Official page of Gatton Hawks Rugby League Club. We play seniors & juniors in the Toowoomba RL. Proud of our past, present & bright future!
a great family club in the heart of the lockyer valley....war cry: " one tin of coco, two tins of jam. timothy, timothy, white buckaroo. who ah blowfly!"
History of the Hawks
History of the Gatton Hawks
In the 1920’s Grantham had a Rugby League team. The played and trained in Grantham at the Local field which is now used for Cricket minor grade games. The side was mainly made up of Rugby Union Players who couldn’t get a game in the Gatton Rugby side.
As Rugby League gained popularity in Australia more people wanted to play it instead of Rugby Union. Due to the Lockyer Valley’s small population they couldn’t sustain a regular comp. However they were playing around ten games a year with a Under 15’s game every now and then.
A Gatton side played out of the Royal Hotel in the 1930’s. Then the second World War commenced and no record kept of any Rugby League played. Until after the was with the Royal hotel again hosting a side until 1947 when Gatton Club was formed by Rhymald Bulwinkel the Publican at the Royal Hotel.
Gatton played in Sky Blue Jerseys. Our first president was Mr Edward (Ted) Carey.
The Gatton side had to organize to play scratch or trail matches against basically anyone who’d play them. Usually against other pub sides in the Lockyer Valley. Many Games were played against Laidley starting a fierce rivalry with that Club.
Rugby League was in full swing in Australia now the war was over and in 1948 the Lockyer area followed suit by forming the Lockyer League and the teams played for the Bulwinkel Cup donated by Mr Bulwinkel.
The Gatton side won the very first Bulwinkel Cup in 1948 Our first coach was Ces Sachse. Our First Captain was Mr Wes Yates, Vice Captain Col Hickey. The team manager was Reg Bauer
Teams that played in the Lockyer League included Grantham, Helidon, Esk, Kilcoy, Laidley, Forest Hill, Withcott, Toogoolawah, Lowood and Beaudesert to name a few.
The Helidon team was made up of mainly the army soldiers that were based there during the war. Teams came and went over the years but Gatton and Laidley remained in the comp throughout.
Players included:
Cliff Andrews, Kev McNeil, Reg McDonald, Blue Bonngig, Jack Boyd, Jack Harrison, Jack Pringle, Monty Knight, Mick Nolan, Tom O’Connor, Alan Muller, Bill Tew Wally Wakeham, Dave Harding, Graham Yates, Jack O’Brien and Arthur Love
Player paid three shillings (30c) for insurance each week but the club provided socks and of course their jerseys.
As we still do today the club held chook raffles at the Royal Hotel to raise funds. They dances at Local Halls to also help the club.
Kev McNeil was on hand at the Team of the Centenary dinner in 2008 to hand over the jerseys to members named in the Gatton Hawks Team of the Centenary.
Mick Nolan played in the centres, Kangaroo Des McGovern and current 4DDB commentator rated Nolan as the Toughest centre he had played against.
Jack O’Brien drove all the way from Brisbane to play each week.
Legends like second rower Graham Yates played for Gatton on Sunday and played for Ipswich on Saturday. Graham Captained Ipswich for 5 yrs in Bulimba Cup. One Year Graham broke both legs playing for Ipswich took six weeks before he could leave hospital before he came home. Graham’s two boys Peter & Brett both played A Grade for Gatton in the 1980’s
Bill Tew was the cagey halfback in the early years and stayed with the club until he passed in 1979. He was awarded life membership of the Gatton Hawks in 1976. Bill’s son Robbie is currently (2010) the Football Manager for the Newcastle Knights NRL side.
In 1950 the Gatton club purchased a brand new set of Jerseys. The club decided they wanted a change and the colours of Black and Gold were used for the very first time. These colours are now part of the history of the club.
Gatton won the 1952 Premiership which started the Golden Era which they won nine premierships in eleven seasons. We had coaches like Roy Jefferies, Ron Griffiths and a very special Coach by name of Ron Zarnke won coached the team from 1957 to 1963. As legend has it Zarnke rode his push bike to every training session.
In 1958 Gatton went through undefeated to win the premiership. Through Zarnke’s rein the Hawks won the premiership every season except in the very last year of the Lockyer League known as the Bulwinkel Cup when they lost in the 1963 Grand Final between Gatton & Kilcoy. The Kilcoy team won after the fulltime hooter sounded kicked a goal from the sideline to win by two points
The Club purchased coats to wear proudly during the Golden Era.
Some of players that played during the golden era were Bill Dwyer (Life Member), Mick Brisbane, Jack Smoothy (Life Member, Past President), Harold (Bill) Cook (Father of Michael & Terry Cook) , John O’Brien (Life Member, Past President and current Patron) , Bill McNeil, Doug Robinson, Des Ties, Tex Bartholimai, Don Oxenham (Longtime QRL Coaching Director), John Ford, Archie McNeil, Frank Doherty and Ossie Cumner.
In 1964 the club entered the Ipswich competition, lean years followed with most of the golden era players retiring after the Lockyer League folded. Gatton had a tough time against stronger clubs like Brothers, Goodna, Swifts home of the Walters and Norths home of the Langer’s. Jack Smoothy came out of retirement to play and Coach the young side.
They mainly played A Grade and Reserve Grade with two sometimes one junior sides. The C Grade comp came in and out of the Ipswich league. For a number of years the Amberly RAAF base filled in as our C Grade Team.
League continually changed during the sixties and early seventies with the unlimited tackle rule being replaced by the four tackle rule in 1967. In 1971 the six tackle rule was introduced and the field goal was reduced from two points to one point. The four point try came into play in 1982.
The Gatton Junior Rugby League was formed in 1972. Mr Kel Thorne was the first President. Mr Thorne was a member of the A Grade side. Mick Bartholimai was the driving force behind the Junior club in the 1970’s
In 1975 the Juniors moved to the Toowoomba League. The same year a set of jerseys were ordered from Duncan Thompson’s sports world. We were sick of being called the Spud pickers or Spuddies from Gatton so we asked Duncan to come up with a mascot to use. The set was ordered with the emblem of a Hawk over the left chest directly above the heart. The Hawks were born.
The Club went to Brisbane in 1978 to ask a number of leading players to play for us. Steve Crear was paid $3,000 for the season to play for us. He was the current Qld Five Eighth. While playing for the Gatton Hawks he represented Qld & Australia and is till to this day the only player to play for their country from the Gatton Hawks.
Queensland players Shane McNally from Easts, Hugh O’Doherty and Doug Muir both from the Fortitude Valleys also came on board.
The decision to purchased these player proved to be the correct one with the Hawks wining the 1978 Grand Final against Booval Swifts 11 – 9 with Shane McNally kicking five conversions and a field goal. The game was played at the Ipswich Reserve Ground and 10,000 people turned up to watch the game. It was the Hawks first Grand Final win since 1962.
As the seventies drew to a close the Club needed a new ground so they purchased land owned by a local solicitor by the name of Blackley for $30,000. The club decided to name the ground Cahill Park after there longtime president Father Jim Cahill.
The club worked hard with volunteer labour to prepare the ground and formed the Gatton Leagues Club which today runs and owns the facility. The reason they formed the Leagues Club was to attract more sports to the ground i.e. cricket and netball and the State government at the time was more contusive to awarding grants which the club desperately needed.
Fr Cahill was President for 24 years between 1948 and 1972. He Became Patron in 1972 until his death on Friday 24th February 1979. The very next day Cahill Park was officially opened by Sir Gordon Chalk Local Member and State Treasurer in the Joe Bjelke-Petersen government. Mr John O’Brien took over as patron in 1979 and is still patron to this day.
The club grew Spuds and Garlic to raise money in the vacant farm area next to the Footy field ground to raise money. The Hood family from Rugby farm were instrumental in this task.
On the field the club was struggling after most of the 1978 premiership side had retired or moved on. In 1981 we finished last in the Ipswich comp but we had very young bunch of junior players. At the end of that year Peter O’Callaghan who Valleys/Brisbane rep player turned up with 4 or 5 games to go and he instantly made the team gel and over the last few games win beat both of the eventual Grand Finalist that year.
O’Callaghan became coach in 1982 and the team improved dramatically. We lost the Grand Final that year to Norths 18-10. In 1983 O’Callaghan left Gatton for Stanthorpe towards the end of the season His coaching record that season was not blemished. A fact he is very proud of. O’Callaghan left an undeniable impression on the young players and still does to this day. Five Eighth and Captain Ken Gammack took over the side with O’Callaghan overseeing the side’s progress from Stanthorpe.
At the end of the 1983 season Gatton defeated Brothers 32-8 which was known at the time as one of the finest wins seen in Ipswich for years and there was an offer from the QRL that the Club to play the 1983 Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final Winners Easts as was the strength of the win.
Gammack and the Hawks continued their dominance with a 13 – 0 victory over West End in the 1984 Grand Final.
Gammack joined Ipswich Brothers in 1985 and Mr Graham Parmenter took over the reins of the Hawks. Gatton were the dominate force in the Ipswich Rugby league winning the last two out of three premierships and again proved just how good the side was by taking out the 1985 Grand Final over Gammack’s Brothers side 18 to 14.
Ipswich decided to enter a team in the Queensland Cup which involved Brisbane Clubs sides and regional areas. The Gatton Hawks didn’t want to be in a second tier comp so we applied to the QRL to enter the Toowoomba Rugby League. The QRL initially rejected our application because the IRL opposed it strongly as they would lose one of their strongest clubs.
We appealed that decision and the club invited the QRL to Gatton to hear our case. The meeting was held at the Royal with The QRL Board members and the Chairman the Legendary Senator Ron McAuliffe. The Place was packed. That night he granted our entry into the Toowoomba Rugby League.
Our initial season in the TRL was quite successful with the club making the semi finals.
- Category:
- Professional sports team