Geraghty Cup still holds pride of
place

All Brisbane rugby league clubs are rich in tradition with many trophies, shields and team photos a constant reminder of days gone by. Some are left to collect dust while others hold pride of place in clubrooms and bars. One of the Redcliffe Rugby League Football Club?s most treasured possessions is the Geraghty Cup, which is proudly displayed in the new million dollar Internationals bar in the Leagues club along with other memorabilia from the era.

This was contested before Redcliffe joined the Brisbane Rugby League first grade competition in 1960. Before then Redcliffe played in the Murrumba League, but in 1958 and 1959 the clubs top side played in the BRL Reserve grade competition with a premiership win in 1959 leading the way for Redcliffe to enter a first grade side in the BRL in 1960.

The Geraghty Cup was contested from 1948 until 1956 and the club which won it for three consecutive years got to keep it for good. Redcliffe won it from 1954 until 1956. The cup had gone to the South Coast District Rugby Football League in 1948, 1949, and 1953. Wynnum which always considered the cup to be theirs because it was donated by a Wynnum supporter, won it in 1950. The cup was not contested in 1951 or 1952.

No-one could put a price on the cup, although estimates on its silver value vary from$3,000 to tens of thousands dollars. One thing is certain, it?s worth in terms of nostalgia is irreplaceable and unaccountable.

Des Webb, one member of the Geraghty Cup winning side, said the cup was used as the BRL premiership cup before a permanent one was established. He also recalls how the cup went missing once. A Wynnum supporter, believing his club had a rightful ?claim? to it , had taken it. If it wasn?t for the perseverence of a few Redcliffe supporters the cup may not be in Redcliffe?s hands today, because the cup was soon retrieved.