By Theydon Bois.
At The Gurgler, we love to celebrate the forgotten and uncelebrated. We also love sport, so why not combine the two and go back down memory lane (the part of the brain used only for trivia nights) for a few of our favourite forgotten sporting teams.
DAIKYO DOLPHINS – Baseball.
In the first incarnation of the Australian Baseball League we remember a team backed by then Japanese Property gurus on the Gold Coast – Daikyo.
In addition to sponsoring the now defunct Palm Meadows Golf Tournament, they lent their name to one of the Gold Coast’s finest.
Like other Gold Coast teams it had a few incarnations, Gold Coast Dolphins, East Coast Cougars, and the Gold Coast Cougars.
Unlike most of the others listed here, the Daikyo Dolphins were actually good. Winning a title in 1991/92 before the league and themselves were given the sporting eviction notice.
GOLD COAST – Various
Whilst on the Gold Coast, here’s our array of forgotten teams from the Glitter Strip, which really was a Graveyard for sporting teams back in the day.
Rugby League may have finally got it right on the 4th attempt with the Titans. Others not as successful or memorable, although the Chargers sure were memorable in the teal, black and purple. Probably most memorable for one of the better mascots of all time (Captain Charger) than any players or achievements.
We also remember the Brisbane Bears who resided on the Gold Coast instead of the city they were named for, the nickname Bears also match as it was actually a Koala. The “Gold Coast” “Bears” were a shambles that not even Warwick Capper could save. At one stage the Psychologist was left in charge to coach the side. Happily the Brisbane Bears woke up and realised that the team was named Brisbane for a reason and moved. Premierships and bandwagons followed.
Enjoy our featured players cards.
CANBERRA COMETS – Cricket
Only the allure of the nation’s capital could convince the great Mike Veletta and legendary Merv Hughes out of retirement to come and play the blue ribbon Mercantile Mutual Cup for the Comets.
Their record did not set the comp on fire, barely even an ember for the three years they resided with the big boys. Not even big Merv could help the Comets, however they did finish second last two of their three years in the comp.
Their participation can barely be remembered, with only Mike Veletta sparking the brain.Manuka Oval is now left to wait for its token tour clash.
ALLIES AFL REP SIDE
Despite the success of State of Origin in rugby league, it never quite caught on in AFL.
An Allies team comprising of Qld, NSW, NT and Tasmania is our pick of the AFL bunch.
Instead of leaving one state as the last one anyone wants to select in the schoolyard to play with, they merged them into an AFL superteam. Ironically Qld and NSW are combined in AFL State of Origin.
They won too, beating Western Australia a few times. Take that Sangropers
HUNTER MARINERS AND ADELAIDE RAMS
Obvious Rugby League choices, and hard to choose between the two.
Both clubs are short lived – Adelaide two years and Hunter one, but they live on in the world of forgotten teams.
Hunter finished a respectable 6th of 10 and Adelaide not embarrassing with 9th of 10 and 17th of 20.
It was a hard decision to choose, so we included limited edition Telstra Phonecards of both teams for your amusement.
If we had to choose though, A Rod Maybon trumps a Tony Iro most days.
LIFE F1
Possible the worst F1 team of all time in terms of performance. Andrea Moda who were thrown out for bringing the sport into disrepute in 1992 were more shambolic, but Life F1 are our choice for a forgotten F1 team
Better described on the F1 Rejects website, this team attempted to develop their own W12 engine – 3 banks of 4 cylinders during the 1990 F1 season.
Hopelessly assembled and slow, if it could manage a lap in pre-qualifying (a session eliminating the slowest cars before the top 30 got a go at 26 grid spots) it was usually many seconds or even minutes off the pace.
In these days the worst cars are a few seconds off the pace. Their first time they managed to get the car around the lap was a mere 35 seconds off the pace. Life’s “best” effort in prequalifying was a toe tapping 14 seconds off the pace. Their worst effort only took an additional 5 minutes 50 secs than the front.
AND…..
THE WALLABIES.
Becoming less and less relevant by the day.
Who really cares.
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