Australian Football

The Eagles commenced in 1966 as a club for RAAF personnel stationed at RAAF Base Amberley. Premiership success was attained twice, but during the 2000 season a change in the base's focus of operation led to a significant loss of players making it difficult for the club to fulfil its fixtures. The decision was therefore taken to relocate to the centre of Ipswich and adopt the new name of Ipswich Eagles. Ipswich had been without a club since the Ipswich Cats disbanded in 1976 (although a n ew version of the Cats saw the light of day in 2017) and locals flocked to throw in their lot with the new arrivals. These locals were, of course, civilians, which gave rise to a change in the club's culture, albeit one that embraced, and continues to embrace, its erstwhile RAAF links and the tradition generated by this. On field success has been slow in arriving but the club's importance in putting Ipswich back on the football map cannot be overstressed. In 2017, competing in Division Three of the Queensland Football Association, the Eagles qualified for the finals in third place and went on to make it through to the grand final, only to lose by 79 points to Victoria Point. A year later they again qualified for the season's decisive match and were widely favoured to win on the basis that they had comfortably downed opponents Carrara a couple of weeks earlier in the second semi final. On grand final day, however, the Saints somehow managed to find another gear, and ended up winning by 35 points, 15.14 (104) to 10.9 (69).