Souths Magpies

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**Souths Magpies**

Full name	Southern Suburbs Rugby League Football Club
Emblem	Magpie
Colours	black, white
Founded	1921 (as Carltons), 1933 (as Souths)
Sport	Rugby league
League	Brisbane Rugby League, Queensland Cup
Ground	Davies Park
Capacity
CEO
Captain
Coach
2003	11th from 12
Premierships	1921, 1925, 1930, 1945, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1981, 1985
Runners-Up	1928, 1942, 1947, 1963, 1979, 1980, 1996
Minor Premierships
Wooden Spoons	1999, 2001
Biggest win	48-2 v Ipswich at North Ipswich Reserve, 1996
Worst defeat	76-0 v Burleigh at Pizzey Park, 2003

Souths Magpies were a Rugby league club in Brisbane, Australia, and were one of the founding teams of the Queensland Cup. Through their predecessors, they participated in top level football in Queensland from 1910 to 2002.

1 History
2 Crest & Colours
3 Home Ground
4 Representative players
5 Sources

[edit] History

The first rugby league club to represent the southern side of the Brisbane River was West End, who entered the Queensland Rugby League premiership in 1910. Playing in an all black strip, the club won the 1913 premiership against Natives 5-3 in a low scoring game, and were runners-up to Valleys the following year, going down by the tune of 18-8. With the formation of the Brisbane Rugby League in 1921, West End changed their name to Carltons for 1922. Carltons, wearing red and white jerseys, were a relatively successful club, winning the competition in 1921 (vs. Coorparoo 12-10), 1925 (vs. Coorparoo 24-5) and 1930 (vs. Valleys 19-8).

Following the introduction of District Football in 1932 by the Brisbane Rugby League, Carltons were foced to relinquish their identity and as a result became known as Southern Suburbs. Souths inherited a debt of 90 pounds, and also suffered an exodus of players, resulting in doubts over their ability to field a first grade team. However, newly-elected President Jack Adams started the club with regular meetings under his West End clothing factory, which also made the club's first jerseys free of charge.

During World War II, a lack of dyes for clothing forced the club to change jerseys, a problem that faced many clubs throughout Australia. Souths adopted the old West End jersey, and after the war chose to keep the design, and added a white V, which also saw the club fully embrace its Magpie moniker. (Southern Suburbs were known as the Lions up to the late-fifties, it was in the early sixties that they took on the Magpie logo) The war also saw them leave their spiritual home of Davies Park, which was first used in 1910, as it was used as housing for American servicemen in the city. Although they had an acute shortage of players, they continued to field teams, playing and training out of Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.

Souths made their first grand final in 1942, however went down to Brothers 20-11. In 1945 they broke their premiership drought, and followed with more premierships in 1949, 1951 and 1953. Bill Tyquin, a product of Souths district, was captain-coach of the 1949 team, and went on to become an outstanding administrator and President of the club, as well as a delegate to the Brisbane Rugby League. As a tribute, the Bill Tyquin Oval at Davies Park was named after him.

The early 1970s saw the club in the doldrums of the league, as well as facing severe fincial problems by the middle of the decade. However shrewd mangagement and hard work saw an on-field revival, led by coach Wayne Bennett, resulting in the club making the 1979 Grand Final, although they were beaten 26-0 by Valleys. Bob McCarthy took over as coach in 1980, and guided the Magpies to another Grand Final loss, this time against underdogs Norths 17-15.

In 2002, it was widely speculated that Souths (again in deep financial trouble) would merge with the financially-stricken Logan Scorpions, who had recently won the wooden spoon in what was their final season in the Queensland Cup. However, the merger did not eventuate with Souths acquiring the Logan club, renaming themselves Souths-Logan.

[edit] Crest & Colours

The Magpie crest, now synonymous with Brisbane Southern Suburbs, as it is shared by both Souths rugby league and rugby union, was not adopted until after World War II, when the club played in black jerseys with a white V, a throwback to the original club West End. By the second half of 20th century, however, Souths played in a predominantly white strip with two black Vs - on thick and one thin. During the Carltons years, and up until the forced change to a black jersey, the club wore red and white - now synonymous with the Redcliffe Dolphins.

When Souths became Souths-Logan, they incorported the blue and gold of Logan into their jersey design between the two Vs on club jersey. The lime green of the Canberra Raiders was added in 2004.

[edit] Home Ground

Traditionally, the Magpies homeground is Davies Park, although they did spend a time at Musgrave Park during World War II. Following the formation of Souths-Logan, the club split its home games between Davies Park and Meakin Park in Slacks Creek for season 2003. However in 2004 all games were moved to Davies Park. In late 2005 Souths-Logan began moving matches to Brandon Park in Acacia Ridge, just opposite the Archerfield Airport, to be nearer Souths Juniors, and in 2006 all games were played at the Ridge. 2007 sees 6 of the 10 games back at West End, with the remaining 4 at Brandon Park.