The foundation club for rugby union on the Gold Coast was the
Gold Coast Eagles. The club was registered with the
Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) after a positive response at the initial foundation meeting in late 1964. The Gold Coast team's first season of rugby was in the 1965
Queensland Subbies competition, playing out of Rudd Park in Burleigh Heads. Coached by Paul Perrin and Bob Sinclair, the team went on to win the competition in 1965 and 1966, and finished second in 1967. In 1968, the QRU directed the Gold Coast to play in the Brisbane first grade competition. The team managed to defeat the eventual premiers
GPS on their home ground but did not win any other matches for the season. This bad run of results and the logistics of traveling to Brisbane resulted in the Gold Coast team dropping out of all rugby competition in 1969. The club was reformed and rejoined Subbies in 1970. In 1973, Col Macdonald and Barry Moon proposed the establishment of a second club on the Gold Coast, and the Surfers Paradise Dolphins club was founded in 1974. Coached by ex-Wallaby Alan Ware, the Surfers Paradise club played their first home games on the grounds of
The Southport School. In 1978 the Gold Coast and District Rugby Union affiliated with the
Queensland Country Rugby Union. ==Clubs==