Harold Brown Park - 23 Richards Rd, Samford
UBD map ref: 106 G18
Postal Address: PO Box 85 Samford Qld 4520
Samford Rangers Football Club (incorporated as Samford Sporting Association) is the sole football (i.e. soccer) club in the Samford Valley and caters for boys and girls from the age of 3 and men and women from the age of 18. In recent times the popularity of the game is such that the club has grown significantly to where there are in excess of 600 players playing in over 50 teams placing it in the top third of clubs in the north of Brisbane ranked by player numbers.
The friendly community atmosphere that permeates the Samford Valley extends to the Samford Rangers Football Club and is further enhanced with our home ground being set in one of the prettier spots in Brisbane.
Football is a winter sport and the season generally runs from the beginning of March through to the end of August with teams eligible for the finals continuing into September.
Given the variety of players playing the game, there are a number of different types of competitions in which the Club competes.
A modified game of football has been developed for children 5 to 10 years old called Rooball which is a smaller version of football on smaller fields with less players, fewer rules and modified equipment. As a result, there are more goals and a lot more fun.
The aim of Rooball is to give young girls and boys the maximum opportunity to participate in football, the world's most popular sport. Players are eligible to play once they turn 5 years of age.
Rooball is divided into five age groups of mixed (girls and boys) teams, under 6 through to under 10.
For the under 9 and under 10 age groups, rooball games are scheduled for Saturday mornings and played on a home and away basis which means half the games are played at our home ground in Samford and the other games played at away grounds in surrounding suburbs.
In 2008, we commenced Saturday morning in-house competitions (our teams play each other rather than other clubs) for all under 6/7/8 teams which means all of our games are played at our home ground apart from one or two fixtures to be played at Dayboro who we invited to participate in our in-house competition.
The aim is to reduce the amount of travel required, especially for families with more than one player. For those who do enjoy playing other clubs, there will be the opportunity (optional only) to play in the various Sunday carnivals that clubs hold throughout the year.
2008 also saw the introduction of a Football Australia initiative called Small-Sided Games for all under 6/7/8 teams which are football games with fewer players competing on a smaller-sized field. They are fun games that encourage players to have more contact with the ball because fewer players are playing in a smaller playing area. SSG have a definite developmental impact on younger football players.
In Rooball and SSG there are no premiership points and game scores are not published. This is one of the most important aspects of this form of the game as it moves the emphasis from winning to learning and having fun.
Rooball and SSG encourage the frequent interchange of players so that all players get equal time on the field. Coaches are encouraged to rotate players so that they do not think of themselves as defenders, forwards or goal keepers but as football players. Young players develop the skills needed for all positions and players can later make a decision about which position they enjoy the most.
Once players reach the age of 11, they become involved in what is known as competitive football where the games are played on adult-size fields and play to the normal FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations) rules.
Junior Competitive teams range from under 11 through to under 16. At this age, girls have the choice to commence playing in a girls-only competition (refer Women/Girls Football below) or continue playing with the boys as they would have done in Rooball and SSG.
At the beginning of the season, competitive players are “graded” according to skill and ability and allocated to teams accordingly. This is an important process so that teams of similar ability play each other during the season and lop-sided scores are avoided.
Rooball, SSG and Competitive Junior team coaches are assisted by the very knowledgeable and experienced Junior Directors of Coaching provided by the club. These coaches conduct clinics for players and coaches alike and often assist coaches in preparing and conducting their training sessions.
Samford has one of the largest contingent of Women/Girls teams within a Brisbane club with teams competing in the under 12 to 16 junior and Women’s Open competitions.
From the ages of 5 to 9, girls play in mixed (boys and girls) teams. In the year in which they turn 10 years-old, girls have the choice to continue to play in mixed teams or join a girls-only team. Often girls who are exceptionally athletic and skillful are encouraged to continue to play in mixed teams whereas the majority of the girls switch to a girls-only team.
The highest level of competition for men’s football in this country is the A-League of which Queensland has currently just the one team participating, Queensland Roar.
The next level of football is called Premier League and involves predominantly Brisbane teams. The levels below this are Premier 1st Division and Premier 2nd Division with Samford Rangers participating in the latter.
Samford Rangers competes in the Premier 2nd Division with the second team playing in the Premier 2nd Division Reserves competition.
Queensland Lions Football Club runs a highly successful competition (incorporating five separate divisions) for players wishing to continue playing the game long after their “serious” competitive days are over. Samford Rangers has two Over 35 teams competing in this local competition.
The Over 35’s teams comprise players of varying degrees of skill and fitness from the very experienced (but slow!) to those who had never played the game before.
Over 35’s rules are modified to suit the slower nature of the game with slide-tackles not allowed and unlimited player interchange.
Our clubhouse and playing fields are located at Harold Brown. The following is a brief history of Harold Brown Park as told by Harold & Pam Brown.
The land where the Samford Football Club has its playing fields was first selected in 1865 by Mortimer Dover Tait. It was described as Portion 19, County of Stanley, Parish of Samford. Portion 19 had an area of 32 acres 2 roods and ran from Samford Creek to Wights Mountain Road. It cost M.D.Tait 32 pounds 15 shillings (about $65.50). Tait had also selected the adjoining Portion 20 of 25 acres 2 roods.
These two portions changed ownership several times before the turn of the century – 1872 to William Frederick Wickham and John Clune, 1880 to Frederick James Hamilton, 1882 to Thomas Sully Pratten, 1893 to Thomas Gardner. In 1918 Thomas Gardner added Portions 21, 22 and 23 to the property, making a total of 132 acres. In 1940 the land was transferred to Gustav Whyte Gardiner, James Irwin Gardiner and Robert Gardiner. The following year, 1941, it was purchased by David George Brown.
David George Brown, his wife Phillis Irene Brown and 7 year old son Harold David Brown shifted from Wights Mountain to live on, and farm the property that they called “Gardiners”, after the previous owners. They established a dairy farm and cultivated the flat where the Soccer fields and Pony Club grounds are. Horses were used to pull the plough, scarifiers, harrows etc. Crops were sown by hand. Vegetables for home use were also grown on the flat. A stand of cow cane was established on part of the flat.
About 1947 the Brown family purchased a property further along Wights Mountain Road (now called Westerngales). They dismantled the “Gardiners” house, which was situated on the hill above the Soccer and Pony Club flat, and used the timber to add to the house on the new property. They also shifted their dairy to the new property. From that time they used “Gardiners” as a dry paddock – cows not in milk were put there until they had calves and brought back to Westerngales to be milked. The Soccer field flat was part of the dry paddock.
In 1959, when David Brown started having health problems, he and his wife Phillis retired to Woody Point. They sold the farm to their son, Harold and his wife Pam. The Soccer grounds continued being used for grazing dry cattle. In 1966 “Gardiners” was subdivided into acreage blocks. On 28th September 1966 Lot 11, an area of 19 acres 1 rood was transferred (donated) to The Council of the Shire of the Pine Rivers. Harold and Pam Brown continued using this land until 1973.
In that year the Pine Rivers Shire Council decided that the newly founded Samford Sporting Association and the Golden Valley Pony Club should share the land.
After 1965, the number of children attending Samford School increased when the outer district small schools were closed and the pupils transferred to Samford School. The school now had enough pupils to play in team sports. By 1970 the girls were participating in interschool Netball fixtures and the boys in Australian Football League fixtures. By 1972 enrolment numbers had increased to 188. Samford children were enjoying the competition and the fun that team sports were giving them. They were keen to play more sport.
This is the Brown’s story showing how they became involved with the formation of the Samford Sporting Association.
Our children developed a desire to play more sport. We, as parents encouraged this. Club Netball was well and truly established in Brisbane, with weekly fixtures being played at Downey Park. In 1966 our oldest daughter, Kay, signed on with the Aspley Club, which was the Club closest to Samford at that time. She trained at Aspley one afternoon a week and played at Downey Park on Saturdays.
At school the boys played Aussie Rules. However we did not know the game and it was only starting to get established in Brisbane. We decided that Soccer was the game we wanted our son, Glenn, to play. At that time Glenn did not know much about any of the football codes. We started searching for a Club for him to join. We found the closest one at Grovely, so Glenn joined the Budapest-Grovely Club. As time went on, other Samford boys joined the same Club and before long there were quite a lot of boys traveling to Grovely for training and playing.
About the same time Flamingoes Netball Club started up at Grovely. Lisa, our second daughter joined it, and Kay transferred from the Aspley Club. In late 1960’s Checkers Club replaced Flamingoes. Our youngest daughter, Jodie started playing in 1971. Other Samford girls also joined, so now we had Samford boys and girls all playing for Grovely teams.
This meant a lot of traveling from Samford to Grovely. At that time it was considered OK to jam as many kids into the car as could fit. Every week a couple of willing parents would pick up girls and boys from school and drive to Grovely, wait till training was over and then head for home, dropping kids off at their homes on the way.
One afternoon while Alan Schafer and Harold Brown were sitting on the bank of Kedron Brook at the Budapest-Grovely Soccer Grounds they discussed the idea of starting our own Sports Club at Samford. This was suggested to other parents whose kids were playing at Grovely. Discussions took place and interest in the idea grew.
The question was - "Were we willing to give it a go?"
The answer was – “Let's do it”.
The result was – “Samford Sporting Association”.
We decided to “give it a go” - but – there were still questions to be answered.
As the word got around just about every kid in the district wanted to be part of it. But were their parents agreeable? Notes were sent home from school to find out. For this exercise we received much help from the school. Pam Brown was teaching there at that time. The Head Teacher allowed her to run off notes on the old Gestetner Copying Machine, and donated the paper. She was able to chase up the kids to make sure the notes got home to the parents, and also to collect the replies. The response was good enough for us to proceed with the project.
When Harold and Pam Brown subdivided their property in 1966, the Pine Rivers Shire Council resumed 19 acres 1 rood fronting Samford Creek and Richards Road. This area was to be set aside for future parkland. Nothing had been done with this land up to 1972. Brown’s cows were still grazing on it. Pam Brown wrote a letter to the Pine Rivers Shire Council, notifying them that some interested parents wished to establish a Sports Club in Samford, and that we needed suitable ground for Soccer Fields and Netball Courts. We had looked at other land that was resumed by Council from other subdivisions that were occurring in the district at that time, but could find nothing suitable. We suggested to Council that the park area on Richards Road would be satisfactory and we were prepared to do the work required to transform it into playing grounds.
We did not know that the Golden Valley Pony Club was also looking for a permanent ground for their use. Brian Burke (our local councilor) informed us that the Council had received a request from the Pony Club for use of the same ground in the same week that we had applied. We met with Pony club members and, even though both groups needed more area, we decided that the area would be shared. The Pony Club used their ground mainly on Sundays and we would be using ours on Saturdays for fixtures and some afternoons after school for training. Our main concern was that if a ball were kicked through or over the fence it might spook the horses that the children were riding. The arrangement wasn’t entirely satisfactory but it would suffice – so we proceeded to the next step.
Committee members of the Grovely Clubs guided us with the administration requirements for running Soccer and Netball Clubs. Some parents attended meetings of the Associations - Soccer at Perry Park and Netball at Downey Park. We were confident that we could manage what was necessary.
We now felt we could round up enough players to form teams of mixed ages, and we had a cow paddock to play on, and plenty of keen parents to get things going.
It was now “full steam ahead”!
We were ready to start. We met at the Samford School to decide on the formation of a Sports Club. This first meeting was not so much a formal meeting as a discussion of ideas. Many of the ideas were agreed upon and were adopted. Later on these were incorporated in a constitution. At the meeting a committee was elected. Here are some of the ideas agreed upon at that meeting.
The name “SAMFORD SPORTING ASSOCIATION” was agreed upon. The organisation was to provide for whatever sport was needed by residents of Samford. The foundation sports would be Netball and Soccer. To start with there would be only Junior teams.
“Samford Rangers” was the title our teams would play under. No, we didn’t consider ourselves to be bushrangers! The name actually came from the ranges that surrounded our valley. To get in or out of Samford you had to cross the Samford Range. The name “Samford Ranges” seemed to flow, so we added the “r” and called the teams the Samford Rangers. The players would be the “rangers” of Samford.
A club pennant showing the mountain ranges was painted by Lyn McDowall and it was proudly carried by the girls in the March Past at the beginning of each Netball season. It was displayed at the Soccer and Netball carnivals that we ran. Lyn and Campbell McDowall were great workers for the Club, with Lyn holding the position of Treasurer in the early days. Their sons, Malcolm and Robert played Soccer.
This came later. Members of the S.S.A. were given the opportunity to design a Club badge. The response was good and the winning entry was chosen by votes. It was the work of Kay Hodges. There was no prize. Kay and husband, Barry were great volunteer workers for the Club. Their three boys, Paul, Ross and Dru all played Soccer.
You might notice that the design chosen for the badge did not contain mountain ranges. I think by the time the design was voted on, we all thought we were more like bushrangers, and so Ned Kelly was more appropriate. The horseshoe outlining Ned was appropriate as many of our players were also members of the Pony Club. Metal badges were made and special ones, inscribed “foundation member”, were presented to the foundation members of the club.
Blue and Black were our chosen “colours” and this combination was accepted by the Soccer and Netball Associations.
The Soccer boys wore black shorts and sky blue tee shirt with black collar and trimmed with black on the sleeves and V-neck. Their socks were blue with two black stripes round the top. The Club logo was screen-printed on the shirts.
At that time the uniform for all Netball players in Australia was a 3-pleat tunic over a short sleeve blouse. We decided on a sky blue tunic with a blue check blouse. The tunic had “Samford Rangers” embroidered on the yoke. The girls wore black socks and black sandshoes. The Netball Association was very strict about uniforms, even the socks worn by each player in the team had to be the same.
By 1977 the Netball uniforms had changed, much to the delight of the girls. (After all, the 3-pleat tunic was in fashion as a school uniform way back in the 1930’s). They then wore the same tee shirts as the Soccer boys with a blue collar in place of the black. A black wrap around pleated skirt, with the Club logo on the front, replaced the 3-pleat tunic. Some photos show a variation in the shirt. A 1977 photo shows one team with a black diagonal band on the front of the shirt and a black collar.
Over the years the uniforms for both the Soccer players and the Netball players have changed. More practical fabrics and designs have been introduced.
We had a paddock which we needed to turn into a sports field.
At that time, Richards Road was unofficially closed to through traffic. A wire fence across the road at the top of the hill kept the cows in and the cars out. There was no crossing over Samford Creek so cars could not get to the grounds from Camp Mountain Road either. Fences around the flat were non-existent so cows still grazed there. But, for many years, this had been a ploughed cultivation so the ground had many hips and hollows. There were no sheds or buildings. It was a bare paddock.
This had to be made into a sports field, where kids could run and play without fear of tripping over and hurting themselves. We would need toilets and somewhere to house equipment. We would also need a canteen.
The Soccer boys needed goal posts and nets and enough level ground to mark out at least one Soccer field. The Netballers needed goal posts and an area for training. Their fixtures were played at Downey Park, so their section was not needed on Saturdays, when the boys had home games. At that time the girls did not play Soccer.
The whole scene was pretty daunting but the parents were keen. We were confident that we could achieve our goal so the work began. With everyone throwing in to help, we soon had a sports ground that we considered good enough for our kids to play on, and we weren’t offended when visiting teams called it a cow paddock. We had to admit that they were right. I must confess that on some occasions we had to take our shovels and clean up after the cows before we could start the day’s fixtures.
Working bees were well attended. People came in their work clothes armed with shovels, rakes, picks, buckets, mowers etc. ready to work and get dirty. Parents and kids had emu parades, picking up sticks, stones and other foreign objects. Others worked on their own when they could spare the time, especially if the job they were doing was considered dangerous when people were around. Just as well there was no-one around when a tractor was tearing around the ground hour after hour at all times of the day and night, dragging a length of channel iron behind it to level out some of the ruts.
We erected a fence separating the S.S.A. grounds from the Pony Club grounds, and planted trees along it. We did not want to have a soccer ball landing among the ponies or a pony trotting amongst the players. The wire at the top of the hill was removed. Old fences were propped up to hopefully keep the cattle off the grounds, though sometimes it failed to do so.
I must mention the gum tree. One tall gum tree grew on the grounds. Harold Brown insisted that it not be cut down. When trying to work out the best way to mark out the soccer fields we dodged that tree, year after year. We were told in 2008 that it was no longer there. It finally had to go.
Time was getting close to the beginning of the Soccer and Netball seasons. The Netball goalposts with their home-made rings were set up where the netball courts were measured out. These fitted into a pipe in the ground, so that they were easily removed when the grounds were needed for Soccer. The Club produced many fine goal-shooters using these not-so-perfect rings for training.
The Soccer goal posts were also made by the parents. We acquired some cargo nets which were attached to the timber by nails. None of this was standard and drew many not-so-nice comments from visiting teams. However we were not fazed. We were proud of our efforts to get our club under way. Our main aim was to get the sports up and running. Getting the nets set up each time required a lot of effort. Usually a boy was hoisted up to hook the net on to the nails on the top rail. One day one of the boys slipped and was saved when his pants hooked on to a nail. He was hanging there but not hurt. Everyone saw the funny side of it, excepting the boy.
Before we could start playing fixtures on the grounds, we had to have toilets. We also wanted to have a canteen, though we could always set up a tent for that. In 1973 households around Brisbane were being connected to sewerage, and residents were disposing of their outdoor lavatories (dunnies). We acquired four of these outhouses and some of the parents with trucks picked them up and brought them to the grounds.
Two were set up as toilets. That was easy – they still had the seats in them and one even had the sawdust box. All we had to provide were the tins, the contents of which had to be buried – another job for the willing.
The other two buildings became our canteen. This was an engineering feat, with no plan to follow. One wall was removed from each of the toilets. The two buildings were joined together, giving us one building with a door at the front and a door at the back. The back door remained, and became the entrance to the canteen. The front door was removed. The top half of the wall beside it was cut out and fitted into the bottom part of the gap left by the removal of the door. The door then became the counter. Work all that out, if you can - I said it was an engineering feat. There was hardly room to move inside our little canteen but it sufficed for the time being.
Besides getting dirty and tired on these workdays, we had lots of fun as well. There was always a fire going with the billy boiling for a cuppa, and sometimes a stew bubbling away to enjoy when we knocked off for the day.
At last we were ready for our first season of competition.
While searching through some of our old invoice books and diaries I found the following items charged to the S.S.A. from H.D. & P.R. Brown. The invoice was dated 1973.It read as follows:
| Timber from Winn Bros. | $48.72 |
| Rope & nails for nets | $5.76 |
| First-aid gear | $5.27 |
| Pump | $1.10 |
| Stamp pad | $2.00 |
| Rope | $3.00 |
| Hire Hall | $2.00 |
| Duplicating paper | $2.65 |
| Paint | $8.40 |
| Paint & rope | $16.90 |
| Golden Circle | $18.00 |
| Badges (Netball) | $11.50 |
| Bag lime | $1.50 |
| Squeegee | $0.99 |
| Paint | $16.95 |
| Hinges | $1.80 |
| Padlocks | $18.60 |
| Dieselene | $5.00 |
| Total | $170.14 |
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It is obvious that these things were purchased for the preparation of the grounds and canteen. You can work out what most things were used for.
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