Gold Coast Chargers: Inside the betrayal which brought down league club

Board sackings, financial difficulties and poor on-field form doomed this Gold Coast rugby league club, with administrators declaring it was “nothing short of disgraceful”.

Life was never easy for the Gold Coast’s first national rugby league team.

From its beginnings in the late 1980s as the Giants, a Tweed-based team, the side went through several name changes and multiple unsuccessful seasons.

By the mid-1990s the team was known as the Gold Coast Chargers and was struggling on and off the field with poor form and financial difficulties.

In 1998 the newly formed NRL began to push ahead with its plans to slash the number of clubs from 20 to 14.

In the firing line were some of those which had remained loyal to the former Australian Rugby League competition during the Super League war in the mid to late 1990s.

Gold Coast Chargers vs. Adelaide Rams during the 1998 season.

Some of the ARL club bosses believed all former Super League clubs outside Sydney would survive rationalisation, while the ARL-backed Gold Coast Chargers would be axed.

Chairmen from the 11 ARL clubs met in Sydney to discuss, among other things, the criteria for inclusion in the streamlined competition planned for the 2000 season, which was scheduled to begin early to accommodate the Sydney Olympics.

They expressed their concern about possible radical changes to be made to the criteria for remaining in the NRL.

Three clubs had already exited the national scene following the 1997 seasons – the Western Reds, South Queensland Crushers, and Hunter Mariners, while one new side had joined – Melbourne Storm.

But NRL chief executive Neil Whittaker said the substance of the criteria would stay the same even if there were changes.

Allan Langer. in action with the Broncos vs. Gold Coast Chargers.

“We certainly want the criteria to be a lot more robust than a snapshot of 1998,” Mr Whittaker said.

“But whatever happens, it (the criteria) will be substantially the same document as the draft criteria (released earlier this year).”

Club bosses moved on to further discussions with successful Brisbane club Easts about a possible merger.

“Things are still alive in that area,” Gold Coast chairman Tom Bellew said before a meeting of the Chargers board in late July 1998. “It looks as if the Illawarra-St George merger will become a reality.

“But we are not going to make any commitments at this stage because we believe we meet the criteria to stand alone.”

Phil Economidis, coach of Gold Coast Chargers.

The Coast club was struggling to sign good talent after so many poor seasons and was losing many top players at the end of 1997.

With only a few wins on the board, the Chargers were equal last on the ladder but managed to avoid the wooden spoon, which went to the Adelaide Rams.

This was despite only scoring 54 tries across the entire season.

Chargers CEO Peter Armstrong

By October 1998, 25 years ago this month, the situation reached breaking point when Mr Bellew, and fellow board members Don Budge and Barry Bennett were sacked bt the ARL and Queensland Rugby League.

The trio said they were “devastated” by the decision and vowed to fight to save the team from the scrap heap.

Captain of the Gold Coast Chargers Jamie Goddard with teammates on the last day of the club’s existence.

Long-serving ARL boss Ken Arthurson slammed the move as a betrayal.

“I’m really feeling for him … the lack of loyalty shown here is nothing short of disgraceful.”

At the end of the 1998 seasons, the Gold Coast and Adelaide teams were axed, while the St George Dragons merged with the Illawarra Steelers.

Chargers coach Phil Economidis told the team in December that year they would be no more.

The team marked their final day in existence on December 3, 1998.

The Gold Coast returned in 2007 with the Titans.

ARL Chief Ken Arthurson