Brisbane United was one of the foundation clubs of South East Qld Touch Football Association, formed in 1974.
The club was started by Russell Mowles.
United came to fruition after Russell first played in the Brisbane Touch Football Association (BTFA) first competition in 1973 for ‘Sirs’ (BRL Referees team). Russell, with his cousin Glenn Ayre got together a new team went to a BTFA meeting to enter the new team into the competition. BTFA rejected their nomination as they did not satisfy their age rule of being under 25 years old. With other rejected teams, they went on to help establish their own competition called the South East Qld Touch Football Association, which began the following year, 1974.
On the 17th March 1974 11 lads gathered together at the Balmoral State High School to compete in the inaugural season of the South East Qld Touch Football Association. Playing their first against ‘George St Giants’ they were defeated narrowly by 19 to 4. The team improved slightly as the season wore on and actually defeated the Giants 8-6 on the 7th July later that season.
For the record, ‘United’ played 21 matches with 3 wins and finished the season on a positive note with a win in the ‘Battle for the Wooden Spoon’ over ‘Metros’ 14-8 on the 7th September as the Grand Final curtain raiser.
Of particular note was the try-scoring exploits of Bruce O’Connor who crossed for 54 tries – over a third of the teams total. He would score 50 or more in 1975 and 1976.
1975 saw SEQTFA expand to 12 teams and United played 22 matches for 8 wins and a draw. In 1976 SEQTFA expanded to 24 teams with 2 divisions and United competed quite successfully in Division 2 winning 19 matches with 1 draw from 24 fixtures. United finished Minor Premiers but lost both the Semi Final and Preliminary Final.
The club competed in a night time competition over the summer months at Brothers St Brendans RLC and won 8 games with 2 draws from 20.
1977 saw United promoted to 1st Division in the SEQTFA and from 20 fixtures won 7 and drew 2. Competing in a summer competition at Arana Hills the club scored their first premiership win defeating Pirates 8-2 in the Grand Final.
1978 saw the appointment of Lionel Mowles as coach and the club started a structured training program. Competing in SEQTFA Division 1 the stats were 10 wins, 2 draws from 22 fixtures. In 1979 SEQ became Metropolitan Touch Football Association with 5 grades and United finished the Division 1 season with13 wins and 1 draw from 22 fixtures.
1979 was also momentous with the club staging its first ‘Awards Night’ with Guy Basile the inaugural ‘Player of the Year’. Competing in the first official Metropolitan Summer Comp, United was defeated in the Grand Final going down to ‘Bad Company’ 4-2.
1980 saw the club formalised as an incorporated entity and the first Management Committee was:
Russell Mowles – President
Steve Davies and Lionel Mowles – Vice Presidents
Paul Hicks – Secretary
Bruce O’Connor – Treasurer
Selection and Social committees were also formed and the club expanded to 2 mens teams which competed in Division 1 with A and Reserve grade. Fundraising was also undertaken running meat tray raffles at The Sportsmans Hotel, Spring Hill and the Highway Hotel at Rocklea.
This winter season was the most successful for United in its short history with the A grade team losing narrowly (3-2) to Untouchables in the Preliminary Final and Reserve Grade going down by the same margin to Flames in the Grand Final.
The club also competed in the Inaugural State Championships as well as entering 2 teams in the MTFA summer competition. Of particular note was the Grand Final win (4-0) by the A Grade team over Macgregoroos which was at the time the first ever defeat by a club team (they were beaten by the MTFA Rep team the previous season) suffered by that famous team in a night time fixture.
Each week, a player of the match was awarded, for example:
The club expanded further in 1981 entering three mens teams (A,B C grade in first division) and their first womens team in Division 2 of the MTFA competition.
A Grade lost the Preliminary Final to Country Club 4-2, B Grade was defeated 7-1 by Eagles in the Grand Final and the Womens made a playoff for 4th place going down narrowly to Sunbirds.
Two men’s teams also competed in the State Championships, with the A grade finishing runners-up. Another successful Summer season followed with another win over Macgregoroos 3-1 in the grand final.
In 1982 with the same four grades, the A and C Mens narrowly missed the playoffs while B Mens and Womens teams both finished 4th.
The Mens A team qualified for the Semi-finals at both the State Championships in Townsville (drawing the match, but losing on countback) and the National Club Chamionships on the Gold Coast going down to Port Hacking 5-0.
1982 summer comp saw a clean sweep of the Grand Finals for the Mens A, B and C while the Womens team was knocked out in the semi-final.
In 1983 the club expanded to four men’s teams and two women’s. Noteworthy this year was the first ever Sunday comp premiership for the club won by the Mens C Grade team led by Captain/Coach John Fegan who defeated Cavaliers 5-1 in the Grand Final. The Mens B lost their Grand Final narrowly to Cavaliers 3-2 and the Women’s 1st Division also lost their Grand Final 2-1 to Eagles.
Another successful summer season followed with Mens A and C undefeated and Mens B losing just 1 match for 3 premierships.
In 1984 United fielded five mens grades, three womens , a Mens Seniors (O/30) and a mixed Juniors (U16).
The women led the way with Premierships in Women’s A and B grades, while the Mens Seniors made it to the Preliminary Final and Mens A,B and C grades all were defeated in the semi finals.
1985 was the final year of the existence of Brisbane United before an amalgamation with Country Club in 1986. Fielding 12 teams – 6 mens open, 3 womens, Mens 30s and Mens U20s plus mixed U16, the club went out with a bang. 8 teams made the playoffs with the Mens B and E winning premierships, both against Cavaliers, and Womens A narrowly losing their Grand Final to Eagles 2-1. Mens U20 and Mens C made the preliminary final and Mens E and U20 and Womens C were semi-finalists.
Three players from 1974 were still with the club in 1985. These were:
Russell Mowles who was Club President played 328 games and scored 207 tries, Bruce O’Connor played 266 games and scored 393 tries and Peter Cooper played 274 games and scored 113 tries.
In 1986 United merged with Country Club creating the new identity of Country Club United.
Teams by Year Summary
| Year | Total | Mens | Womens | Senior | Juniors | U20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 to 1979 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1980 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 1981 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||
| 1982 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |||
| 1983 | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||
| 1984 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1985 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
