The origins of rugby in Brisbane’s western suburbs goes back to the late 1890’s when there was Western Suburbs Rugby and later Toowong Rugby Club. Western Districts Rugby Football Club was formed from a meeting that held on the 6th February 1951 at the Ashgrove RSL Hall between Br Cyprian, (Marist Brothers Ashgrove) Ron Hayward, Brian Heakion. Western Districts Rugby Football Club initially only fielded one team and played at the Normanby fields at Spring Hill in Brisbane. Our Bulldog mascot was adopted in 1956. The club’s blue and white jerseys were changed to red, white and blue in 1959 to be more distinguishable from the Brothers’ colours, but were finally changed to green and gold in 1961 when Wests amalgamated with the Toowong Rugby Club. The merger prompted a shift of home ground from Normanby in Spring Hill to Toowong Memorial Park at Sylvan Road in Toowong.
In 1961 we created Wests Juniors Rugby Football Club. Junior sign on’s grew enormously over the next 8 years and so Wests established two other junior clubs in the region, namely Kenmore Bears Rugby Football Club 1965 and Ashgrove Junior Rugby Football Club (now GPS Rugby) in 1966.
Wests won the Premier grade Premiership in 1977, in the club’s 23rd season in the competition. Stan Pileki and Trevor Davies were the props in the team that was captained by Geoff Wessling. Wests won many Premierships in all grades and most notably in Premier Grade in 1985 and 2006.
In 1985, Wests won its second Premiership, and went on to become Australian Club champions in 1986 by defeating Parramatta. Later that year, Wests played Toulouse in the final of the World Club Championship, losing 11–6.
Wests had six players selected for Australia at the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup; Roger Gould, Troy Coker, Bill Campbell, Julian Gardner, and Brian Smith. The depth of future talent at the club in 1987 was illustrated when Wests won all three Colts grade (under 19) premierships on the same day. Thirteen players from the Colts 1 team went on to representative honours; most notably Phil de Glanville, the future England Captain, who played at centre.
In 1991, Wests won the Minor Premiership but lost the Grand Final to Souths, and a period of rebuilding on and off the field followed. Clubhouse facilities were extended in 1992–93. In 1994 Wests started its first women’s team and that same year Wests and UQ Rugby Club played the first women’s game in Queensland.
Wests began another resurgence in the late 1990s and secured the Doughty Shield in 1998 and 2000. The club made the Grand Final three years in a row from 1998 to 2000 but fell agonisingly short each time. In 2006 Wests won The Hospitals Cup for the third time by beating Brothers by one point.
In 2012 Wests merged their junior and senior clubs. This was a major turning point for the club as junior numbers grew from 262 players to over 600 in 2018. The club facilities that were built in the 1960’s and 1970’s were well past their normal life and so a major redevelopment was completed in 2017. Upon the completion of the new facility the club members agreed to implement a new governance structure that separated the facilities commercial management and rugby. The new rugby entity “Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club Inc” was established in 2019.
ABOUT US
Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club is a proud community club with a rich history and culture that has served as a home away from home for thousands of rugby players since 1951.
Centrally located in the heart of Toowong about 3km from the Brisbane CBD, the popular club has recently undergone major redevelopment, leading to our brand new ‘Kennel’ framed by our historic fig trees and stunning battleground of Sci-Fleet Stadium. The advent of our new commercially based $15 million clubhouse in 2017 has established Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club as a professional rugby club in Brisbane. With a clear mandate to develop rugby and support our community, this brand new facility is available for all of our members, our corporate partners and the general community to enjoy.
While the facility clearly provides benefits to our playing membership base, it now allows the club to entertain our supporters, sponsors and corporate partners in a professional environment, delivering on key hospitality and function benefits like no other rugby club in Brisbane.
For players we offer programs and pathways for 3 years old to Golden Oldies. We are also a Premier Rugby Club that competes in the Qld Premier Rugby competition.
Puppy Pack – Boys and Girls 3 to 5 year olds
Junior Rugby – Boys and Girls 6 to 16 year olds
Girls Rugby – 7 a side rugby for 10 to 17 year olds
Modified Rugby Program – Boys and Girls with learning and perceptual disability
Junior Colts – male 17 and 18 year olds
Colts – males under 20’s
Women’s – 7’s 10’s and 15 a side rugby
Grades – males 3rd grade to 7th Grade
Premier Grade – Elite Mens
Bullfrogs – Golden Oldies
At the Bulldogs, we are proud of our culture and of our values. We welcome all new players, families and supporters from a multitude of backgrounds. We all live by the one philosophy:
‘We have lawyers and labourers, demolition blokes to doctors, teenage boys and girls, puppy pack to golden oldies, disabled children and young families from all walks of life. Together we are a club, together we are the ‘Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club’. You too are very welcome to join us…………
Our Moto: “IT’S OUR DIVERSITY THAT UNITES US”