By Steve Ricketts, QRL History Committee Chairman
Legendary coach Wayne Bennett will be the special guest at a celebration of the history of the famous Brisbane Brothers club at Padua College at Kedron on Saturday, August 15.
Bennett, a former player and coach at the club, will make the trip to Brisbane the morning after his current club South Sydney takes on Canterbury Bankstown at Accor Stadium.
The presence of this rugby league icon illustrates the prestigious place Brothers has in the annals of the code in Queensland, a history which club stalwarts, headed by Test prop, David Wright, have sought to revitalise with the assistance of Brisbane City Council.
The club's former base at Corbett Park, Grange, in Brisbane's inner north, is a large town house development with no evidence of the glorious deeds of the past. Saturday's celebration of Brothers' history at Padua will see the unveiling of a council approved commemorative sign which ultimately will be placed in the vicinity of the former football fields and leagues club.
Brothers moved to Corbett Park from current rugby union HQ, Ballymore in 1964. The Brothers club started in 1920 as Christian Brothers after rugby union in Queensland folded. When union was revived in 1930 the Christian Brothers name reverted to the 15-man code with the rugby league club becoming Past Brothers.
Brothers won three First Grade Premierships while their home was Corbett Park and hosted several Sydney clubs in pre-season games including the Arthur Beetson led Roosters and the Noel Kelly coached Norths Bears.
Many Brothers players represented Queensland and Australia including three national captains, Tom Gorman, Brian Davies (pre-Corbett Park) and Peter Gallagher. Bennett, who represented Australia from Toowoomba, played for Brothers in their 1974 Grand Final loss to Valleys and coached Brothers from 1980-82.
The Leagues club was regarded as the finest in Queensland in the pre-poker machine era, boasting a fine dining restaurant and an auditorium which hosted top bands and entertainers.
The club also owned three houses adjacent to Corbett Park where scholarship players were accommodated.
Sadly, in the mid-1980s Brothers' senior club encountered financial difficulties and in 1988 were forced by administrators to exit Corbett Park. The Leagues club and fields became the base of the South Queensland Crushers in the ARL competition (1995-97) but following the demise of the Crushers the playing fields became Hermitage Gardens Town House Estate.
The Leagues Club kept operating for a time under the control of the QRL before it fell into private hands. It ceased trading in 2017 and another town house estate was built.
Many of those who walk, run or cycle along the Kedron Brook path directly below the town house estates would be unaware of the glorious history above them including the fact thousands of fans would cram into the ground for home games in the Brisbane Rugby League, the surrounding streets clogged with parked cars. The commemorative sign is long overdue.
Saturday's celebratory event starts at 12.30 pm and runs until 5 pm. There is an open invitation to rugby league fans to attend. Entry is free and food and drink will be available to purchase. Those intending to go should RSVP to mmewing@bigpond.net.au
