City green space to be preserved and expanded as Gold Coast Touch reaches milestone
Gold Coast Touch is about to celebrate 50 years. Its base is on prime Southport development space. Here’s what the future holds.
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Gold Coast Touch is about to celebrate a 50th birthday. Our city’s fields of dreams for thousands of players remains on the radar for developers as the biggest site in Southport.
Can our footballers and volunteers win this longer game and keep Owen Park their home?
Treasurer Henry Lesniewski and Paul Eggers, the founder, know something about resilience.
Mr Lesniewski recalls the first meeting in December 1974 to create the Gold Coast Touch Association as bank staff began playing touch at Carey Park. Mr Eggers was at Pizzey Park.
“There were six different banks in Southport at the time. I think it was nine-a-side on those teams,” Mr Lesniewski says.
“We started losing players, and they started losing players. We had a meeting with Paul.”
Mr Eggers, a council finance and administration manager, photocopied a handwritten sheet of A4 which advised a “notice of meeting” would be at Broadbeach International Hotel.
Rugby league players in the off season played touch outside the Miami and Pacific hotels.
“Touch was being played on the Gold Coast but not organised. As soon as we formed the Association, touch kicked off,” Mr Eggers says.
The first season was at Overell Park near the Sundale Bridge before moving to the Owen Park Showgrounds. Three league-sized fields were on the main oval - they are smaller now.
As the competition expanded and fields shrunk as players were reduced, the Southport Tigers grounds were added. Extra space by the school and the creek brought the number to 11.
An old photograph album shows Mr Eggers at the foundations of the clubhouse.
Builder Darrell Madge, who became the Titans long term strapper, built a strong enough base so the clubhouse could go to a second level, Mr Eggers says.
League legends like Bob Fulton, Ken Irvine and Neil Pringle along with former Wallaby captain Tony Shaw played. Great Britain teams featuring Roger Millward visited.
The city’s first representative team, captained and coached by North Sydney player Peter Inskip, in 1978 hosted the NSW State Cup.
A year later, female players signed up. There were soon 158 adult teams and 100 junior sides.
Mr Eggers says at an early grand final, all the funds were spent on buying stubbies placed on ice in a volunteer’s trailer.
“Everyone at the grand final had free grog until it ran out. It was a fun day, I even forget who played in the grand final,” he says.,
Councillor Brooke Patterson when asked by your columnist, said the sports precinct will remain and be expanded to cater for the growing population.
“Owen Park – it’s essential it stays at sporting use. What we are beginning to look at is how we can potentially jigsaw it so in the future maybe there is a capacity to put an extra field on it,” she says.
General Manager Jordan Pritchett in the lead-up to the February 1 birthday celebrations at SOPO has opened up team nominations in juniors and seniors for 2025 for south-east Queensland’s third biggest touch competition.
Owen Park could be your field of dreams - it continues to be mine, on Thursday nights. And if you win on grand final day, you still get a ticket for a free beer.
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