The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club representing the northern suburbs of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They play in the Queensland Wizard Cup, and, through their predecessors, are one of the oldest clubs in Australia. Norths have won 14 A Grade, 17 Reserve Grade and 14 Colts/Third Grade Premierships. They hold the record for most consecutive first grade Brisbane Rugby League premierships, winning six in a row between 1959 and 1964.

History

Before rugby league

The first incarnation of Northern Suburbs was the Past Grammars

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club, which was formed in 1891 as a separate Old Boys football club for

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , c ...

.It shouldn't be confused with the school team known as Past & Present Grammar (made up of students, teachers & past students) which competed from 1888 to 1890.Brief History of GPS
/ref> The club was quite successful in its early years, winning premierships in 1892, 1898 and 1899, as well as 1914. Wallaby captain

Bob McCowan Robert Herman "Bob" McCowan (28 February 1875 – 29 April 1941) was a pioneer Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative fullback who played in his country's first Test series of 1899, captaining the national side on ...

was a Past Grammar player when he led the national side in 1899.

Switch to rugby league

Following the disbandment of club

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

in Brisbane towards the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Past Grammars, along with Christian Brothers and

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, joined the Rugby Football League in 1920

From Past Grammars RLFC to Norths

Past Grammars, also known as Grammar Norths, won their first premiership in 1927, before becoming Northern Suburbs, following the introduction of District Football by the Brisbane Rugby League in 1933.

Post-war

In 1959 Clive Churchill (the little master) captain-coached Brisbane Rugby League club Norths to a premiership, his training methods were carried on by Bob Bax who coached Northern Suburbs RLFC to become the first club in BRL history to win three consecutive first grade premierships when they defeated

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestr ...

29–5 in the 1961

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

in front of a then-record club crowd of 19,824 at

Lang Park Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

. Norths continued to dominate the decade with 7 grand final wins in 8 appearances. It would be another 11 years before they tasted success again. Norths'

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

representative player

Nick Geiger Nick Geiger (born 1952) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s. A Queensland state and Australia national representative , he played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for the Norths club ...

was selected as the

Australia national team Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sp ...

's hooker in the final of the 1977 Rugby League World Cup tournament.

1990s

In the 1990s, along with many other Queensland clubs, Norths suffered heavily financially. Eventually it came to the stage that in 1998 they became a

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

with

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

newcomers, the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

, which attracted much needed finance, as well as some quality players, as well as securing the Devils' future. Also in 1998, the club won its first First Grade premiership since 1980, beating Wests in the Grand Final.

2000s

In the 2006 NRL Grand Final Melbourne's 17 man team had 13 players who had played with Norths in past years, including

Matt Geyer Matt Geyer (born 5 September 1975) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A New South Wales State of Origin representative , he played his club football primarily with the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League comp ...

, who won a Premiership with the Devils in 1998 and Melbourne in 1999. In the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Tri-Nations series, 4 Norths players graduated to the Australian Kangaroos squad and 2 players, via Melbourne Storm, represented

New Zealand Kiwis The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

. In 2008 the Devils signed a partnership agreement with the Brisbane Broncos which sees developing Broncos players train with and compete for the Devils in the Intrust Super Cup. In 2018 Rohan Smith was recruited to be the Head Coach of the club. In 2019 he led the Devils to the finals, with the team falling agonizingly short of progressing past the first round.

Home grounds

For many years Norths played out of Oxenham Park in

Nundah Nundah (previously called German Station) is an inner suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It contains the neighbourhood of Toombul. In the , Nundah had a population of 12,141 people. Prior to European settlement, Nundah was i ...

, but they moved to their current home ground, Albert Bishop Park, in 1969. Commonly referred to simply as 'Bishop Park', it borders the Schulz Canal in Nundah, and is named after club stalwart Albert Bishop, MBE. Norths has a licensed Leagues Club, Norths Leagues, at Bishop Park, as well as a second licensed Club at Anzac Avenue,

Kallangur Kallangur is a suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Kallangur had a population of 20,405 people. Geography The North Coast railway line forms the western boundary of the suburb, while the Bruce Highway forms th ...

, further north of Brisbane.

Season summaries

BRL (1920–1995)

Queensland Cup

Source:

Notable players

* Clive Churchill *

Cooper Cronk Cooper Patrick Cronk (born 5 December 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An n international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played most of his club career for ...

* Israel Folau *

Matt Gillett Matthew Gillett (born 12 August 1988) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a forward in the 2010s. He played for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, NRL and Australia national rugby leagu ...

Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Australian professional rugby league footballer. His regular playing positions were Centre, Fullback, Five-eighth and Wing. From 2011 to 2019 he pl ...

Joe Kilroy "Smokin" Joe Kilroy (born 21 June 1960) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin representative /, he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League Premiership with Bro ...

Tyrone Roberts Tyrone Roberts (born 1 June 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Burleigh Bears in the Queensland Cup as a or . He previously played for the Brisbane Broncos, Newcastle Knights and the Gold Coast Titan ...

* Andrew McCullough * Shane Perry * Mark Protheroe *

Billy Slater William Slater (born 18 June 1983), is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and one-time captain of the Queensland State of Origin team, he played his entir ...

* Cameron Smith * Kevin Walters *

Steve Walters Steve Walters (born 28 August 1965), also known by the nickname of "Boxhead", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s who at the peak of his career was considered the best in the game. An ...

Jharal Yow Yeh Jharal Yow Yeh (born 22 December 1989) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative or , he also played ...

Greatest Team

On 16 August 2008 in the year of the Centenary of Rugby League, Norths Devils announced their greatest team ever. The team is made up of players in their entire 75-year tenure. # Harry Bates # Fonda Metassa # Jack Reardon # Henry Hegarty #

# Bill Pearson # Jack Stapleton # Vic Rudd # Cameron Smith # Lloyd Weier # Trevor Gillmeister # Mark Graham # Edward "Babe" Collins # Mark Murray #

Greg Conescu Greg Conescu (born 24 May 1960) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. An Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played all of his club football in Queensland with Norths Devils (with whom he ...

# Ian Massie Coach: #

Bob Bax Bob Bax (1925-2000) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. During the 1940s he played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership as a half back for the Brothers club and also played for the Brisbane rugby league team in the Bulimba ...

Manager: # Albert Bishop

References

External links

northsdevils.comnorthsdevilsrlfc.com
{{Rugby League in Queensland Rugby clubs established in 1891 1891 establishments in Australia Rugby league teams in Brisbane