SHERWOOD FOOTBALL CLUB CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF SENIOR FOOTY
Andrew Thomson
Sherwood Football Club (incorporating the Western Magpies) will celebrate 50 years of Senior Football this Saturday when the Magpies host Sandgate at McCarthy Homes Oval at Chelmer.
The Magpies are hosting a function after the match and have designed a Commemorative Guernsey with the names of every person to have played or coached for the Pies in all senior grades of the club. The commemorative Guernsey will be worn by the Senior and Reserves players in Saturday’s match against Sandgate. The guernsey will be available for purchase at $100 each.
Sherwood Districts Australian Football Club formed in 1956 and played junior football until it was decided that there were so many players wanting to continue to play on that it was decided to field senior teams.
Sherwood formed a team in 1968 and played in the Metropolitan league as it was known then, finishing 5th in its first season and runners up the following year.
Sherwood joined the SQAFA when it was formed in 1970 and won the Premiership that season and again in 1973.
Sherwood then went on a Golden run to win eight premierships in a row from 1975 to 1982. The Reserves competition was formed in 1972 and Sherwood also won five premierships in the SQAFA.
Some of the great players of that era were Rob Blank, Ziggy Mateja, Gary Glazebrook, Dennis Hogan, Warren Selvage, who played in all 8 premierships and coached 2 of them, current Reserves coach Des Lashman who played in 6 premierships, Greg Butler, Ian Anderson, Craig St John, Grogan Medallist and 7 time club captain Bill Peirce, 100 goal full forward Alan Giffard and 3x time club Best and fairest Steve Rippon. Among the Pies coaches were VFL legends Les Foote and John Rantall , while Queensland legend Lindsay Jacob was regarded as one of the best coaches at the club. Club doyen Kevin Kluver also coached the club for a number of years.
Sherwood then joined the QAFL in 1983 and retained their Magpie moniker after a coin toss to decide with the Southport Magpies, now known as the Southport Sharks as a result. The Magpies did not meet the same successes and in 1988 joined the Gold Coast league for 3 years.
In 1991 Sherwood and Western Districts amalgamated to form the West Brisbane and they won the 1996 QAFL premiership.
Sherwood Football Club were again fielded as a standalone side in 1999, but were now known as The Western Magpies and played for 2 seasons in the Sth Qld League before promotion to the QAFL. The club was competitive without making finals and after 5 years, just as they were coming good, AFLQ decided to relegate the Magpies to QAFL Division 2 despite having 2 players drafted by the Brisbane Lions (Marty Pask and Pat Garner), 1 to St Kilda (Ed McDonell) and Reserves and Colts being regular finalists, including multiple Division 1 Colts Premierships and a Reserves Premiership, showing the club was building nicely.
The Magpies won Premierships at this level in 2006 and 2008 under Paul Grentell and 2012 under Peter McClennan. There was a 2 year stint back in the QAFLState League in 2009-10 (which was at the time equivalent to the current NEAFL level) that was unsuccessful and the Pies reluctantly returned to the Pineapple Hotel Cup on the formation of the NEAFL in 2011.
Chris Mihalopoulos has played over 300 games for the Magpies and captained the club for ten years for three premierships (likely close to 500 if you include junior games). Other players to shine during the early years of the Western Magpies were Michael Blackmore, Dean Parkin, Matt Taylor and Scott Hedley.
With several ex-QAFL clubs dropping out of the NEAFL in 2014, the Magpies again joined the QAFL top level and have been successful since then without adding to the premiership list. The Pies have figured in the top 3 twice in 4 completed QAFL seasons and are now holding down fifth place on the ladder in a tight 2018 season. More recent champions have been Val Pope (three time Bill Peirce medallist), Jim Rozynski, Tim McEvoy, Ed McDonnell, Ben Heffernan-Roper, Luke Scott and 2015 Grogan Medallist Callum Carseldine.
Of the current players skipper Drew Mitchell, 150 game player Ben Jaenke-Cain, Matt Davis, Lachlan Woods and Anthony Corrie are leading the Pies charge up the QAFL ladder
The Magpies have had 11 players picked or drafted to VFL/AFL clubs.
SHERWOOD DAFC SUMMARY 1968- 1990
1968 -- 5th Metropolitan League
1969 -- 2nd Metropolitan League
1970 -- PREMIERS SQAFA
1971 -- 3rd SQAFA
1972 -- 3rd SQAFA
1973 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Under 17s
1974 -- 3rd SQAFA
1975 -- PREMIERS SQAFA
1976 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers Reserves and Under 17s
1977 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Thirds
1978 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Reserves and Under 17s.
1979 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Reserves and Under 17s
1980 -- PREMIERS SQAFA
1981 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Reserves and Under 17s
1982 -- PREMIERS SQAFA, Premiers in Reserves
1983 -- 7th QAFL
1984 -- 8th QAFL
1985 -- 9th QAFL
1986 -- 5th QAFL
1987 -- 8th QAFL
1988 -- 6th Gold Coast AFL
1989 -- 5th Gold Coast AFL
1990 -- 3rd State Association
WEST BRISBANE 1991-1996
1991 –
1992--
1993 –Premiers --Under 17s
1994 –
1995. -- Premiers Under 17s
1996 -- PREMIERS QAFL, Premiers --Under 18s
1997 --
1998 – Premiers --Under 18s
WESTERN MAGPIES AFC SUMMARY 1999-2018
1999 -- 5th QSFL
2000 -- 5th AFL Sth Qld; Premiers Under 18s
2001 -- 9th QAFL
2002 -- 9th QAFL
2003 -- 8th QAFL; Premiers Under 18s
2004 -- 8th QAFL
2005 -- 3rd SEQAFL Div 2; Premiers Reserves and Under 18s
2006 -- PREMIERS SEQAFL Div 1, Premiers in Reserves
2007 -- Runners Up SEQAFL Div 1; Premiers in Reserves and Thirds
2008 -- PREMIERS SEQAFL Div 1
2009 -- 12th QAFL; Premiers Woodsmen
2010 -- 12th QAFL; Premiers in Under 18s
2011 -- 3rd SEQAFL Div 1;
2012 -- PREMIERS SEQAFL Div 1
2013 -- 3rd SEQAFL Div 1
2014 -- 8th QAFL; Premiers Woodsmen
2015 -- 4th QAFL; Premiers in Under 17s
2016 -- 3rd QAFL
2017 -- 6th QAFL
Significant club history was lost in the 2011 floods, so unfortunately not all records are available as a result.