Surfers Paradise Australian Football Club (nicknamed The Demons) is a

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

based club competing in the

AFL Queensland AFL Queensland (AFLQ) is the governing body of Australian rules football in Queensland. AFL Queensland has over 216,000 participants (including Northern Rivers which is governed by AFLQ) playing at all levels of football from the introductory ...

QAFL Australian rules football competition.

History

The Surfers Paradise Australian Football Club was established in 1961 and competed in the Gold Coast Australian Football League's official inaugural season in 1962 with their home ground situated a few blocks from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

on Beach Road. The club captured its first senior premiership in 1963 and back-to-back-to-back senior GCAFL flags followed in 1967, 1968 & 1969. More senior premierships were won by Surfers Paradise in 1972 & 1974. In 1983, the club moved to the neighbouring suburb of Benowa and set up base at Sir Bruce Small Park managed to sneak into the 1983 GCAFL Grand Final in their first season in Benowa but were defeated by Coolangatta. They bounced back to win the 1984 premiership at Carrara but lost the Grand Final in 1985 by five points. Former Hawthorn player

Max McMahon Max McMahon (born 20 March 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1960s. After being chased initially by Carlton, McMahon joined Hawthorn in 1961. A centre ...

was appointed senior coach in 1992 and he secured a premiership in his first year as head coach. It was followed by a five-point loss in the 1993 Grand Final. The 1992 forward line that included Andrew Gibson a former Williamstown star forward, Gibson kicked 525 goals for the club in 78 senior games, an average of 6.5 goals per game. Half Forward Barry Oates starred in the 1992 finals series kicking 17 goals including 8 goals in the Preliminary Final against Burleigh. Oates also went on to win the league's Most Valuable Player award voted by the League's coaches. Centreman Rod Brewster capped off a great season with selection into the Queensland state side. Ruckman Paul Hams won the club Best & Fairest Award with Oates runner up. During 1996, former Geelong player and then Surfers Paradise Captain/Coach David Cameron notably kicked twenty-five goals in a single game. Mass confusion occurred during the 1998 Gold Coast Grand Final between Surfers Paradise and Palm Beach Currumbin when the scoreboard incorrectly displayed a full-time scoreline draw of 9.10 (64) to PBC's 8.14 (62). After several minutes of confusion, the umpires correctly adjusted the score to declare Surfers Paradise two-point victors and hand the club its 10th senior premiership. In 2000, The Gold Coast division was wound up and clubs played in an enlarged AFL South Queensland competition, after two seasons in which the club fell on hard times and the club was restructured to become the Surfers Paradise Australian Football Club Inc and was relegated to Division Two. In 2005, Queensland Australian Football was restructured into two divisions. Surfers Paradise was promoted back into the Pineapple Hotel Cup (Division One) competition. Another restructure in 2012 saw the AFL Pineapple Hotel Cup become SEQAFL Division 1 Pineapple Hotel Cup and Surfers Paradise were promoted into the top state level

QAFL The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland. Previously known as the Queensland Football League (QFL), Queensland ...

upon its rebirth in 2014. Brad Moore coached the club claimed its first senior QAFL premiership in 2019 with a tight two-point victory over cross town rivals Palm Beach Currumbin at

Metricon Stadium Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of th ...

Premierships

Gold Coast Australian Football League *1963, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1984,1990, 1992. AFLQ Gold Coast Division *1998 Queensland Australian Football League *2019

Juniors

The juniors were formed in 1962 as one of six foundation members of the Gold Coast Juniors Football League and in 1964 the under 16s won the premiership. The Under 18s/ 17s won eight consecutive premierships from 1965 to 1972.(Coolangatta won under 17's 1970 & Southport won 1971) The Junior and Senior clubs have delivered fourteen players to the AFL.

Notable junior players

Steven McLuckie Steven McLuckie (born 12 February 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League (AFL). From Surfers Paradise, McLuckie played with AFL Queensland State League club Southport ...

Brisbane Bears/ Lions, * Darren Carlson Brisbane Bears/ Lions, * Matthew Kennedy Brisbane Bears/ Lions, *

Marcus Ashcroft Marcus Ashcroft (born 25 September 1971) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played 318 games for the Brisbane Bears/Lions and is currently on the coaching panel of the Gold Coast Football Club. The Marcus Ashcroft Medal, ...

Brisbane Bears/ Lions, *

Clark Keating Clark Anthony Keating (born 19 March 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Known as "Crackers" (after former VFL star Peter Keenan), Keating was selected by the Brisbane Bears as a local (along wit ...

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

* Daniel Merrett

Trent Knobel Trent Knobel (born 23 May 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Knobel, a ruckman originally from the Gold Coast, was recruited to the AFL in his home state with the Brisbane Lions onto their rookie ...

* Marc Woolnough Geelong * Brad Moran Nth Melbourne & Adelaide * Aaron Keating Adelaide * Ricky Petterd Melbourne * Jesse White Sydney * Brent Renouf Hawthorn & Port Adelaide *

Dayne Zorko Dayne Zorko (born 9 February 1989) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Zorko is a five-time Merrett–Murray Medallist and was selected in the 2017 All-Australian ...

Brisbane Lions

AFL Drafted Players

References

External links

Official site
{{AFL Queensland State League Clubs Queensland State Football League clubs 1962 establishments in Australia Surfers Paradise, Queensland Australian rules football clubs established in 1962 Australian rules football teams on the Gold Coast, Queensland