Robert Craddock ranks the top 10 Brisbane sporting moments
The NRL grand final will be a match Queensland will never forget, but will it sit among Brisbane’s best sporting moments? Robert Craddock ranks the top 10.
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We’ve seen Border, Laver and Beetson in all of their glory and now a 71-year-old Wayne Bennett has edged forward to challenge the lot of them.
Sunday’s NRL grand final between Souths and Penrith will be a match Queensland will never forget.
The “never before and maybe never again” status of a grand final coming to Brisbane gives it a flavour all of its own and if Souths coach and proud Queenslander Wayne Bennett takes the title, it will complete one of the state’s most extraordinary stories.
We will have to see what happens on Sunday before we rate it in the pantheon of great Brisbane sporting moments.
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To reach the top of the list it has much to beat.
Here are my top 10 Brisbane sporting moments delivered with regret that I could not squeeze in Black Caviar’s epic BTC Cup win in May, 2011, before a sold-out Doomben and the Brisbane Bullets basketball team for their success in the 1980s.
A drum roll please for…
ROBERT CRADDOCK’S TOP 10 BRISBANE SPORTING MOMENTS
1. WINK AND A NUDGE
The 1982 Commonwealth Games changed Brisbane … and it never changed back.
This was the event that stopped Brisbane thinking of itself as a big country town and raise its gaze to look the world in the eye as a city capable of hosting major global events. From the giant winking kangaroo Matilda entering a 58,000-seat stadium at QEII to Prince Phillip reading the Queen’s message at the opening ceremony – before the Queen herself appeared at the closing ceremony – it seemed like such grandeur belonged to another world. Australia beat Britain by one on the gold medal tally and there were rich storylines featuring many of Australia’s favourite athletes, including Brisbane’s pool queen Tracey Wickham, who won two gold medals.
Track star Raelene Boyle won gold in the 400m and Australia rose early to cheer Rob de Castella to a marathon win in which he “felt like Moses … I was running headlong into this crowd and they would just part”.
2. ARTIE AND FRIENDS
The first State of Origin game, which Queensland won 20-10 on July 8, 1980, at Suncorp Stadium, started a glorious four-decade narrative that lifted the self-esteem of the entire state.
Interstate rugby league had sunk to such depths that the last game played before Origin attracted 1300 paying fans to Sydney’s Leichardt Oval, with Wally Lewis quipping that “there were two men and a dog there before the dog left at half time’’.
The State of Origin concept had it critics. Even the iconic voice of Test great Bob Fulton said it would be “the non-event of the century”.
But with the first game attracting a packed house of 33,000, it was clear the concept would have a raging future and the sight of Arthur Beetson leading Queensland into battle is one of the code’s most famous images. A fresh generation of stars like Lewis, Gene Miles and Mal Meninga emerged to revitalise the code in Queensland.
Lewis’s last State of Origin game and the shock return of Allan Langer from English to clinch the 2001 Origin decider were also epic moments.
3. THE TIED TEST
Don Bradman described it as the greatest and most exciting game of cricket of all time. His words were uttered in the emotional aftermath of the game’s first tied Test, between Australia and the West Indies at the Gabba in 1960-61.
In the six decades since, there has been only one other tied Test, and the first still sparkles like a gold stud which enlivened a sport which had become shackled with conservative play. West Indian fieldsman Joe Solomon raced in and, from a position where he could see just one stump, ran out last man Ian Meckiff to seal the tie in a moment captured in an infamous black and white photo.
The two teams celebrated long into the night and proceeded to complete a series that regenerated interest in the game. Noted journalist and former Test opener Jack Fingleton wrote a series-ending column entitled “cricket is alive again”.
Said it all.
4. THE DROUGHT-BREAKER
It took Queensland 69 years to win the Sheffield Shield … and it seemed a lot longer.
In some ways it didn’t matter the state had a truckload of State of Origin wins or that Greg Norman was storming his way around the golfing circuit – not until we won the Shield after being runner-up 11 times could we rest easily as a sporting state. The jokes extended their way to the back of the Shield itself, where someone scribbled “Queensland … not in its history”. The moment came at 3.52pm on Tuesday, March 28, 1995, and triggered a ground invasion at the Gabba with a landslide victory over South Australia in the final.
Scores of former long-suffering Queensland players with tears in their eyes descended on the home dressing room to share a drink with the likes of Jimmy Maher, Allan Border, Matt Hayden and Martin Love.
Premier of the day, the late Wayne Goss, was beer drenched in the celebrations but, in the spirit of victory, declared “I will never wash or wear this shirt again”.
5. SUPER EFFORT
The Queensland Reds’ 18-13 victory over the Crusaders in the 2011 Super Rugby final at Suncorp Stadium before 52,000 fans had the drought-breaking fervour of many of the state’s famous early Origin rugby league wins.
It was all there. The underdog theme. The atonement after years of suffering. Local favourite Will Genia stole the show with a 65m run to the tryline to the soundtrack of jubilant fans about to celebrate Australia’s first Super Rugby title since 2004. Propelled by the likes of James Horwill, Digby Ioane and Quade Cooper, the Reds won 16 games in the season, as many as they totalled from 2005-09 in an era which included a harrowing 92-3 loss to South Africa’s Bulls in Pretoria.
6. THE BATTLE OF BRISBANE
It was the stuff of the most fanciful movie script … a shy kid who gets pushed around at school takes up boxing to beat the bullies and somehow skittles the world champ as well.
Jeff Horn’s stunning upset of the great Philippino boxer Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium before 51,000 fans on July 2, 2017, remains one of the state’s most inspiring sporting moments. When they walked into the ring, it was estimated Pacquiao had earnt $500m from boxing and owned watches worth more than the $340,000 Horn paid for his Brisbane home. At the weigh-in, there was a tangible sniff of complacency as Pacquiao responded to text messages on his phone as Horn answered questions. But the rookie proved too willing and awkward for the veteran, winning the bout in a controversial decision.
The whole story entranced Brisbane to the point where Horn was given a tickertape parade through the city.
7. WHAT A ROAR
Even non-soccer fans still talk about this one. The day the Brisbane Roar came back from the dead to snatch their first A-League title before 50,168 fans at Suncorp Stadium. It was the greatest comeback in A-League history and many fans had started to leave the stadium when the Roar trailed 2-0 in extra time after a goal-less 90 minutes. But a side famed for its composure and resilience somehow conjured two goals in the last four minutes, with a thunderous roar echoing up Caxton St when midfielder Erik Paartalu nodded down a corner to equalise 2-2 and send the match to penalties.
Winger Henrique nailed the match winner to extend Brisbane’s unbeaten run to 28 matches to cap an amazing year for coach Ange Postecoglou and his squad.
8. THE MARATHON MATCH
The 1969 Australian Open was the last of seven to be played at Brisbane’s Milton tennis courts and the first in which amateurs and professionals came together.
The unforgettable highlight was Queensland’s own Rod Laver playing the longest match of his career against fellow Aussie Tony Roche. Both players put wet cabbage leaves in their hats to try and stay cool in suffocating heat after a midday start.
Laver’s 7-5, 22-20, 9-11, 1-6, 6-3 victory took four hours and 40 minutes, with the epic second set taking two hours and five minutes before an enthralled sell-out crowd of 7000. The Courier-Mail noted that “at various stages throughout the match both players seemed destined to topple over with exhaustion”.
9. ON FIRE
Brisbane has seen few more thrilling events than the Queensland Firebirds double overtime classic against the NSW Swifts in the 2016 ANZ Championship netball grand final. The teams had fought an epic 2015 decider but this contest soared into a fresh stratosphere, with Firebirds Romelda Aiken landing the winning shot in the second part of extra time before 10,132 spectators for a 69-67 victory at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
The Firebirds’ elation was matched by the Swifts’ utter devastation after scores had been tied at 54-54 after regulation time and 66-66 after 14 minutes of overtime.
The clock was switched off and a rarely invoked rule was activated where the team that went two goals up would claim the title.
The Firebirds became the first team to go back to back in the championship.
10. DUSTIN’S DYNASTY
Had you made the prediction five years ago, you might have been locked up – Brisbane would host the 2020 AFL grand final.
The MCG and the grand final go together like Santa and Christmas, with the ground first hosting a VFL decider in 1902.
But due to Covid restrictions, it had to be moved to the Gabba where Richmond, powered by the great Dustin Martin, ground down Geelong for an 81-50 victory. Given there was no Brisbane Lions presence, the match did not snatch the heart out of the chests of local fans but, despite a thunder storm of biblical proportions beforehand, it was still a momentous occasion.
Brisbane took pride in not letting the occasion down, with the ground recovering well from the drenching, the off-field entertainment slick and impressive – if a little subdued – and the build-up doing the match justice.
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Originally published as Robert Craddock ranks the top 10 Brisbane sporting moments
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