Dolphins and Eagles celebrate rivalry
THE latest chapter of the Gold Coast’s oldest and most enduring rugby rivalry will be written at James Overell Park when the Surfers Paradise Dolphins return to the club that started it all for rugby on the Coast.
The Gold Coast Eagles will host the Dolphins on Saturday for the first time this year for the inner-city derby day.
They have played almost every year since foundation Eagle Bob Sinclair walked out on the club in 1974, taking with him the core of a team that would form the Surfers Paradise club.
On Saturday the two proud clubs will celebrate the birth of competitive rugby union on the Gold Coast.
Since 1978, Surfers Paradise has won 13 first grade titles to the Eagles’ seven – a fact few from those early days will ever forget.
“We’ve always played it as a grudge match,” foundation Eagle and Test rugby referee Chris Oxenford said.
“We’ve had some bloody good fixtures.
“Over my career I’ve refereed a couple of EaglesDolphins derbies. I can remember one at Overell Park in the mid-to-late ’70s, where the Surfers boys were b----ing that I was refereeing.
“There was a lot of banter between the teams with the on-field flavour of where your mother was born, ‘your sister is real good’.
“Those were the days where you had an all-in brawl and when you were done, everyone was ready to play football again.”
Peter Devenport coached the Eagles throughout the 1980s. By that point Surfers had become the Coast’s dominant club with five premierships in seven seasons, while rivals Eagles had none.
That changed in 1987. “That was when we had Mark Catchpole,” Devenport said.
The son of legendary Wallabies halfback Ken Catchpole was a capable halfback himself but he shone at flyhalf that season.
“We had two excellent halfbacks so Catchpole played five-eight,” Devenport said.
“It was a fierce contest and I seem to recall it was very close until Bruce Wright had a midfield bust to set up the try to give us the edge.
“It made the celebration sweeter because it was never that one club was miles ahead.”
In the modern era it was never better for Eagles than in 2009, when the club returned to first grade to cut short a Dolphins side gunning for their third title in a row.
The Eagles have invited all former players to return for Old Boys Day.