Southport Australian Football Club

Southport Australian Football Club (nicknamed The Sharks) is a Gold Coast based club competing in the NEAFL Australian rules football competition.

Southport is perhaps the most successful ever Queensland based Aussie Rules club with a total of 13 premierships in only 26 years and have made the finals each season.

The club is successful off the field as well, with a social club worth many millions of dollars.

The club has been involved in Australian Football League licence bids since 1996. To date none of these bids have been granted, however the AFL began taking interest in 2006 with pushes to merge Southport with a Melbourne based AFL club.

It has produced quality players for the AFL the likes of Marcus Ashcroft, Matthew Kennedy, Steven Lawrence, Andrew Raines, Brad Moran, Daniel Merrett and Nick Riewoldt, whilst it has attracted high profile AFL players at the end of their careers, including Gary Dempsey, Warwick Capper and Paul Dimattina.

History

The club was formed in 1961, when it competed in the Gold Coast Australian Football League. Originally, they were known as the "Magpies" and wore a black and white vertical striped jumper similar to the Collingwood Football Club.

After a series of local premierships, the club sought inclusion in the Queensland Australian Football League. The club gained entry in 1983 and changed its name to the Sharks and its strip to a black V on a white background to avoid an identity conflict with the Sherwood Magpies, who later became the Western Magpies. The decision as to which club would retain the "Magpies" moniker was made by the toss of a coin.

The club won a premiership in its inaugural QAFL year, and went on to win several more, giving it a commanding reputation in Queensland football. It became the club that Gold Coast people either loved or hated.

The Sharks were originally based at Owen Park, Southport, and moved to their current ground Fankhauser Reserve in 1989.

The club was granted a poker machine licence in 1992, which further consolidating a reputation of a financial powerhouse, having already built up a strong social club, reaching 20,000 members by 1995.

In 1996, the Sharks made their first bid to the AFL for inclusion in the national league, which was rejected by the AFL in favour of the Port Adelaide Football Club's elevation from the SANFL. After which, the club continued to lobby for a licence.

The club currently has in excess of 40,000 social members.

Premierships (21)

Grogan Medallists

• Peter Guy – 1983
• Zane Taylor – 1985
• Jason Cotter – 1990/1993
• David Crutchfield – 1992
• Chris O'Sullivan – 1992
• David Bain – 1995/1999
• Jeff Brennan – 1997
• David Round – 2002
• Danny Wise - 2010
• Matthew Payne - 2011

QAFL Top Goalkickers

• R. McKay (85) – 1998
• R. McKay (66) – 1999
• R. McKay (79) – 2000
• B. McEntee (119) – 2004
• B. McEntee (84) – 2005
• B. McEntee (100) – 2007
• B. McEntee (66) – 2008

Club Jumper

External links

• Official Southport Sharks site