LEAGUE MOURNS LEGEND
Gold Coast in mourning for a sporting champion
THE Gold Coast and Tweed rugby league community is in mourning following the passing of revered and immensely popular league icon Tom Searle.
One of the code’s most influential figures and a founding father of the Titans, Searle died in Sydney on Monday following a year-long battle with brain cancer.
He was 73 years old. Searle’s association with Gold Coast rugby league dates back to the 1970s when he joined the Tweed Seagulls as captain-coach.
The previous season he’d represented NSW Country from Tamworth, playing against City at the SCG in his first season after spending three years in the English top flight with Yorkshire club Keighley.
Searle (pictured) took the 1971 wooden spooners to a losing grand final the following year against the Gold Coast Tigers.
He led the Seagulls into eight grand finals as a backrower in the days when Tweed played in the Group 18-Gold Coast competition.
In 2000 with his playing days behind him, Searle took over as president of the club and oversaw the Seagulls entry into the Queensland Cup in 2003 before they won their maiden Cup premiership in 2007.
Interim Tweed Seagulls CEO and close friend Matt Francis said Searle had a “rare knack” for touching the lives of everyone he came across.
“He’s a very well respected and loved rugby league figure on the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales,” he said.
“He already has a living legacy. The number of people, not just footballers, who have said Tommy had a massive impact on my life, Tommy had a rare knack of making every person feel special.
“If you have an impact on one person, that’s impressive, but the amount of people who I’ve spoken to in the past few days is incredible.”
Francis said plans were already under way to honour Searle early next month.
“When we do celebrate his life, it will be a celebration,” he said.
IN 2007 Searle joined the newly formed Gold Coast Titans as recruitment manager.
The father of Titans founder Michael Searle, Tom uncovered the likes of Preston Campbell, Ben Ikin, Ryan James, Kevin Gordon, David Mead and Matt Srama.
Gold Coast Titans chairman Dennis Watt paid tribute to a great rugby league man to whom “all of us who love the game owe so much”.
“I remember the reverence there was for Tom Searle as a player. Yet, as a man and a mentor, he stood even taller in the lives of all those people he impacted in such a positive and caring way,” Watt said.
“Like all champions, he handled his illness with extraordinary dignity and courage.
“We will not forget him, nor his legacy of looking for and finding the best in others.
“His loss – to his family, including Titans founder Michael, to the broader rugby league family and to the community itself – is immense.”
Former Chargers CEO and Titans chairman Paul Broughton said Searle’s contribution to league is unmatched.
“Tom Searle’s contribution to the game of rugby league is without parallel,” he said. “From Group 4 CRL, United Kingdom, Tweed Heads, Gold Coast, Northern Rivers, he left an indelible mark on the playing and the development of the game and to the growth of the sport.
“He owned every position as a player, captain-coach through CRL clubs and both Northern States Leagues onto the Chargers then laid the pathway for the player development of the Gold Coast Titans. He made the game about which he was so passionate a better game and those who played it, better people.”
As a man and a mentor, he stood even taller in the lives of all those people he impacted in such a positive and caring way.
TITANS CHAIRMAN DENNIS WATT