About us

Board of Directors

• Chairman: Bruce Atterton-Evans
• Secretary: Ray Evans
• Director: Wallace Dann
• Director: Geoff WrightHead Coach: Stuart McLaren
• Asst Coach: David Large
• Team Manager: Bob McLaren

Club History

The Brisbane Strikers commenced their existence in 1994 in Australia’s then premier club competition, the National Soccer League, emerging from the demise of Brisbane United, who had been Queensland’s representative in the NSL for the previous two seasons.

Initially the Brisbane Strikers were owned by the Queensland Soccer Federation, which handed the running of the club to a Trust Management Group composed of Ian Brusasco ( a former President of the Queensland Soccer Federation and the Australian Soccer Federation), Dr Clem Jones (former Lord Mayor of Brisbane) and leading football official Frank Speare.

Coached by Bruce Stowell for three seasons, the Strikers steadily improved their position in the NSL pecking order, finishing fourth in 1995/96 to qualify for their first NSL finals appearance in which they lost a semi-final playoff over two legs to Sydney United.

But revenge was just around the corner in the most extraordinary of circumstances. In the 1996/97 season the Strikers were led by player-coach Frank Farina and finished second on the NSL ladder to Sydney United before going on to beat United in their semi-final to set up a home grand final – against the same team.

At a time when football was struggling for mainstream acceptance and credibility in Australia, NSL Grand Finals – the pinnacle of club football in Australia – generally drew crowds between 12,000 and 25,000. But the 1997 Grand Final, played at Lang Park in Brisbane, completely changed perceptions of football’s standing in Australia when it drew a capacity 40,446 spectators to watch the Brisbane Strikers beat Sydney United 2-0 with goals by Farina and Rod Brown.

This was a watershed moment for football in Australia but the Strikers struggled the next season, finishing twelfth. Nevertheless, a significant event in the history of the club occurred in 1998 when the QSF divested itself of its ownership, which passed to the Strikers Football Club Pty Ltd.

Scarcely three years after the club had played its part in Australian club football’s proudest moment it was dealt a savage blow when Soccer Australia, as part of a restructuring of the national competition, refused the Brisbane Strikers’ application for a place in the new league, citing financial reasons for doing so. This left the national league without a representative from the country’s third most populous state. Outrage ensued within Queensland and northern New South Wales, with politicians, supporters and the general public waging a vigorous campaign to have the club reinstated to the national league. This eventually convinced Soccer Australia to reverse its decision and grant the Strikers Football Club Pty Ltd a licence for the 2000/2001 season.

Back on the field, under coach John Kosmina, the Strikers justified the efforts of those who fought for their place in the national competition by finishing fourth and qualifying for the NSL finals against all the expectations of those south of the border. While eventual premiers, South Melbourne, prevailed over the Strikers in their two-legged semi-final, the Strikers had flown the flag for Queensland with honour.

The next season, however, saw the Strikers struggle again and led to the club parting ways with Kosmina. Despite a host of coaches showing interest in the vacancy, including some from overseas, the Strikers took the bold step of appointing 28-year-old club captain Stuart McLaren as head coach, assisted by Luciano Trani. Together the two formed an innovative combination, assembling a squad of unsung players from the local leagues and turning them into a team which took the club back into the 2003/04 NSL finals only to lose a memorable semi-final play-off to Adelaide United.

That season was the last for the NSL. A strong reform movement within the game in Australia had seen a new Soccer Australia Board appointed (which would change its name to Football Federation Australia) under the Chairmanship of Frank Lowy and the new governing body set about creating a new national competition called the A-League. Existing and new football clubs were invited to apply and although the Brisbane Strikers submitted an application they lost the race to be awarded Queensland’s sole licence to the Queensland Lions, who eventually entered the A-League with a team named the Queensland Roar.

Determined to find an outlet to continue their philosophy of developing the talents of Queensland footballers, the Brisbane Strikers then joined forces with local Brisbane club North Star to field a team in the Brisbane Premier League. Coached by Bobby Hamilton, the new team qualified for the finals play-off in its first BPL season (2005) before falling to Palm Beach in a semi-final. However, in 2006 the Strikers carried all before them, winning the BPL championship, the Grand Final and the Premier Cup.

Another coaching change saw Craig Collins take on the player-coach role in 2007. It was an “almost” season for the Strikers, which saw them finish runners-up in the championship to Rochedale Rovers, before losing a titanic struggle in the Grand Final to the same team by the scoreline of 5-4.

With the Queensland State League due to commence in 2008 as part of FFA and Football Queensland’s goal of enhancing career pathways across Queensland and providing a platform between the local and national competitions, the Strikers saw a position in the QSL as a natural “fit” with the club’s own player development ethos. Its application to join the new State competition was accepted and the club, once again under the coaching of Stuart McLaren, put its best foot forward on playing fields from Brisbane to Townsville in the inaugural QSL season. The Strikers finished second behind the Sunshine Coast Fire on the league table before hosting the Grand Final at Perry Park and losing to the same team.

The following (2009) season McLaren and his squad set themselves to the task of delivering on a pledge to “go one better”. They did precisely that, clinching the QSL championship in the penultimate round of the competition after a tense season-long battle with Olympic FC. In doing so the Brisbane Strikers became one of the very few, if not the only football club in Australia, to have won trophies at local, state and national levels. However, the Strikers then lost in a Grand Final for the third consecutive year, going down 1-4 in a boilover result to Redlands City Devils, who had finished the season in fourth position on the QSL ladder.

In 2010 the Brisbane Strikers will look to defend their QSL title in an eight-team competition played over three rounds. For the first time, the Strikers will take part in the competition as Brisbane’s sole privately-owned club representative – a distinction and responsibility they will carry with pride.

Looking further ahead, the Brisbane Strikers look forward to continuing to deliver on the two primary objectives that have shaped our approach to date – identifying and developing the talents of locally-based footballers with a view to preparing them for the elite levels of the game, while playing in the highest standard of competition available to the club.