DOLPHINS LINE-UP FOR HISTORY TO INSPIRE PREMIERSHIP TILT
EVEN through 50 years of esteemed rugby history, Col Macdonald still recalls every moment of the Dolphins trials, battles and successes that have led to this historic milestone.
As the Surfers Paradise club – one of the founding outfits of the Gold Coast District Rugby Union – celebrates its half century, the side’s first front rower was given the unenviable task of helping select the finest men to team colours.
Macdonald was joined by a selection panel of fellow life members, presidents and former coaches in choosing the outfit to become the faces of the anniversary campaign.
Among the standouts include former Fijian flyer Ilario Ratilava, who Macdonald claimed made anyone who dared stand before him look the fool.
However, he said the calibre of outside backs chosen in the Dolphins’ finest 15 had the ability to tear any of their rivals to shreds when given the smallest of windows to strike.
“Stuy Simpson, Wayne Cooper and Jesse Mcgilvary were all very talented players and they could make a break and if they got a bit of a half gap they were gone,” he said.
“They were very hard to stop once they got going, that was the main thing with them.
“Ilario was just a brilliant side stepper with a dummy. He fooled people for many, many years, even in his latter days players playing outside him got fooled.
“They thought they had the ball and they didn’t. He’d sort of pass it, pull it back in and he was gone.
“There’s been a few of us having an involvement in that (selection process), and it’s hard to think back over 50 years. The number of good players we’ve had come through the club, a lot of Australian boys and New Zealand boys, and a lot of the New Zealand boys have played professional rugby in New Zealand.
“It’s been a big experience.” Macdonald’s story on the Glitter
Strip’s rugby scene started in 1971 when he linked with Gold Coast Eagles, before he and several others broke away to form the Dolphins at the end of 1973.
At the time, many of the Surfers clan had young families, and plying their trade in the Brisbane competition became a constant strain.
Those moves would lead to the culmination of the GCDRU competition, and Macdonald said that first squad knew a thing or two about punching above their weight.
“The team was competitive in our first year, and the second year the Queensland Rugby Union decided to take us out of sub-districts and put us into their Brisbane comp in second and third grade,” he said.
“The biggest test we struck there was when we played a Brisbane team the first grade sides always had the bye, so we copped a few of their Brisbane first grade players and Wallabies playing second grade against us.
“But we boxed our way through three years of that until the end of ’77 when the QRU decided for us to do our own comp.”
Ahead of the Dolphins’ season launch on Friday, Macdonald struggled to land on one key moment which summed up why he remained faithful to the Surfers brigade.
Premiership have come, and he even had the chance to take the field alongside his sons – playing until he was “well into my 50s”.
Rarely does the life member miss a home game. Even rarer does he miss a Thursday night training.
But now as the club prepares to break a title drought spanning six years under head coach Johnny Ngauamo – having fallen at last year’s final hurdle – Macdonald was hopeful the landmark nature of the 2023 milestone would prove telling enough to get the job done.
“Surfers have won a few premierships and we’re hoping maybe this being our 50th year it’d be a good year to win another one,” he said.
While the Dolphins’ history will be honoured in 2023, attention will also turn to the future to ensure the club sees yet another half century.
As the cost of living increases, so do the costs of sustaining a community club, with little to no funding available and the push for a club to break even becoming a battle.
Surfers Paradise Rugby president Kim Bending said the club was hopeful of working with Gold Coast City Council to expand its facilities and help accommodate a greater influx of players and events.
“Each committee like our current club committee must nurture the next generation of administration. We are at capacity this year with teams from under-6s to A-grade, women’s junior teams and our Old Boys side,” Bending said.
“Our strategy is to continue growing and improving, with a major push with council to help us achieve our growth potential with a third ground.
“We support our District body with player numbers and pathways offered for all. Off field, our facility must grow and remain relevant to seniors and our junior parents.
“As we are an inner city club and not located in suburbia our club in future must follow this strategy for growth and community relevance.”