Shane Webcke among supporters of Western Clydesdales Intrust Super Cup bid

There’s just one final hurdle to the Western Clydesdales bid for Intrust Super Cup inclusion, and former greats are doing their bit to help.

Michael Burns, chairman of the Western Clydesdales. Picture: Nev Madsen

RUGBY LEAGUE: The push is well and truly on for Toowoomba to return to Queensland Cup level.

They’ve recently undergone a name change to revert back to the Western Clydesdales, and now the club has a number of high-profile suitors backing their bid.

Shane Webcke, Dan Staines, Doug Muir and Mark Holmes are among members of the Clydesdales Club, a venture set up to help bankroll a commercial manager at the club.

Clydesdales chairman Michael Burns said both the name change and formation of the membership were drilled at tapping into local community support.

“It was a no-brainer to go back to the Clydesdales,” Burns said.

“It has so much nostalgia and invokes those feelings of pride and passion. You think about the glory days and even the Bulimba Cup days many years ago.

“The TRL still play their sides as the Clydesdales, so it just makes sense that the premier side in Toowoomba is named the Clydesdales.

“It’s a foundation membership for local families and businesses to get involved.

“That’s going to help employ a commercial manager and the QRL is going to tip in for that as well.”

Their bid for inclusion into the 2023 Intrust Super Cup has been accepted, pending meeting financial criteria, which Burns hopes they will be able to reach.

“The QRL are very supportive and they’ve been pushing us to make this happen,” he said.

“The QRL has accepted us for 2023 based on us being financially sound, so it’s all about how the local business community and local community getting behind us.

“If we have the finances, then that’s the final piece of the puzzle to get in.”

Burns said the push to return to a state league level is largely centred on giving the region’s star players a good reason to continue their football in town, and said NRL clubs have already expressed interest in forming partnerships.

“It really is all about pathways. We have so many kids that have to move away to chase their rugby league dream,” he said.

“We want them to be able to stay here a bit longer. One thing about the return to the Clydesdales is we’ve had some interest from NRL clubs (for affiliation).

“The Darling Downs has the second biggest junior base outside of Penrith. They realise there’s a whole heap of talent running around here.

A breakfast will be held on September 23 in a bid to further spread the Clydesdales message.