Early Years Of The Suns

 

Some may say that there has been some pecker heads come through our club over the years but we can only hazard a guess that Woodpecker went well with Woodridge. We played at a small field on Ewing Road Woodridge from 1973-75 and wore brown and yellow striped jumpers.

 

After being forced to relocate the Cobras were born. The Beenleigh/Slacks Creek Cobras playing in a plain red strip with green trim, the home ground was another small field situated where the roundabout on Paradise Road just beside where the freeway is today. The ground also had it's obstacles with one being a tree on the edge of the field which club co founder David 'Nobby' Clarke has not too fond memories of after being rammed into it. With poor facilities and the likely hood of any improvement three parts of zero it was time to go in search of a new and more comfortable home ground. With most of the players keen on the punt it made sense to move into Beenleigh itself and play out of the showgrounds.

 

In 1978 the Beenleigh Cobras (Slacks Creek had been dropped from the name) won their first ever Premiership taking out the 3rd Division flag. Whilst the show grounds were a vast improvement on our past grounds it was once again too small with Boothy regularly having goal kicking practice from deep in the back half. Whilst the grounds were tiny there was no place out there for the easy kick with physical pressure always close by back in the days when it was a crime not to smack your opponent behind the ear after he got a kick. The early Cobra teams were tough, so tough that they had to endure conditions that no current day players would tolerate. An example of this is that the players changed in the dog kennels or under the old timber grand stand. We don't think they have showers in either of those places. Hard times, but bonding and enjoyable times.