Southport Sharks
| Southport | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Names | ||
| Full name | Southport Australian Rules Football Club | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1961 | |
| Competition | North East Australian Football League | |
| President | Alan Mackenzie | |
| Coach | Nathan Bock | |
| Captain(s) | Ben Headland | |
| Ground(s) | Fankhauser Reserve (capacity: 8,000) | |
| Uniforms | ||
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| Other information | ||
| Official website | southportsharks.com.au | |
Southport Australian Football Club (nicknamed The Sharks) is a Gold Coast based club competing in the NEAFL Australian rules football competition.
Southport is perhaps the most successful ever Queensland based Aussie Rules club with a total of 13 premierships in only 26 years and have made the finals each season.
The club has been involved in Australian Football League licence bids since 1996. To date none of these bids have been granted, however the AFL began taking interest in 2006 with pushes to merge Southport with a Melbourne-based AFL club.
Southport Sharks joined the NEAFL competition in 2011. As of 2016, the current competition consists of the following sides: Southport, Aspley, Redland, NT Thunder, Sydney University, Canberra Demons, GC SUNS, Brisbane Lions, Sydney Swans, GWS Giants.
On 22 May 1961, the Southport Australian Football Club was formed and six days later the first training session was held at Labrador Sports Oval. It was revealed on 7 June 1961 that the club would be known on as the Southport Magpies and would wear a black and white vertical striped jumper similar to the Collingwood Football Club. In front of 1000 spectators Southport played their first ever game against Centrals Football Club on 25 June 1961. Southport came out victorious in their first outing 8.10.58 to Central's 6.11.47. They would then go on to win the first ever Gold Coast Australian Football League premiership with a 13-point victory over Ipswich on 25 September 1961.
With the expansion of the Gold Coast Australian Football League starting in 1962, Southport moved their home ground to Owen Park. Southport won back-to-back premierships in the first two years of the Gold Coast Australian Football League, defeating Currumbin by 53 points to win their second premiership. Following a series of local premierships, the club applied for entry into the Queensland Australian Football League in July 1981. Twelve months later, the Queensland Australian Football League officially accepted Southport's entry application for the 1983 season. In their last game as part of the Gold Coast Football League, the Southport Magpies fell in the Grand Final to Coolangatta by 28 points. The disappointment of the Grand Final loss was short lived as the rebranding from the Southport Magpies to the Southport Sharks began. The strip was changed to a black V on a white background to avoid an identity conflict with the Sherwood Magpies, who later became the Western Magpies. The decision as to which club would retain the "Magpies" moniker was made by the toss of a coin.
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