History

It was in the 1940s that the Brothers club was first able to establish a clubhouse. In 1947, the club had raised enough funds to purchase an ex army igloo building which was transported to Queens Park where it served the club until 1962.

The move from Queens Park to Gill Park was completed in 1962 when the club moved into a new clubhouse. Construction of the clubhouse suffered several setbacks with vandalism and financial constraints. The Catholic Bishop of Townsville, Reverend Hugh Ryan was approached for help and agreed to guarantee the cost of the final stages of construction. Once complete, the clubhouse was the most modern of all football clubs in the city. It provided a host of memories for scores of players and supporters who passed through its doors over the years. In 1982, the clubhouse was sold to the Australian Postal Institute.

In the early 1980s the club completed negotiations with Kern Bros Pty Ltd for the purchase of 20 acres of land for the development of a clubhouse and playing fields. The club’s Chairman at the time Mr. Allan West was instrumental in securing the land and formalising the administrative arrangements to create the company Brothers Leagues Club (Townsville) Ltd. This involved an amalgamation of the Seniors and Juniors.

The grounds were officially named Jack Manski Oval on the 14th May 1983 in recognition of the incredible service provided to the club by Jack over the period of forty (40) years.

The formation of No.1 field was a major exercise and took many weekends of hard labour by volunteers.  The fields with light and goal posts were complete in July 1984. The ground was officially opened on 13th August 1984 when Brothers played University in a night fixture and fittingly the home side won in all four grades.

In 1984 the club purchased two portable ablution buildings. The buildings were erected on posts on the Willows site. One building served as the ladies toilets and the other was utilised as change rooms, male toilets and an office. The area was rooved and enclosed and became the temporary clubhouse and suitably dubbed the Orchid Room and the Ross Keir Watering Hole.

Through the tireless efforts of Club Chairman Allan West, the club secured a State Government grant under the Community Employment Program for $248,000. Along with a loan of $150,000 the clubhouse commenced construction on the 3rd September 1984 and it was complete on the 9th May 1985. Other funding and in-kind support was obtained to complete landscaping and fit-out of the building which consisted of a lounge bar, kitchen, change rooms and a grassed beer garden. Trading operations commenced in the club by way of a temporary permit and subsequently a full trading licence was granted to the club on the 16th September 1985.

In 1989 the original building was refurbished to become a Members bar with TAB and extended to include a lounge/dining area and small lounge. This extension was made in the former beer garden of the original building. The works were undertaken by a large volunteer group of local club members from the building fraternity. It then reopened on 14th October 1990.

In June 1993 following the successful advent of poker machines, the club commenced construction on further extensions. This involved development of a restaurant and dining lounge, a large commercial kitchen to service the restaurant and a 200 seat function room. A casino bar and lounge was created to house over 90 poker machines. The total cost of the extensions was $2 million. The extensions were officially opened on 12th February 1994.

Further renovations were made in 2003 when the alfresco area of the club situated between the restaurant and function room was enclosed to create another function room, which was named The Allan West Room in recognition of his magnificent contribution over many years. This function room later became known as the Range Room.

Over the years Brothers has made many changes to the gaming areas, added QUBE Cafe, and also added several outdoor smoking areas with the introduction of new smoking laws.

In early 2020 the outdoor Garden Bar began a major transformation, and Victory Bar & Grill and Nineteen19 Rooftop Bar were officially opened to the public on Wednesday 22nd July 2020. A majority of the renovations were carried out during the COVID-19 lockdown which coincided with the club’s closure between March and June 2020.

The recent renovations at Brothers will offer its members a truly magnificent venue.