Humble Beginnings
Our History
Southern Suburbs JRL was one of the foundation clubs of the Brisbane Junior Rugby League, playing in the U/15 to U/18 grades where the original home field was Davies Park in West End under the watchful eye of Club President Col Bennett.
For the next 20 years we played all of our Junior games at Davies Park. In 1969 West End was becoming an old area for the Juniors to play, so the committee at that time decided to look at the Acacia Ridge area for Junior Football and were shortly afterwards granted a lease at Mortimer Road, Acacia Ridge and after a lot of hard work the fields were prepared and ready for playing Rugby League.
In 1970 Souths Magpies were flying high, playing league at the field with very few amenities - an old councils sewerage shed for change rooms and two outhouses for toilets, although Junior Football was still played at Davies Park, and a lot of the Souths Magpies junior sides still trained there.
Under the direction of Jack Astill and the committee, they could see the potential in the Acacia Ridge area and after a lot of planning, the present club of Souths Juniors was built in 1976 with many successful junior to senior players calling Brandon Park home. Some of these players include : Gary Belcher, playing all of his junior football from U/7 to U/18. Bruce Astill, John Grant, Mal Meninga, Mitch Brennan, Brendan Hurst, Jason Smith and Chris White went on to play senior football for Qld and Australia.
We also had coaching directors of the calibre of Wayne Bennett, Steve Glynn, Phil Hertz, Bruce Astill and Trevor Wendt. A lot of our older senior players have returned to the Juniors to coach our players and it is great to see a lot of our ex-players with their sons returning to play at Souths Juniors.
The stability of Souths Juniors is owed to the accumulation of many years of service to rugby league, this hopefully will be shown by securing a sound future for many years to come.
Dedicated to the people who by their collective efforts made this club possible.
“We desire no future that will break our ties with the past”.
For the next 20 years we played all of our Junior games at Davies Park. In 1969 West End was becoming an old area for the Juniors to play, so the committee at that time decided to look at the Acacia Ridge area for Junior Football and were shortly afterwards granted a lease at Mortimer Road, Acacia Ridge and after a lot of hard work the fields were prepared and ready for playing Rugby League.
In 1970 Souths Magpies were flying high, playing league at the field with very few amenities - an old councils sewerage shed for change rooms and two outhouses for toilets, although Junior Football was still played at Davies Park, and a lot of the Souths Magpies junior sides still trained there.
Under the direction of Jack Astill and the committee, they could see the potential in the Acacia Ridge area and after a lot of planning, the present club of Souths Juniors was built in 1976 with many successful junior to senior players calling Brandon Park home. Some of these players include : Gary Belcher, playing all of his junior football from U/7 to U/18. Bruce Astill, John Grant, Mal Meninga, Mitch Brennan, Brendan Hurst, Jason Smith and Chris White went on to play senior football for Qld and Australia.
We also had coaching directors of the calibre of Wayne Bennett, Steve Glynn, Phil Hertz, Bruce Astill and Trevor Wendt. A lot of our older senior players have returned to the Juniors to coach our players and it is great to see a lot of our ex-players with their sons returning to play at Souths Juniors.
The stability of Souths Juniors is owed to the accumulation of many years of service to rugby league, this hopefully will be shown by securing a sound future for many years to come.
Dedicated to the people who by their collective efforts made this club possible.
“We desire no future that will break our ties with the past”.
Brandon Park174 Mortimer Rd, Acacia Ridge
EMAIL US: juniors@southsacacia.com.au
