The Sherwood Magpies Australian Football Club was formed as the State League representative of
Brisbane's western suburbs, incorporating the history of the previous clubs to compete in the
AFL Queensland State League.
Taringa AFC A
Taringa Football Club competed in the QFL (an early form of the
AFL Queensland State League) in the 1920 season. The club only appeared in the State competition for that single season, but resurfaced by entering the newly titled
QANFL in 1931. The club's emblem was the
bulldog, and the club colours were maroon and white. Despite making it to five grand finals
Taringa was unable to secure a premiership, but it produced three
De Little Medalists in Bill Nunn (1936), C.K. 'Pat' Vidgen (1939) and Doug Pittard (1940).
Taringa changed its name to the
Western Districts Australian Football Club in 1946.
Western Districts AFC The
Western Districts Australian Football Club came into existence in 1946 when the
Taringa Football Club changed its name to incorporate the whole of
Brisbane's western suburbs.
Western Districts kept the emblem (the
bulldog) and colours (maroon and white) of
Taringa and were originally based at Oakman Park,
Toowong but moved to Chelmer Oval, Queenscroft st,
Chelmer in 1971. The club continued to grow steadily, finishing in third place in 1951, and losing to
Mayne by merely one point in the 1952 grand final. The club learned from their narrow loss, defeating Windsor and Sandgate respectively in the 1953 and 1954 grand finals to secure their first and second premierships.
Western Districts were unable to qualify for the finals between the years of 1956 and 1962, before suffering consecutive grand final losses at the hands of
Mayne in 1966 and 1967. The club's next, and last ever, grand final appearances came consecutively in 1977, 1978 and 1979. The
Bulldogs narrowly won premierships by 5 points against Wilston Grange in 1977, and by 4 points against
Windsor/Zillmere in 1978, before losing what would be their last grand final appearance to
Sandgate in 1979.
Western Districts eventually merged with
Sherwood in 1991 to form the
West Brisbane Australian Football Club. The
Western Districts Australian Football Club had a number of very successful players in their midst throughout their existence. Doug Pittard won two
Grogan Medals during his time at the club to go with his
De Little Medal he won with
Taringa, and played a handful of games for the
Footscray reserves. Owen Backwell was also a dual
Grogan Medalist for the
Bulldogs, who topped the league goal kicking in 1977, played over 300 games for the club, including the 1977 and 1978 premierships, and had a short stint with the
Fitzroy Football Club. Ray Hughson topped the league goal kicking while playing for
Western Districts a remarkable six times (1958, 1959, 1962–65), while
Gavin Crosisca (over 250
AFL games for
Collingwood), Ray Smith (over 100
VFL games for
Essendon and
Melbourne), and Gary Shaw (
Collingwood and the
Brisbane Bears, and still coaches at the Western Magpies) all went on to play in the
VFL/AFL.
Sherwood AFC The
Sherwood Australian Football Club developed out of the
Sherwood Junior Australian Football Club, which was formed in 1956. As the junior club grew in size, there was a desire to have a direct senior team for the
Sherwood JAFC, which saw the
Sherwood AFC formed to compete in the Metropolitan Division of the
QAFL. The club was based at Chelmer Oval, 41 Chelmer st,
Chelmer, directly next to the Queenscroft st ground of the
Western Districts, which is the current home of the Western Magpies. The club took on the black and white stripes of their junior club as well as the emblem of the
magpie, both of which are still thoroughly attached to the club to the current day thanks to the winning of a coin toss with
Southport (who had previously had the same colours and emblem) upon the entry of both clubs to the
QAFL in 1983. This occurred after
Sherwood managed to work their way up through the divisions, after winning eight first division flags in a row they earned their 1983 promotion into the
QAFL. In 1991
Sherwood AFC merged with the
Western Districts to form the
West Brisbane Australian Football Club, which could be a single footballing force in
Brisbane's western suburbs. Players of particular note for the
Sherwood AFC include
John Rantall, the 336 game
South Melbourne,
North Melbourne and
Fitzroy VFL veteran who coached
Sherwood in their debut season in the
QAFL, and 1983
Grogan Medal winner, Bill Pierce, whom the Western Magpies best and fairest is named after.
West Brisbane AFC A merger between the
Western Districts AFC and the
Sherwood AFC in 1991 saw a single senior force in the western suburbs formed in the form of the
West Brisbane Australian Football Club. The merged club adopted the maroon and white colours of [Western Districts Australian Football Club] with the jersey design of the Port Adelaide Magpies football club, played out of Chelmer Oval,
Chelmer and were nicknamed The
Warriors. The club was successful in winning a premiership in the 1996 season, comfortably defeating
Mt Gravatt 17.10 (112) to 8.10 (58), with Corey Lambert claiming that year's
Grogan Medal. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons
West Brisbane were unable to compete in the following year's competition and had a few seasons out of the State competition before returning as the re-branded Western Magpies Australian Football Club in 2001.
The Current Club The
West Brisbane Australian Football Club that disbanded at the end of 1997 reformed in 1999 under the name of the Western Magpies Australian Football Club and in 2001 re-entered the
QAFL This capped the club's time in Division Two off nicely, leaving them with two premierships (2006 & 2008) and three grand final appearances (2006–2008) from their four years in lower division. During this four-year period, the reserves team played in the Division Two grand final (each year 2005–2008), winning premierships in 2005, 2006 and 2007, while the under 18 and women's teams both continued to participate in Division One of their competitions. As of the beginning of Season 2020 in the Queensland Australian Football League ==Links To Other Local Clubs==