In 1988 there was no rugby league played in Brisbane's Centenary Suburbs. The Primary Schools at Jindalee, Middle Park and Jamboree Heights played soccer or aussie rules and the nearest junior rugby league clubs were Inala, Souths at Acacia Ridge and Graceville at Tennyson. With the Brisbane Broncos entry into the NSW Rugby League Competition in that year interest was high in our code, and the publicity generated led to enquiries at the QRL regarding a club for the Centenary area. Mike Cullen who was the QRL Development Officer at the time advertised a meeting in the local papers to gauge local interest in the formation of a club.
The meeting was poorly attended and there appeared little interest, but one mother, Robyn King was pressured by her son to do more, and she again contacted Cullen who decided to set a date for a sign-on day for the 1989 season. The response was better than expected and training started at the Middle Park State School.
The club also held its meetings at the Middle Park School and Robyn King was appointed the first Secretary with Boyce Nahrung President. The first major item on the agenda was to find a home ground. The committee met with representatives of Wests St. Josephs RLFC a Sub-District Club based at Darra and negotiated a sub-lease on the ground at Centenary Highway Reserve at the corner of Ipswich Road and Centenary Highway.
The Centenary Club's first games were played there in 1989. The club fielded five teams from Under 7 to Under 17 and signed seventy players in that first season. The Club adopted the Broncos colours in an attempt to attract players and had the backing of Wayne Bennett, a Centenary resident who appeared in local newspaper articles promoting the club. This generated unfounded and incorrect rumours that Centenary was the `Junior Broncos' and that the Club received grants from the Broncos Club.
The first year was a success, but a rift developed in the committee and an emergency meeting was called before the start of the 1990 season where the entire committee resigned. The fledgling club would have folded there and then but parents who attended the meeting got together and formed a new committee with Mike Hunter as President, Geoff Orman as Vice-president, Keith Blake as Secretary, Carroll Burns as Treasurer and Peter McIlwain, Wendy Goulden, Paul Ferris, Jacque Clements, Helen Cooper, John Buckley and Gary Rossiter on the General Committee. The 1990 season saw the club grow and prosper with teams in all grades from Under 7 to Under 12 and an Under 14 side, with 109 registered players. The club had a boost in this second year with an amazing performance from its under 12 side coached by Theo Hennan, which finished the season undefeated winning the Club its first honours, a President's Flag and a topship.
These Under 12s were promoted to Junior C in 1991 as Under 13s and again won the President's Flag and premiership, being beaten only once during the year. That year also saw the Club's first representative players with Trevor Swanson the first to represent Brisbane in the Under 14 age group, a remarkable feat as the team was graded in an Open Competition. Under 13 centre pairing, Nathan McKenzie-Ross and Oliver Polities were both picked to represent South Queensland in the state carnival. Casey Graham represented West Moreton in the Under 12 Schoolboy's team in 1991 also.
Geoff Orman had taken over the reins as club President during 1990 when Mike Hunter resigned due to work commitments and Geoff again chaired the club in 1991with Keith Blake as Secretary. The Club ended the year with 11 teams and 158 registered players. The club also took over the lease on the ground from St. Josephs and made improvements including new upgraded lighting.
In 1992 the club again grew, ending the season with just short of 200 players. Geoff Orman was again the President with Keith Blake Vice-president, Helen Cooper Secretary and Michael Polities Treasurer . Work was commenced on the Ipswich Road Overpass and the associated earthworks took a massive chunk from the Club's Car Park. The Brisbane City Council advised the Club that it would have to relocate because of the lack of parking space this had caused.
The committee looked at many sites to relocate to and finally entered negotiations with the City Council and Catholic Schools Soccer Association, leaseholders of the Warrender Road end of Centenary Highway Reserve. A five year plan was submitted to the Council to develop the grounds into a joint soccer and rugby league venue, but the Soccer Association pulled out at the last minute, unable to raise the capital, and decided to move, leaving Centenary the chance to become sole leaseholders. The committee submitted new plans to Council and were granted the lease.
The year 1993 saw the club with with 15 teams and 260 players (238 were juniors). The disruption of the move to the new grounds would see a falling off of player numbers which would not fully recover until the current (2002) season. The Executive in 1993 was the same as the previous year and as well as running the club they were concerned with establishing the new home for the Panthers. In late 1993, the Council told the club that the 1994 season would be the last it would allow the Club at the Ipswich Road end of the reserve.
Development of the new grounds had to begin from scratch. The playing surface was uneven and there was a rock-hard cricket pitch in the middle of the playing field. There were no goalposts and no buildings on the site except for a Public Toilet Block and all infrastructure had to be laid including power, sewerage, and water. So many people contributed to the project it is impossible to name them all here, but a special mention must go to Jon and Renee Johansen who worked tirelessly co-ordinating the works.
The biggest single component was the purchase and installation of the ex-army building which has formed the hub of club activities since the move to the new fields. The building was delivered on the morning of Friday, 22nd July, 1994 and was lowered into place the next day. In 1994 the club colours were changed to black, white and red. Player teams and numbers were similar to 1993.
During the year, President Geoff Orman resigned, and Keith Blake took over as caretaker President. The Secretary was Jon Johansen and Gary Weigh Treasurer.
Fixtures were played at the new grounds from the start of the 1995 season and development since then has seen the establishment of a second international field, viewing mounds for both fields, the lighting of both Field No. 1 and Field No. 2 to night match-play standards, the erection of covered areas at the canteen and bar ends of the building, separate toilet blocks and an all-weather car park. Geoff Orman was back as President in 1995 with Darren Bell as Secretary/Treasurer.
Jon Johansen and family with the help of Darryl Nichols helped get the grounds ready to play on and Theo Hennan, Gary Cooper and his father Jack Cooper, and stalwart John Andrews got the sewerage laid for the clubrooms.
In 1996 Peter McIlwain took over as Club President with a new look committee as many of the old hands either left the club or stepped back and took on other roles. Peter has guided the Centenary Club's development over most of its tenure at the Warrender Road grounds. Keith Blake took on the role of Referee Co-ordinator for the club. The club fielded 12 junior teams in 1996, down from the peaks in 1993 and 1994.
In 1997 Peter McIlwain was again President with Tracey Bradshaw as Secretary. The club fielded a Masters team for the first time in 1997 and although player numbers were down, the club was very successful on the field in the juniors with three President's Flags, two topships and a third Grand-final team, with yet another making the semi-finals. In 1998 Graeme Raison was Treasurer and Rob Whitmore Secretary as Peter McIlwain continued as President. The club opened playing field two and with major help from Paul Galvin Landscaping 'Scoreboard Hill' was terraced.
In 1999 Linda Wornsp took over as Secretary and Graeme and Peter stayed as the other members of the Executive. Peter Heit and his family put in many hours at the club in 1999 helping Anne McIlwain with the canteen, keeping the ground in great order, refereeing and generally putting in many many hours to keep the club ticking.
In 2000, player numbers rose slightly from the low of 1999, with the club fielding ten junior sides. The club also fielded Under 22s, Opens and Masters in the senior ranks. Peter McIlwain was again President, Judy Robson became the Club Secretary and Greame Raison remained Treasurer. In 2001, the club had its second change of strip, adopting a new combination of the black, white, and red with a distinctive leaping panther on the front of the jersey.
A modern change room block was erected adjacent to field No. 1 and this was commissioned for the 2002 season.
Peter McIlwain headed the committee in 2002 and plans were developed to take the Club into the future. The club set on a path to develop more players and teams to Junior A standard, to open electronic communication links and to be a strong continuing force in the Brisbane Junior Rugby League. Judy Robson remained the club's Secretary and Greame Raison Treasurer. The club has experienced a record growth for a single year with numbers up over 65% on the 2001 season.
The club had over 220 junior players and around 20 gentlemen playing in the Queensland Masters. The club has also has established its own website at centenaryjuniorrugbyleague. Com. au and has a weekly paper “Panther Print”.
ÃfÂf,ÃfÂ, Centenary had a record six players selected to play in the Brisbane Under 14 representative side, and a number played schoolboys' representative football in the Met West Under 11 and Under 15 teams. Our Under 11 Reds and Under 13s won their respective Chairman's Trophy Finals. The club hosted the Masters End of Season Carnival and was given Junior Finals to host on 25 August 2002. The 2002 season ended on a high note for Centenary with both the Under 11 Reds and Under 13s winning their respective Grand Finals and both teams finishing the season undefeated in Junior B competitions.
The 2003 Season started with the announcement of two major sponsors, Dreamtame Home Loans and Luxury Paints. Both sponsors signed for at least two years and will add a vital boost to club finances. On the football front, the club fielded a record number of Junior A and B sides (total of 15 teams) and player numbers were up strongly on last year's with the club nearly doubling in size in two years. The Under 11s won the Chairman's Trophy and the Under 16s were unlucky to lose a close encounter in their final.
At the season end we had three teams in Grand Finals and many more in the semis.
In 2004 we saw record sign-on of 368 players, total of 19 teams. Of the 19 teams, 12 were playing for competion points – 5 in 'A' Grade, 4 in 'B' Grade and 3 in 'C' Grade.
This is the year that we hosted our first Semi-Finals and Grand Finals.
In 2005 we again had over 302 players with a total of 15 junior teams + 20s and Women's. 9 junior teams played competion points – 4 in 'A' Grade, 2 in 'B' Grade and 3 in 'C' Grade.
One of the players from the Under 16 A's was Isileli Folau who started his NRL Season in 2007, playing for the Melbourne Storm in the No. 5 jersey.
In 2006, we had over 300 players and a total of 14 junior teams + 20s and Women's. 9 junior teams played competion points – 2 in tops, 3 in Div 1, 1 in Div 2, 1 in Div 3 and 2 in Div 4.
In 2007, we had 273 players and a total of 17 junior teams + Open Women's. 9 junior teams played for competion points - 3 in premiers, 3 in Div 1, 1 in Div 2, 1 in Div 3 and 1 in Div 4.
In 2008, we had a total of 11 teams + Open Mens (did not finish) + Open Womens. 5 junior teams played for competion points – 1 in tops, 2 in Div 1, 2 in Div 3.
In 2009, we had a total of 15 teams (12 Junior teams, 2 Open Mens and 1 Open Womens). 6 junior teams played for competion points – 1 in premiers, 1 in Div 1 and 4 in Div 2.
The Club adopted the motto “Our Kids Come First” in 1990 and has aimed club policy at fulfilling this over the years. The Club aims to develop children's individual and team skills in a friendly, safe and fun atmosphere.
