Rugby League History - RL1908.com - South Queensland Crushers

Travis Norton football card The South Queensland Crushers were one of the four expansion clubs added to the NSWRL premiership in 1995 as it transferred control of its competition to the ARL.

Like its three comrade clubs (Western Reds, Nth Qld and Auckland) the Crushers off-field struggle for survival meant there was little hope for success on the playing fields.

What made life even more difficult for the Crushers was that they also had to deal with established competitors in the area they were to represent - the Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast Seagulls.

Ultimately the Crushers perservered for three seasons, lurching from crisis to crisis, before their doors were closed forever.

The Crushers launched their 1995 debut season with realistic hope of mid-table success. This was to build a team around experienced players (Fenech, Hohn, Gillmeister, Shearer, Wayne Collins and John Jones) and high profile RU converts Garrick Morgan and Anthony Herbert.

The club finished a credible 16th (of 20) and attracted an impressive average home crowd at Lang Park of over 21,000. The RU converts however were a failure with only two appearances each in first grade. Meanwhile young players Travis Norton and Chris McKenna impressed through the season. Boosted by the off-season signing of five experienced Sydney City players alongside North Sydney's Tony Hearn, the club had cause for optimism for the 1996 season.

Unfortunately what eventuated almost sent the Crushers to extinction - falling crowds, poor on-field performances and a debilitating financial crisis hung over the club. The Crushers were undoubtedly victims of circumstance notwithstanding their lack-lustre premiership results - the Super League war had sent player payments rocketing skyward while the game's fans began to turn their back on RL. The Crushers average home crowd dropped to 13,000 leaving a gaping hole in the club's projected earnings.

The club finished the 1996 season three points adrift at the bottom of the table with the wooden spoon. Amidst the disappointment four young players impressed and gave hope for building a team for the future - Philip Lee, Travis Norton, Clinton Schifcofske and Mark Tookey. The Under 21's side also won the Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium to secure the club's only title.

1997 produced no new awakening for the fledgling Crushers. They again finished with the wooden spoon and crowd support floundered even further. Twice during the season the Lang Park gates were thrown open to allow free entry. Again the only highlight was the emergence of young talent - this time it was five-eigth/centre Aaron Moule.

Towards the end of the season the ARL announced it would not continue the financial support that was keeping the club viable and effectively sounded the death-knell for the Crushers. Late season merger talks with the neighbouring Gold Coast Chargers faltered and when the final round game against Wests arrived, all knew it would be the Crusher's last ever game.

From the opening whistle the Crushers played inspired football and took the game 39-18 in the club's best ever performance of its three year existence. The Crushers had left their best to the end, all too late - on their final day they won all three grades and set many of the club's now permanent point scoring records.

The Crushers themselves may have been their biggest enemies, but the hostile environment into which they were delivered did not give them any breathing space for error or any bad luck in their all-too-brief existence.