Toucan Soup
20 Mar 2007, 11:58
Some of our Queensland readers may have read a news item on the AFLQ website recently regarding the work that is being done to reconstruct and record the history of our code within Brisbane.
The bloke leading the way is Greg Parker. I have met Greg on several occasions and provided a little bit of information I have been able to uncover. The amount of work he has/is performing on this task is really impressive.
Personally, I reckon this is a very important project for our code - so in the hope of spreading the word and discovering more information from whatever sources are available, I thought it would be worthwhile to invite the readers of BigFooty to contribute.
If you have any records, articles, photos, etc, that could help Greg with his project, please post some details here - or alternatively, send me a message and I can put you in contact with Greg. You just never know what will be discovered.
I'd also be interested in hearing details of the SQAFA/BAFL, GCAFL, and SCAFL competitions too.
The article from the AFLQ website is attached. I thought it was appropriate to remove Greg's contact details (although they are shown on the AFLQ news item).
Toucan Soup
20 Mar 2007, 11:59
From the AFLQ website:
Piecing together AFLQ history jigsaw
Football historian Greg Parker is in the midst of a massive exercise to write the definitive history of the Australian game in Queensland
and he is looking for help from the AFL community at large.
Parker has already researched the ‘re-birth’ of the game in Brisbane, when an organized competition was resurrected in 1904 after 10-15 years in the wilderness.
Much of his focus has been on the years 1903 (when moves we made to re-form a competition) to 1928.
But there is a dearth of information for the years 1928 to 1940, the next chapter of his mammoth task.
Parker is seeking photos, souvenir programs or any mementos from that period, a time when the Windsor and Mayne clubs formed a fierce rivalry.
Parker said the QANFL Football Record was not established until the 1950s, but one off souvenir programs were not unusual dating back to the early part of the century.
"There was a carnival played in Brisbane in 1914 as a means of promoting the code which involved Collingwood and teams from Perth, Adelaide and Hobart," Parker said. "Advertisements for the games ran for three days in The Courier newspaper, and we found someone in Sydney through a contact there who had a souvenir program.
"The more you dig, the more you find."
Parker said there was a surprising amount of photographic records from the early years, and he was detailing every piece for reference.
The motivation for Parker is simply a passion for local football.
He never played the game himself, but his father enjoyed football in Adelaide, and quickly found himself following Morningside on moving north.
When Parker Junior was old enough, he found himself a regular at Esplen Oval.
"We lived the football, but I was just a supporter," he said.
The owner of a successful publishing and crossword business, Parker got the itch to research the game’s Brisbane history several years ago.
"I started doing some research work on the game in the early 20th century and then I met (former AFLQ administrator and AFL umpire) Murray Bird, and found he was doing a university thesis on the game in the 19th century," Parker said.
"With the amount of work that we’d both done, we thought it we put our work together we could publish something special in the longer term."
The history book is intended to cover all eras of what is now known as the State League, and is intended to be not only a factual history, but also contain entertaining anecdotes from all eras.
There will be a focus on the major developments of the time, personalities, players and administrators.
Parker admitted there was still a long way to go with the project.
"If it took us another two years to complete, it would be a miracle - five years might be a more realistic time frame," he said.
In the meantime, he will spend many of his spare hours in the State Library trawling through old newspapers, and scanning the likes of e-bay, which featured a 1940 Windsor premiership team photo not long ago.
Anyone with material from the 1928-1940 era, or who has unique memorabilia or information from another time in the game’s local history, can contact Parker on - or email him at -.
Can anyone tell me if how clint mclean went last year for Springwood???
Lenny29
20 Mar 2007, 18:58
Can anyone tell me if how clint mclean went last year for Springwood???
Finished second in the comp B&F in the twos. Played probably half-half between seniors and twos - so a fair effort to poll so many votes. Probably a bit stiff to not play more senior games but the midfield depth at Springwood was quite strong last year.