Revealed: Surfers Paradise Dolphins Team of the Half Century
A foundation Gold Coast District Rugby Union club has celebrate their 50th anniversary. Now we can reveal the best team of the half century to pull on their jersey. Do you agree? Who do you think were unlucky to miss the cut?
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Even through 50 years of esteemed rugby history, Col MacDonald still recalls every moment of the Dolphins trials, battles and successes that have led to this historic milestone.
As the Surfers Paradise club — one of the founding outfits of the Gold Coast District Rugby Union — celebrates its half century, the side’s inaugural front rower was given the unenviable task of helping select the finest men to team colours.
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He was joined by a selection panel of fellow life members, presidents and former coaches in choosing the outfit to become the faces of the anniversary campaign.
Among the standouts include former Fijian flyer Ilario Ratilava, who MacDonald claimed made anyone who dared stand before him look the fool.
However he said the calibre of outside backs chosen in the Dolphins’ finest 15 had the ability to tear any of their rivals to shreds when given the smallest of windows to strike.
“Stuy Simpson, Wayne Cooper and Jesse McGilvary were all very talented players and they could make a break and if they got a bit of a half gap they were gone,” MacDonald said.
“They were very hard to stop once they got going, that was the main thing with them.
“Ilario was just a brilliant side stepper with a dummy. He fooled people for many, many years, even in his latter days players playing outside him got fooled.
“They thought they had the ball and they didn’t. He’d sort of pass it, pull it back in and he was gone.
“There’s been a few of us having an involvement in that (selection process), and it’s hard to think back over 50 years. The number of good players we’ve had come through the club, a lot of Australian boys and New Zealand boys and a lot of the New Zealand boys have played professional rugby in New Zealand.
“It’s been a big experience.”
MacDonald’s story on the Glitter Strip’s rugby scene began back in 1971 when he linked up with Gold Coast Eagles, before he and several others broke away to form the Dolphins at the end of 1973.
At the time, many of the Surfers clan had young families, and plying their trade in the Brisbane competition became a constant strain.
Those moves would eventually lead to the culmination of the GCDRU competition, and MacDonald said that first squad knew a thing or two about punching above their weight.
“The team was competitive in our first year, and the second year the Queensland Rugby Union decided to take us out of sub districts and put us into their Brisbane comp in second and third grade,” he said.
“The biggest test we struck there was when we played a Brisbane team the first grade sides always had the bye, so we copped a few of their Brisbane first grade players and Wallabies playing second grade against us.
“But we were reasonably competitive and boxed our way through three years of that until the end of ‘77 when the QRU decided for us to do our own comp.”
From that point other teams were founded in the region. Palm Beach Currumbin, Nerang, Colleges and Helensvale all followed over the years.
Ahead of the Dolphins’ season launch on Friday night, MacDonald struggled to land on one key moment which summed up why he remained faithful to the Surfers brigade.
Premiership have come throughout the 50 years, and he even had the chance to take the field alongside his sons — playing until he was “well into my 50s”.
Rarely does the life member miss a home game. Even rarer does he miss a Thursday night training.
But now as the club prepare to break a title drought spanning six years under head coach Johnny Ngauamo — having fallen at last year’s final hurdle — MacDonald was hopeful the landmark nature of the 2023 milestone would prove telling enough to get the job done.
“There’s been a lot of things that stand out; we’ve had some very good years, Surfers have won a lot of premierships,” MacDonald said.
“I was fortunate to play in some of the lower grade teams with both my sons and win premierships so those memories stay for life.
“In more recent times Surfers have won a few premierships and we’re hoping maybe this being our 50th year it’d be a good year to win another one.”
While the Dolphins’ history will be honoured in 2023, attention will also turn to the future to ensure the club sees yet another half century.
As the cost of living increases, so too do the costs of sustaining a community club, with little to no funding available and the push for a club to break even becoming more and more of a battle.
Surfers Paradise Rugby president Kim Bending said the club were hopeful of working with Gold Coast City Council to expand their facilities and help accommodate a greater influx of players and events to keep the club alive and sustainable.
“Like any community club the members are critical to growing the club both on and off field — proactive committee creating a positive environment, and adhering to correct governance and administration is the synergy to long term success,” Bending said.
“Each committee like our current club committee must nurture the next generation of administration. We are at capacity this year with teams from under-6s to A-grade, women’s junior teams and our Old Boys side.
“Our strategy is to continue growing and improving, with a major push with council to help us achieve our growth potential with a third ground.
“We support our District body with player numbers and pathways offered for all. Off field our facility must grow and remain relevant to seniors and our junior parents.
“As we are an inner city club and not located in suburbia our iconic rugby club in future must follow this strategy for growth and community relevance.”
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