WINDSOR-ZILLMERE (Windsor)
Affiliated: QFL 1923-6; QANFL 1927-63; QAFL 1964-1990
Home Ground: O'Callaghan Park, Zillmere Road, Zillmere
Formed: Windsor Football Club formed 1923; merged with Zillmere to form Windsor-Zillmere Football Club in 1963
Colours: Royal blue and white
Emblem: Eagles
Premierships: Windsor -1929-30#, 1932-3, 1936-7-8-9-40, 1947, 1949-50-1; Windsor-Zillmere - 1975-6, 1981, 1988 (16 total plus one disputed#)
De Little Medallists: N.Brown 1927; H.Green 1930; J.Davies 1934, 1935 & 1938; C.Stream 1937 (4 Medallists/6 Medals - records incomplete)
Grogan Medallists: Dick Parton 1949; Robin Hull 1967; Terry Weller 1969; Barry Karklis 1980; Craig Brittain 1988 (5 total)
QAFL Top Goalkickers: R.Marshall (101) 1950, (126) 1951 & (83) 1952; R.Hull (89) 1967; D.Pie (92) 1982; J.Blair (96) 1988 (6 total)
Highest Score: 41.17 (263) versus Kedron on 26 June 1977
Most Games: 249 by Terry Weller
# Some records show that the 1930 premiership was won by Mayne, while others indicate that it was shared between Windsor and Mayne after Mayne refused to allow Windsor recourse to the right of challenge which they had earned as minor premiers.
| Windsor Football Club was formed in 1923
following a meeting of half a dozen local residents. The club joined the
QANFL, reaching its first grand final the following year, but lost heavily to
the power side of the era, Brisbane.
Two further losing grand finals followed in 1927 and 1928 before Windsor finally broke its duck in 1929. Opposition on all three occasions came from Mayne, against whom Windsor would, over the course of the next few seasons, engage in one of Queensland football's most notorious and intense rivalries. A highly controversial development in 1930 helped reinforce the lack of love between the two sides. Although many record books persist in showing Mayne as having procured the premiership that year with a 10.5 (65) to 7.8 (50) grand final defeat of Windsor, those associated with Windsor tell a different story. Mayne's victory, they contend, was only in the final, and according to the rules of the day Windsor, as minor premier, was entitled to a decisive play off, or 'challenge final'. Mayne, however, or so the tale goes, refused to consent to this, for reasons which have become shrouded in the mists of time. If Windsor's contention is true, though, then it would seem that the ultimate destiny of the 1930 QANFL premiership was unresolved, and that neither - or, conceivably, both - clubs could claim to have secured it. Whatever the truth of the matter it could nevertheless readily be inferred that the situation must have acted as something of a positive spur to Windsor, which went on to contest no fewer than seven of the next nine grand finals, winning them all. Included in the victories were five in succession between 1936 and 1940, all coached by one of Queensland football's all time great coaches, Jim Freeman. |
The Eagles' David Pye marks safely on the chest in the 1983 preliminary final against Morningside. Despite an individual return of 8 goals for the game, Pye could not prevent his side from losing the match by 6 points. (Click to enlarge.)
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After missing the grand finals of 1941 and 1942 Windsor re-emphasised its pre-eminence with no fewer than nine consecutive grand final appearances between 1943 and 1951. The fact that only four of these grand finals resulted in premierships is perhaps indicative of a measure of complacency, but in the final three years of this period Windsor fielded arguably the most formidable combinations seen in Queensland football up to that point. In both 1949 and 1951 the team won every match.
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Windsor-Zillmere's Paul Ugle takes a one handed grab against Coorparoo during the Eagles' last ever season, 1990. (Click to enlarge.) |
After that, where could Windsor go but
down? Although the side was sufficiently strong to contest grand finals in
both 1953 and 1956 it lost both; by the end of the 1950s, its star was clearly
on the wane. What was needed was an injection of fresh blood, and this
came in 1963 via a merger with the Zillmere Football Club.
Initially, as with many marriages of convenience, finding a winning formula proved elusive, and over the course of the new club's first decade finals involvement was only sporadically attained. However, by the mid 1970s, if some crass wordplay can be allowed, the Eagle was ready to land, an activity it undertook just as football in Queensland was enjoying arguably the closest thing to a genuine boom period in its history. Attendances were on the rise and, helped to a great extent by an influx of 'foreign' players and coaches from the southern states, the standard of football being played was higher than ever. On the interstate front Queensland won section 2 of the Australian championships for the first time, and scored its first ever victories over Tasmania in 1975 and the VFA two years later. |
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While this was happening Windsor-Zillmere, with premierships in 1975 and 1976, was Queensland's leading football club. With players like Ken Fitzgerald, Neville Weller, Frank Cattelini and Barry Karklis to the fore, it seemed set to dominate for years to come, but this was not to be. The side did make one further grand final during the 1970s, in 1978, but with only 14 goals from 39 scoring shots effectively kicked itself out of contention against Western Districts, who managed 17.11 (113).
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Cameron Buchanan of Windsor-Zillmere, having successfully eluded a tackle, looks set to off load. |
The Eagles returned to pre-eminence briefly in 1981 and again seven years later, but maintaining financial viability in football was becoming increasingly problematical. In 1991, in a bid to ensure survival, it was decided to combine forces with Sandgate to form a new club, North Brisbane.
Where now?
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