of him there.

joe may have stayed at the dwyers house being a foster kid or something along those lines,anyway word got around the neighbourhood when joe was in town,it was a proud time to be a norths fan.

as for the glory days of the old brl,i have a fond memory of the early 80's,in your opinion what actually was the golden era of the brl?

cheers pepe

 

[Ramit54]

Mud
The name of the book is Rugby League the Greatest game of all.
by Malcom Andrews printed in 1980.
Cheers Retread

 

[imported_The One]

Rod Morris captained the Seagulls to their first premiership in 1982.

 

[mud n blood]

Once again Matty, you prove your worth. How's about the skipper of the 1984 premiership side - the greatest club side ever ??? And Matty - you are ineligible!!!!

 

[mud n blood]

Oh sorry Pepe .... forgot about you !!!

The glory days .... hmmmm .... well I usually refer to them as the halcyon days .... I'd say from about mid-60's to mid-80's overall, but in saying that, the big days of football stars, money, game changes, spectacular play, big crowds etc .... you would probably narrow that down to about 1971-1978. By the early-80's, the writing was on the wall with dropping crowd numbers, mass southern exodus of stars, increased television and thus popularity of other codes and sport etc. I have a number of interesting articles written about 1979-80 regarding concern over crowd figures, game profile and the like.

As I've mentioned plenty of times, I've seen club games pulling 30,000 in the early-mid 70's become a hundred or so today. Terribly disheartening ....

Some people will say 1987 was the last of the big crowds, but club games pulled practically no-one until finals time. I remember going to QAFL Aussie rules matches during the 80's that lured crowds twice that of rugby league. But I believe tv had a huge part of this.

You a north-sider then, are ya Pepe ? On crowds, I used to go to all the local rules grand finals well, and try cramming 15,000 into the Mayne homeground Windsor Park. Unbelievable site - hopefully this year's QRL grand final at Drug-cheat's Oval will emulate the atmosphere of the good old days .....

 

[pepe]

mud

i remember watching the galloping gasometer mick nolan running around for mayne,that would have been the mid 80's,i was a wetern districts supporter being from taringa,at the time we had ronnie wearmouth who was a collingwood legendwho played some top footy for us.

they used to televise the QAFL grand final,also the soccer grandfinal ,brisbane city would always be playing the lions,i was a taringa rovers man.

god knows how i used to fit so much sport in,it was a tough decision whether to visit lang park,chelmer footy ground or watch the rovers,at the time i did athletics so it was either training or watching sport,and loved every minute of it.

mud,i take it you lived in the western suburbs also ?

cheers pepe

 

[imported_The One]

Let me guess that most people might have answered Wally Lewis as the 'Seagulls inaugural premiership captain. Lewis, of course, came to Wynnum in 1984 from Valleys.

 

[mud n blood]

And who captained the 1984 side ????? I'll give you a tip - it wasn't Wally !!!

Actually no Pepe .... I lived 300 metres from Lang Park until 1974, but then my family decided to move to Norman Park ..... why? .... of all the shit-hole places to move to - the middle of Easts territory. At least I was able to give it to my new school mates in 1976 ....

In the early to mid-80's, I was playing both rules and league, so got to see plenty of both codes - especially grand finals. Got reported for striking your full-forward over at Western Districts in the 17's by Murray Bird who went on to umpire in the AFL. does that club still have that huge picture of the bulldog I wonder ??? And din't you lot have a bulldog on the roof ??? you guys were never much chop in my time at Coorparoo.

hahaha - Mick Nolan .... for a big bloke he certainly got the momentum happening. I clearly remember him ironing out Glen Middlemiss from Southport in a semi about 1985 (?). The entire crowd groaned at the point of impact !!!

A few other memories of the old 80's QAFL days -

Morningside kicking their first goal just on 3/4 time against Coorparoo in the 1984 grand final. we had 15 on the board by that time .....

Southport and Windsor-Zillmere brawling before the ball-up at the 1987 grand final when Southport ran thru the Zillmere huddle - great stuff!!! Even the reserves were fighting in front of the sheds ....

I saw Warwick Capper get belted at Zillmere when he turned out for Southport. He simply walked off the field and told his coach to get fuct. Possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen .... and the crowd let him know about it as well!

And 25,000 at the Gabba for the Coorparoo v Kedron grand final in 1980 - amazing scenes !!!

 

[Ramit54]

Mud
Did David Green Captain Wynnum in 1984?
Cheers Retread

 

[mud n blood]

You are indeed correct my man .... many people wrongly assume that that greatest ever club side Wynnum-Manly put out in 1984 "had" to be skippered by Wally.

A hearty "well done" ....

 

[Bomber]

Mud mate....

I remember reading King Wally as a little fella, also re-read it last year. Apparently sometime in the 1980s Wynnum went broke and there was a player coup of some sort. I think the afore-mentioned David Green resigned on the spot as a player and was made CEO, am I right, or was it someone else?

Keep the stories up, they are fascinating! When does your book come out?

Cheers
Bomber