The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, as part of the League's expansion plans for professional rugby league in Australia. The competition was re-branded the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995, which was the Crushers' first season.
The South Queensland Crushers, whose whole existence was against the backdrop of the Super League war, were a club that would be unsuccessful. They had to compete for support with the other Brisbane-based club, the Brisbane Broncos, who were already well-established. The Crushers only competed in the three seasons of the Australian Rugby League's premiership, winning the wooden spoon twice for being last in the competition. Despite the wealth of star players the Crushers managed to attract, they were financially unsustainable and competitively unsuccessful, which ultimately led to their demise at the end of 1997.
History Formation The New South Wales Rugby League competition (NSWRL) began in 1908 as a rugby league competition in the Sydney region of Australia. For the next 74 years, the league only included clubs in the New South Wales region. In 1982, the Canberra Raiders from the Australian Capital Territory, and in 1988, the two Queensland based teams, one each from Brisbane and from Gold Coast were admitted into the NSWRL. The Brisbane club was the first NSWRL club to be privately owned and in 1992 won their first premiership. On 30 November 1992, the NSWRL formally admitted a second Brisbane-based team into the competition, along with three others, from Townsville, Perth and Auckland. The newly established Brisbane team was to be known as the South Queensland Crushers, and would enter the 1995 NSWRL competition, which had been renamed the Australian Rugby League competition (ARL).
In September 1993, the Crushers chose Bill Gardner as the coach for the team, but after a poor off-season, he was replaced by former Australian international Bob Lindner. Darryl van der Velde, a former Brisbane player with experience coaching in England, was the club's inaugural chief executive. The club chose Lang Park, which had been abandoned by the Brisbane Broncos in favour of QE II Stadium in 1992, as their home ground.
The Crushers signed Queensland representative players Trevor Gillmeister, Mark Hohn and Dale Shearer, as well as three rugby union international players, Garrick Morgan, Anthony Herbert and Fili Seru. The Crushers also attempted to lure former Australian international captain Mal Meninga out of retirement for one more season, but failed. By the beginning of the 1995 competition, the Crushers had also signed North Sydney forward Mario Fenech, who the club named as their captain. The club's major sponsor was XXXX with Qantas announced as the sleeve sponsor.
The club competed in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1994 and 1995 to prepare for entry into the ARL.
1995 season – The first season The Crushers' first match was against the previous season's premiers, Canberra which they lost along with their next three before winning their first match 16–12 against North Sydney in Round five. Trevor Gillmeister had the honour of scoring the Crusher's first ever try. An injury to Dale Shearer and the difficulties for Garrick Morgan to adapt to rugby league saw the Crushers fail to utilise much of its attacking potential. Captain Fenech was dropped to the interchange bench and lost the captaincy which was passed on to Gillmeister. The season's end was dampened after coach Lindner and Fenech feuded, resulting in Fenech being released from the final year of his contract.
In the 1995 season, the club had only won six and drew another in the twenty-two games played. In 1995, News Limited, a mass media company, began deliberating a rival rugby league competition, the Super League, and with the rival Broncos a key part of the plans for Super League, the Crushers remained loyal to the ARL competition. The Crushers believed that they would survive and be able to compete on their own. The ARL supported this despite the disappointing results of their first season because of the high home ground crowds, with supporters averaging over 21,000 a season.
RoundHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd1 South Queensland Crushers6–24 Canberra RaidersLang Park21,1022 Parramatta Eels26–2 South Queensland CrushersParramatta Stadium8,0803 Penrith Panthers34–12 South Queensland CrushersPenrith Stadium8,0244 Brisbane Broncos32–0 South Queensland CrushersQE II Stadium49,6075 South Queensland Crushers16–12 North Sydney BearsLang Park19,2336 Manly Sea Eagles38–10 South Queensland CrushersBrookvale Oval10,6167 South Queensland Crushers24–24 Illawarra SteelersLang Park16,2538 South Queensland Crushers33–14 Parramatta EelsLang Park19,4219 Sydney City Roosters17–6 South Queensland CrushersSydney Football Stadium5,55610 South Queensland Crushers28–18 Newcastle KnightsLang Park21,07211 South Queensland Crushers4–20 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksLang Park22,25812 Sydney Tigers16–12 South Queensland CrushersParramatta Stadium3,22513 South Queensland Crushers28–8 Penrith PanthersLang Park19,75314 Western Suburbs Magpies38–14 South Queensland CrushersCampbelltown Stadium4,70715 South Queensland Crushers20–24 South Sydney RabbitohsLang Park19,28816 Gold Coast Seagulls8–14 South Queensland CrushersSeagulls Stadium6,73117 South Queensland Crushers10–22 Auckland WarriorsLang Park28,92818 Western Reds22–14 South Queensland CrushersWACA9,10319 South Queensland Crushers22–6 North Queensland CowboysLang Park17,10520 St. George Dragons16–6 South Queensland CrushersKogarah Oval9,09121 South Queensland Crushers18–25 Sydney BulldogsLang Park26,90422 Canberra Raiders58–4 South Queensland CrushersBruce Stadium19,107
1996 season – The second season The club had bought five players from the Sydney Roosters to help them improve from their inaugural season, and Queensland representative Tony Hearn also joined the club for the 1996 season. The opening round of the 1996 season the club gathered two points because of Canberra's forfeit but the club only recorded three more wins in the entire season gathering six points on the competition ladder and took the wooden spoon for being last on the ladder. The Crushers won the second round clash against Parramatta before losing ten in a row. The Crushers then won two in a row before plummeting to lose their last eight matches.
Despite a record crowd of 34,263 that watched the Crushers take on the Brisbane Broncos in round 4, the Crushers home ground support only averaged over 13,000 each game. The diminishing crowd numbers and player payments meant the club was on the brink of bankruptcy. The ARL and a mystery supporter bailed the club out with over half a million dollars in financial relief. With first-grade rugby league divided between two competitions, it would be hard for the Crushers to recoup lost money in establishing the club as it ploughed further into debt.
A glimmer of hope for the club came when the Crushers won the Under 21's premiership, defeating the Parramatta Eels in the Under 21's Grand Final. This was to be the only premiership of any competition or grade for the Crushers.
RoundHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd1 Canberra Raidersforfeit South Queensland Crushers2 South Queensland Crushers24–20 Parramatta EelsLang Park12,7043 South Queensland Crushers4–22 Penrith PanthersLang Park11,6944 South Queensland Crushers8–28 Brisbane BroncosLang Park34,2635 North Sydney Bears18–4 South Queensland CrushersNorth Sydney Oval7,8716 South Queensland Crushers6–14 Manly Sea EaglesLang Park15,2027 Illawarra Steelers18–14 South Queensland CrushersWollongong Stadium4,8838 Parramatta Eels14–4 South Queensland CrushersParramatta Stadium9,6219 South Queensland Crushers12–38 Sydney City RoostersLang Park10,10710 Newcastle Knights22–6 South Queensland CrushersMarathon Stadium17,55911 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks28–4 South Queensland CrushersShark Park7,07112 South Queensland Crushers2–12 Sydney TigersLang Park10,16613 Penrith Panthers16–20 South Queensland CrushersPenrith Stadium4,21514 South Queensland Crushers24–22 Western Suburbs MagpiesLang Park8,96115 South Sydney Rabbitohs48–16 South Queensland CrushersRedfern Oval3,10716 South Queensland Crushers4–52 Gold Coast ChargersLang Park8,77617 Auckland Warriors16–12 South Queensland CrushersMt Smart Stadium17,00018 South Queensland Crushers16–18 Western RedsLang Park7,78919 North Queensland Cowboys11–6 South Queensland CrushersStockland Stadium24,98920 South Queensland Crushers8–26 St. George DragonsLang Park9,56721 Canterbury Bulldogs17–16 South Queensland CrushersBelmore Oval5,02522 South Queensland Crushers10–36 Canberra RaidersLang Park13,945
1997 season – The third and final season The 1997 season was not much better for the Crushers, again taking the wooden spoon for the second year running. Major sponsor XXXX was replaced as the major sponsor by AVJennings. The club only won four games of the twenty-two match season. The 1997 season for the Crushers saw their home game attendances dwindle to an average of 7,000 and even with free days, which allowed supporters to come to the games free of charge, the club didn't gather support as it had in its inaugural season. The Crushers did however win their final match of the season convincingly 39–18 over the Western Suburbs Magpies and along with the North Sydney Bears and Newtown Jets, the South Queensland Crushers remain one of the few defunct clubs to have won their final game.
RoundHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd1 Sydney City Roosters34–10 South Queensland CrushersSydney Football Stadium8,4752 South Queensland Crushers23–6 Parramatta EelsLang Park9,5233 Newcastle Knights44–0 South Queensland CrushersMarathon Stadium15,1144 South Queensland Crushers16–36 Manly Sea EaglesLang Park9,1475 Illawarra Steelers14–6 South Queensland CrushersWIN Stadium6,1446 South Queensland Crushers14–22 Gold Coast ChargersLang Park5,2907 South Sydney Rabbitohs24–20 South Queensland CrushersSydney Football Stadium4,3538 South Queensland Crushers16–18 Balmain TigersLang Park5,9989 St. George Dragons32–22 South Queensland CrushersKogarah Oval5,00310 South Queensland Crushers22–36 North Sydney BearsLang Park5,44711 Western Suburbs Magpies32–12 South Queensland CrushersCampbelltown Stadium5,73212 South Queensland Crushers28–14 Sydney City RoostersLang Park5,51813 Parramatta Eels52–10 South Queensland CrushersParramatta Stadium10,00914 South Queensland Crushers6–24 Newcastle KnightsLang Park4,76915 Manly Sea Eagles46–12 South Queensland CrushersBrookvale Oval5,05516 South Queensland Crushers8–34 Illawarra SteelersLang Park2,36417 Gold Coast Chargers40–18 South Queensland CrushersCarrara Stadium8,39218 South Queensland Crushers17–16 South Sydney RabbitohsLang Park3,54519 Balmain Tigers32–14 South Queensland CrushersLeichhardt Oval5,10120 South Queensland Crushers0–14 St. George DragonsLang Park13,84521 North Sydney Bears42–8 South Queensland CrushersNorth Sydney Oval7,30822 South Queensland Crushers39–18 Western Suburbs MagpiesLang Park11,588
Demise With the unification of the Australian Rugby League and Super League competitions following the 1997 season, the new National Rugby League competition was formed. This meant that three of the twenty-two teams participating in 1997 would be axed as part of the rationalisation process aimed at reducing teams to an optimal number. With the introduction of the Melbourne Storm and the fact that the agreement between the Australian Rugby League and Super League was to have a fourteen-team competition in 2000, the future for the Crushers was inevitably demise.