How Ipswich made my rugby league dreams come true

I can fully understand what the Cowboys fans and players are going through this week, as this season my own rugby league dreams came true.

At approximately 5.45pm on September the 27th, the full-time siren sounded at Suncorp Stadium signalling the end of a drought, a drought which I thought would go on forever.

It was the end of the Ipswich Jets’ premiership drought, a drought that had been going for 29 years and had seen four grand final losses.

While the Club has existed since 1982, in the old State League days the club’s search for the holy grail began in earnest in 1986 when we were accepted into the BRL. It was a way to keep our players at home rather than have them move from the local league to clubs such as Valleys, Easts or Wests.

It gave the City a unified rugby league voice in our quest to be heard.

I was there on that March day in 1986 when the club took it’s first tentative steps in the rugby league world, a wide eyed 13-year-old who along with thousands of others lined up along the Terrace at North Ipswich to get in and see Tommy Raudonikis’ side battle with Alan Langer and the Walters brothers against the big guns.

We didn’t win that day but we showed enough to suggest that this was a club who would fight until the end.

That end nearly came in 1995 when the club looked destined to be kicked out of the BRL competition. Even though we were competitive on the field, a lack of funds looked as though it would spell the end of the club.

The club showed the famous Ipswich fighting spirit that night to survive. I believe it was that night that the Ipswich Jets’ spirit went to another level.

Senator Neville Bonner spoke about pride and what the club means to the city, lighting a fire inside me that still burns brightly 20 years later.

I have been fortunate to be on the inner sanctum for some time watching coaches, players and support staff come and go in the club’s search for the holy grail.

The closest anyone had gotten was Kevvie Walters’ men in 2008 who were cruelly beaten by Souths-Logan in the last minute. That elusive title continually slipped away until September 27 when the Walker brothers and 17 unheralded heroes took to their field of dreams, Suncorp Stadium.

They had six games of NRL experience up against Townsville’s 582 to win a title that no one outside the club believed was possible. We had to prove that a star team can beat a team full of stars.

That night back at the Leagues Club I realised that the thousands of kilometres, the thousands of dollars and the thousands of heartaches I had put into supporting the club’s search for the holy grail was worth it.

When full time sounded at Suncorp Stadium my tears flowed just like any rain that signals the end of a drought. I didn’t care. That afternoon on the bench at Suncorp I was carrying with me the 500 or more players that have played first grade, as well as the countless others who have played in the lower grades and worked for the club in some way.

I was fortunate to meet up with some of them at the Leagues Club to share the moment with them. This was as much for them as for anyone else at Suncorp that afternoon.

To cap off an outstanding season our boys travelled to Sydney and won the State Championship against Newcastle. We are also BRL Premiers and Chairmans Trophy winners, plus the Club will receive the keys to the City on Thursday night.

It may have taken 29 years and a lot of broken dreams but every one of those years and every one of those broken dreams are worth it.