Chapter 2 – The 1970’s – Building for the Future
The early 70’s were defining years for the Norths Aspley Club. In its third year, 1970, Rex Dannenberg, who had guided the Club through its first two years, was succeeded as President by Bill McNamara, father of current Leagues Club CEO Tim. In that year the Council granted a lease for the Kirby Road site and a playing field was developed. Work began on the first clubhouse courtesy of a loan from Westpac which was repaid by 1973. On the field the Club won four premierships in 1970, becoming Club champions with most premierships in the minor competition.
Novar Newton describes the Kirby Road land in those days as a swampy paddock with a few trees. He recalls a hut on the property occupied by a resident who did some shoe repairs on a part time basis. Local Alderman Len Trezona had advocated a lease on the club’s behalf and when a 25 year lease was granted, the Brisbane City Council gave further assistance by doing the initial work in the preparation of the field. Subsequent working bees loosened the soil by working in seed husks and eventually a satisfactory surface was obtained.
The Club was fortunate to have builders on its Committee and Bill Proctor and Harry Kirby were to prove invaluable in providing advice and expertise and in saving the Club valuable dollars through their ability to work at or get work done at “mates rates”. With a loan of $10,000 from Westpac, work began on a clubhouse which occupied that part of today’s clubhouse closest to the beer garden area. Italian sub-contractors were employed to put down the slab and much of the blockwork was done by Marco Sclosa, a local who remains a member to this day. Volunteers assisted with some of the work including the securing of the roof. Incredibly the Club spent only $8,000 of the $10,000 loan and the building was paid for by 1973.
Novar Newton recalls how the club acquired its first bar:
“The original bar was a magnificent timber one made of silky oak and other fine cabinet woods. By pure luck one of our early members, Ted Ingram, was well placed on the Vacuum Oil Company, then on the corner of Adelaide and Creek Streets Brisbane. The building was to be refurbished and we were offered the bar at no expense provided that we shifted it over the Easter break. With the good graces of Bill Proctor, a builder and past President, we used his truck to lower the bar by rope and hard work (it was actually a magnificent reception desk) from the fourth floor to the ground. Hard work shifting that in two days and then storing it at Bill McNamara’s Nundah business until the Club building was ready.”
One can only guess the number of beers that passed across that bar and the number of stories told around it during its lifetime at the club.
Dressing rooms and storage areas were added to the playground side of the clubhouse in 1974-5, a time of serious inflation which drove costs up. Treasure R.B. Warman again paid tribute to Harry Kirby in enabling the Club to keep costs down. “For the partitions we received quotes up to $1200. Harry (Uncle H) Kirby was able to do the job for $538 and the extension for the dressing rooms for $3,929”. By 1977, however, it was obvious that major extensions were necessary if the club was going to continue its growth. Club stalwart Brian Osborne was to produce ambitious plans at cost and to eventually supervise the construction free of charge. With costs estimated at approximately $150,000, the club was able to put up $51,000 from its general account and obtained a bank overdraft of $99,000 provided that guarantors could be found for the loan. In another great display of club loyalty 12 members guaranteed the loan, in some cases putting their own homes at risk. The 12 guarantors were: Brian Osborne, James Langley, Ralph Granville, Harold Cougan, Geoffrey Joyce, Ralph de Pasquale, Kyal Crouch, Ray Kelso, Alan Scamp, Pat Buckley, Neil Phelan and Rex Dannenberg. Ultimately another $25,000 was required and in an example of the friendship that had developed between the Aspley and Wentworthville clubs, Wenty agreed to guarantee that further loan.
The new extension added a functions room to the existing club building and increased the floor area from 450m2 to 1120 m2. It was estimated that the new functions area could accommodate upwards of 500 people and the club was fully carpeted and air-conditioned. Saturday morning working bees were organised to upgrade the surrounds of the Club and to give the older part of the building a facelift so that it might better complement the new. The extensions were formally opened on 30th September 1978.
In other developments in the area of facilities, lighting was supplied to Bowden Park in 1973-74 and in 1977-78 two fields were constructed at Grand Street, Bald Hills following the granting of a seven year lease. The club was to light these grounds and they were to become the main junior training fields in the first half of the 80’s. By the end of the 70’s members of the Management Committee were debating whether to build another clubhouse at Bald Hills, whether to add a second story to the existing club building or whether to purchase freehold land to establish another base. Enquiries were made as to the possibility of purchasing vacant land in Zillmere Road but the asking price was beyond the means of the Club.
The seventies was a period that was culturally quite different from today. In a world without pokies, with very few clubs and with a relative absence of RID and RBT teams, pubs were kings and were patronised by large crowds of drinkers, especially on Friday nights and Saturdays. They provided environments in which raffles were popular with drinkers and profitable for promoters. The Norths-Aspley Rugby League Football Club’s workers took full advantage of the situation and operated at a number of venues including the Aspley, the Homestead, the Bald Hills, the Ferny Grove Tavern and the Waterloo. Over the years a legion of club-men helped the Club and individual teams by doing their bit as raffle sellers, but old timers hail ticket sellers like Bill Langley, Ray Kelso, Barry Ives, Harry Kirby an Keith Rolls as being stand-out performers. Novar Newton remembers someone complaining to club stalwart and butcher Bill Langley about the monotony of having meat trays as prizes week after week. Bill responded by raffling a tray of sponge cakes and pineapples the following week. Legendary Homestead Hotel raffle man, Ray Kelso, added variety to his raffles by having a live lamb as a prize on one occasion and a live pig on another.
Fund raising occurred at two levels with teams responsible for raising their own funds for things like end of season functions, and the Club raising money for the general running and future expansion of its operations. In addition to raffles, doubles, barbecues and increasingly bingo, activities like lamington drives and bottle collections continued and Leagues Club CEO, Tim McNamara remembers going door to door selling bottles of rosella jam kindly made and donated by two lady supporters of the Club who lived at Chermside. Funds raised varied significantly from team to team and in his President’s Report of 1976, Dick Linkins pointed to another area of concern. After praising the efforts of Club fundraisers for their work “week in and week out” he stated: “On the other hand, I am appalled at the attitude of coaches, managers and parents generally, towards fund-raising for the club. They seem to regard this as some sort of Club rip-off. Their squandering of thousands of dollars on lavish trophies and other rewards and entertainments could only be tolerated at Norths Aspley.”
As the 70’s progressed, the Club was to find the answer to its fund raising challenge in bingo. From humble beginnings with games organised by Jack Gledhill, the Club was to develop arguably the most successful bingo promotion on the northside of the city. Pat Buckley admits that he knew nothing about running bingo when he took over responsibility for it in 1974, but under his leadership the bingo team which included people like Kev Toye and Bob Harriss at different times was to convert the operation into a fundraising bonanza. In 1978 $52,500 was transferred to the club from the Bingo account and in 1979 after a bingo transfer of $59,000, President Ray Kelso stated: “What do you say to Pat Buckley and the Bingo Committee workers? ‘Thanks’ just does not seem enough.” Bingo was to remain the Club’s major source of income until well after the introductions of poker machines in the 90’s.
In 1971, a Ladies’ Committee had been formed and Joan Buckley was elected as its first President. The ladies gave great assistance in helping to organise functions and in general fundraising. Generally speaking functions were held in the clubhouse wherever possible with teams able to use it free of charge for fundraisers. The canteen was also allocated to teams on a monthly basis. One of the best remembered functions of the 1970’s was a fund raiser for injured player Robert Spencer. Robert had been a foundation player for Norths Aspley in 1968 but had transferred to Norths in 1975. In 1976 he unfortunately broke his neck during a game and was subsequently confined to a wheelchair. Undeterred, Robert returned to Norths Aspley as a coach and assisted by former team mates Mick Byrne and Tony Kirkwood successfully coached a minor team. A hugely successful benefit night was organised for Robert by Treasurer and Life Member Darby Munro who had been Robert’s Team Manager in 1968.
On the football field, Norths Aspley was to win 11 premierships in the 70’s including 4 in 1970. At that time minor teams contested premierships as well as Juniors and in 1970 Norths Aspley won grand finals in 7A’s, 7B’s, 9B’s and 13B’s, thereby claiming most wins in Minor League by a BRL club. No pennants were won in 1971 while the 11B’s won a premiership in 1972. The 15A’s were successful in 1973 with the 10A’s winning the last premiership before a four year drought in 1974. In that year Alan Jessop had been appointed Director of Coaches and Norths Aspley’s Under 17 team played the Club’s first international when it hosted Linville, a team from New Zealand. The Devils were successful in a hard fought game refereed by Albert Bishop representing Brisbane Rugby League. The U13 B's were also successful in 1974, with an undefeated record through the Presidents Cup and Premiership.
In 1976 Norths Aspley fielded its first senior team in the U23 Division of the Brisbane Rugby League’s sub-district competition, while in 1978 the Club was represented by a record 23 teams including an Under 21 and an Under 23. No premierships were won but in the following year with Bruce Warwick as Junior Coaching Director and Alan Jessop as Minor Coaching Director, the Club was successful in winning the 9A’s, 13B’s, 14A’s and 15A’s. On a disappointing note, the Club suffered a net loss of 56 players in 1979 and the number of teams dropped from 23 to 18. 1979 also saw the formation of the Aspley Rugby League Football Club.
At the end of the 1978 season, several of the Under 23 team had become too old to play for that team but wished to stay together and to play under the Norths Aspley banner. The Club somewhat reluctantly agreed to fielding a team in the Metropolitan Rugby League but “parent’ club Norths refused permission for the team to play as Norths Aspley or to use the Devils emblem. Subsequently the team used the old style jersey without an emblem and went under the name of Aspley Rugby League Football Club. Under coach Michael Murphy the new team raised sponsorships to keep the team going and were provided with some assistance including permission to conduct raffles from Norths Aspley. The team played in the C grade competition and finished in fourth place.
An extremely important development in 1979 was the decision by the Football Club to establish a Leagues Club to take responsibility for some areas of administration, thus allowing the Football Club more time to concentrate on its core business of Rugby League. The first complete decade had been negotiated and its achievements were already impressive. Seven of the members who had helped the Club achieve its successes had been honoured by being made Life Members. At the end of the 70’s this select band included: Jack Gledhill (1973), Harry Kirby (1975), Pat Buckley (1976), Alan Scamp (1977) Darby Munro (1977), Rex Dannenberg (1978), and Neil Phelan (1979).
