The Sandgate Hawks junior club provided a fantastic foundation for me to work from, and there was more than a little bit of Sandgate in my treasured premiership medallion from 2003.
That’s why I was rapt – and honoured - to be made the No.1 ticketholder of my old junior club this year.
The Hawks have been through some tough times at both junior and senior level for far too long, but there’s a real groundswell of support in the area to get the club moving again.
Sandgate was a really proud club in the AFLQ competition, or QAFL as it was known then, for almost a half a century.
The club was formed in 1944 and wore old army jumpers dyed blue.
The following year ‘we’ adopted the far more fashionable colours of green and red!
Some of the greatest players to run out onto a footy ground in Brisbane came from Sandgate, with names like Don Smith, Dick Verdon and John Stackpoole all legends in their own right.
It says a lot about the old Hawks that eight players who played more than 200 games in the QAFL spent all of their time at Sandgate.
Sandgate was a proud club too, with a winning record against every opponent except Mayne, Morningside and Southport.
A lot of those great players came through the juniors, including John Stackpoole.
John was one of my junior coaches – he made a lasting impact on me – and he is one of the driving forces behind the junior club’s effort to become a powerful influence in the local community again.
The club has it’s sign on day at its Lemke Road grounds on Saturday, and I wouldn’t miss it for quids.
I fly back with my Lions teammates from Townsville on Saturday after completing our AFL Community Camp duties, and I’ll be heading straight to Sandgate from the airport.
I’m expecting to be there at about 2.30pm and I’ll be happy to sign away with the autographs for all the kids who are there.
I’d urge every young boy, and girl, who lives out the Sandgate/Bracken Ridge (I had to give my old suburb a plug) way to get along to the sign-on.
The club currently has 300 juniors and our aim is to get that number up around 600.
The good news is that the old lease arrangement that had an effect on the club has been sorted out with the council in charge now, and there’s a lot of great people around the club working towards getting the ground back into shape.
We need more people to jump in and help as the club now believes that it can really go places.
The club has sourced some government grants that have allowed the ground to get some sprinkler systems put in, and the clubhouse and canteen is now being tidied up.
It’s a big area out that way with a lot of growth and many young families, and we’re keen to get them involved with the Hawks.
This Saturday won’t be a one-off for me – I’ll be getting down to Lemke Road on the occasions that my commitments with the Lions allow to continue to support the club.
