Wests Panthers

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**Wests Panthers**

Full name	Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club
Emblem	Panther (adopted 1968)
Colours	Black, Red
Founded	1915 (as Wests)
Sport	Rugby league
League	Queensland Cup Mixwell Cup Brisbane Rugby League Winfield State League
Ground	Purtell Park
Capacity	18,000 (record)
CEO	Darren Bell
Captain
Coach
2003	12th from 12
Premierships	1916, 1920, 1922, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1975, 1976, 1992, 1993
Runners-Up	1927, 1933, 1934, 1937, 1950, 1956, 1991, 1994, 1998
Minor Premierships
Wooden Spoons
Biggest win	86-10 v Bundaberg Grizzlies at Purtell Park, 1998
Worst defeat	0-78 v Norths Devils at Bishop Park, 2003

1 History
2 Crest
3 Colours
4 Home Grounds
5 Famous Players
6 Sources

[edit] History

The Western Suburbs Panthers, often simply referred to as Wests, are a rugby league club from Brisbane, Australia, and until their merger with the Hills District in 2006 they were the oldest surviving club in Brisbane. The club's roots trace back to the first game of rugby league played in the state - a game between North Brisbane and Toombul in 1908. By 1914, a club from Toowong had also entered the Brisbane club competition, and by 1915 it had merged with North Brisbane, forming the Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club.

After winning their first premiership in 1916, they became the first major club in Queensland to go through the season undefeated, something they would do again in 1922, winning the first premiership conducted by the Brisbane Rugby League. In 1927 one of the club's best known players, Tom Purtell, began 56 year association with the club. Purtell was a hooker for Wests until 1941, and was involved with the club in a management level until 1969, including a 20 year stint as President.

Although they won a total of 12 premierships, their most successful period was the early 1990s. Even though the Brisbane Broncos had already had a huge affect on the standard of play and the and popularity of the local club competition, Wests were runners-up in 1991, and Premiership winners in 1992 and 1993, before again being runners up in 1994. They were a founding member of the Queensland Cup, and were runners-up to Norths in 1998. However after the turn of the century Wests were losing more games than they were winning, and following a disastrous year in 2003 when the lost all 22 games of the season, including a club record 78-0 loss to Norths at Bishop Park, the club decided to depart the competition, deciding to instead put their efforts into growing their junior base and re-entering the competition at a later date.

In 2005 Wests made the Mixwell Colts Challenge final, although after leading at half-time they were eventually defeated by Norths. At seasons' end the Broncos, who had had a feeder club arrangement in place with Wests for the past few years, pulled out and linked with the Aspley Devils. At the same time Wests merged with Hills District to form the Western Districts Panthers for 2006 onwards.

[edit] Crest

An older club logo

Traditionally Wests are referred to as the "mud and bloods", due to the design of their jersey, however the use of this nickname has become rarer since the introduction of the Panther logo in 1968. In the early 1980s a rebranding move by the Queensland Rugby League saw all BRL clubs adopt a logo with a stylised Q, similar to the QRL logo used at the time, however by 2002 Wests had reverted to using the older club logo on their jerseys.

[edit] Colours

Wests' traditional jersey

When the Toowong and North Brisbane merged to form Wests in 1915, the club's colours were to be red and blue, a combination of Toowong's blue and black and North Brisbane's red and black. However due to a shortage of blue dye due to World War I, red and black were adopted as the official colours. Wests constitutional design includes 4" (100mm) red and black bands, commencing with black on the shoulders. Sleeves then also commence with the first band being black, with the socks having red tops. During the Second World War, Wests adopted a maroon jersey with a black V, due to clothing shortages at the time.

[edit] Home Grounds

Main Article: Purtell Park

Wests' first home ground was the Botanical Gardens, but played at Lang Park between 1955 and 1973. In 1975 the club moved to new premises on Mount Coot-tha, naming their new home Purtell Park after club stalward Tom Purtell. Purtell Park had the abormality of being on a slope, with the southern end being higher, although this is not noticeable on television. Since their merger with Hills District, they have been playing out of the Kev McKell Oval at Arana Hills.

[edit] Famous Players

Duncan Hall (great Queensland and Australian Front Row forward of the 1950's)
John Sattler (legendary South Sydney forward who played two seasons for the Panthers at the end of his career)
Wayne Stuart (Queensland and Australian winger)
Barry Muir (Queensland and Australian halfback, the first person to call NSW "cockroaches")
Greg Oliphant (Queensland and later Australian halfback)
Geoff Richardson (Queensland and Australian five-eighth - former Australian Rugby Union representative)
Paul Vautin (later Queensland and Australian lock/second row, TV presenter)
Graham Thomas (Junior Kiwi player of the year, Warriors contracted 2006)
John Ribot (Queensland and later Australian winger, founding CEO of Brisbane Broncos, CEO of SuperLeague, Founding Chairman of Melbourne Storm, Queensland Roar CEO)
Luke Churchill (St. Brendan's College 1st XIII and Queensland Junior Player of the Year)