The Sharks history is a long and extensive one with a lot of moves to various grounds and many, many players taking their part. If there is one thing that can definitely be said about the club is that the teams have always had a massive amount of fun and laughs and the comradery of the Sharks playing group is unrivaled.
There are so many stories that can be told about each and every season and all of the characters that have coached and played, if we tried we would never have enough room to put it all on paper. The following memories are arguably the most integral to the Sharks history.
1980's
Back in 1983 the Masters Australian Football Qld (MAFQ) was created. At that time a group of players turned up at a field and sides were picked, based on the number of players that day.
1984 saw the formation of 4 clubs to cover the different regions of Brisbane, North, South, East and West. This of course was the birth of Souths Superules.
The Sharks played in the over 35’s competition and has done each and every year since.
For the first 5 seasons the Sharks didn’t train at all but just met on game days at the field, ran on and played a game of footy. During this time, in 1985, the Sharks decided to appoint a coach for their games and Rod Diprose stuck up his hand to take the job on game days
1986 saw the Sharks find their first home ground at Coorparoo but continued to only meet on game days until 1988, 1989 saw the Sharks begin their mid week training which has continued since.
1990's
A player who was in the future to become a Sharks Legend Alex McRae took over the reigns as coach in 1991 and continued to coach for the next 4 years
South’s Superules played out of the Coorparoo ground until the finish of the ’92 season.
Now 1993 and the Sharks relocated to the Mt Gravatt Football club but only for the one season as they again moved back to Coorparoo for the “94 season.
1995 again saw the Sharks moving to another club when they made a decision to play out of the Yeronga Football Club.
The sharks made Yeronga their home base until the close of the 2000 season with the first two seasons, ’95 and ’96 playing entirely undefeated.
In the years between 1996 and 1999 the club fielded 3 different coaches until Alex “Big Al” McRae took over the reigns yet again in 2000 for another 3 year stint as coach of the mighty Sharks.
2000's
Alex’s final two years as coach in 2001 & 2002 saw the club again relocate to Moorooka
After the 2 years that the club played at Moorooka the boys decided to make another move to a junior’s only club in the form of the Jindalee Jaguars. The Sharks played out of the Jags den from 2003 to 2008. In building a relationship with the Jags Juniors and to help with some logistical matters the Sharks decided to change their playing name in 2006 to Jindalee Jaguars Masters Australian Football Club. Whilst the business activities were still listed as South’s Superules the team played as the Jags for 3 years up until the final siren of the 2008 season.
This included playing in the Jindalee colours of yellow and blue rather than the clubs original colours of blue, white and grey.
2008 saw the Sharks field both Supers and Masters teams for the first time in the clubs extensive history. After some strong advertising and running stories in the local papers it seemed that the recruiting issues of just a few years ago had started to be a thing of the past with a playing list of 44 that season. Although player numbers had improved, a handful of faithful clubmen played both Supers and Masters each fortnight to help field the two age groups.
2008 also saw the inauguration of the clubs first life members in Alex ‘Big Al’ McRae an absolute legend of the club, and another great stalwart for the Sharks, Lyndon ‘Burger’ Burgess.
Whilst the Jags gave the Sharks a fantastic platform to be able to field two teams the future of the Sharks relied on being able to keep new players coming through the club. The Sharks made a decision to begin looking for a new location to play our footy from.
The 2009 season sees the Sharks relocating the club to the Western Districts Sports and Recreation Club at Chelmer, playing at the same ground as Kenmore Bears Senior Football Club. This presents the Sharks with the opportunity to gain more players by being centrally located between a few QAFL clubs but most of all, the club is able to revert back to its roots and play under its original banner of the Souths Superules Sharks.
2009 saw the 25th anniversary of the club, an outstanding achievment for all invloved at the club, both past and present.
We are all extremely proud to be a part of this milestone for the Sharks and no one is prouder than Alex McRae who is the most capped Sharks player and is still running around the park with the great white shark on his chest.
Another two inductees into the revered ranks of the Life Members list also took place in 2009, These were Rodney 'Rocket' Waghorn and Andy 'Mary' Wishart. Both of these men have been fantastic advocates of the Sharks Club and are deserved of this achievment award.
2010's
2009 and 2010 were quite succesful for the club as far as player numbers remaining extremely healthy and the performances on the field have followed the same trend.
January 2011, as everyone in Brisbane knows, was devastating, with our home ground under 4 meters of water in someplaces, and the rooms with water over 1 metre high. We lost just about all our gear, except for what "Cuddles" had at home. No less than 12 of our guys were directly affected at their homes, many more with their business, and everyone lent a hand in one way or another to their mates at the club. We trained on and off over at the Greenfield Complex at Richlands, but when we finally got back to Chelmer, we were once again home, and the work started. Most training nights we ran BBQ's so that we could get some extra cash in to replace gear, and to keep some beer and money flowing over the bar at Western Districts.
Times have continued to be tough since the 2011 floods, but hard work and greater team participation has seen the club grow stronger and the 2011 one of the Clubs most successful years on the field.
2011 saw the "supposed" retirement of our two longest serving members, Alex "Big Al" McRae and Lynden "Burger" Burgess, with numerous farewell games played by Burger, and Big Al playing and coaching all the way to the end.
2012 promised to be a fantastic season with new recruits coming from as far away as Finland, and Hervey Bay, and it was! Many new players made their mark on the club, with Big Chris, Lingy (Finland), Richo, Linc, 'Old' Cam, Murf, and Presto really fitting in and making a difference.
The middle of the year was a little rocky for the club, but with any strong group of guys, adversity was overcome, and with Big Al stepping up to take the roll of Masters Coach, the team once again began to reap rewards on the field.
2012 also saw Burger awarded Life Membership of AFL Masters Queensland, worthy recognition of his long service to our club and the the league.
2013 was another great year for the league and the club, with further adjustments to playing ages, rules and regions. Both the Masters and Supers fielded strong teams with the masters winning 8 from 121and the supers winning 7 from 10 games. Tremendous effort from all those involved. Cory 'Cuddles' Sells was rewarded with a SHarks Life Membership for the timeless effort that he has put into the club since 2003. With the depth of our club minded members, 2014 will be another great year for the old boys from Souths Sharks!
2014 will bring the 30th anniversary of the club and some celebrations are planned including an old boys game day!