ABOUT THE CLUB

By Alan Hahn (Life Member)

The junior section of the club had its beginnings at Concordia Primary School around 1967, when the then headmaster, with the help of a couple of the student’s parents, entered a team of boys in the Toowoomba Junior Soccer Association fixtures which included Under 9, 11, 13 &15 age groups.

As Concordia was, at this stage, a very small school, boys from outside the school gradually came along to help fill the teams. The first team was coached by Mr Viv Kuhl, the headmaster, and Alan Hahn, a parent of two of the boys in the team. The team was given permission to play several boys over the set age, but only if short of players. At this time the Toowoomba Junior Soccer Association had between 200 and 300 players.

Concordia played in a gold shirt and brown shorts with gold socks with brown stripes, this being the schools sports uniform. The school team immediately had success in the fixtures. Soon many boys from Harristown State School wanted to play soccer, and as Concordia was the only junior club in that area of town, the number of teams soon grew. Training and fixtures took place in CoronationPark in Stephen Street. The first Toowoomba Representative player from the school was Gavin Hahn, who was a member of the Under 12 Toowoomba Team which played in what was then known as the Gino Paris Competition. This competition was played around the state with eight teams taking part in the competition.

With the large influx of players it was soon evident a club had to be formed and coaches obtained. The club was called West's United. With the strong support of Mr Murray Timbs, from the HarristownStateSchool, this club grew rapidly in numbers and the teams were successful in the Association Fixtures. Soon the club organised a large junior carnival in three of the junior age groups. Due to the number of teams wishing to take part, the carnival was held at Harristown Park.

As the boys became older and could no longer play junior fixtures, those wishing to continue playing the sport would have had to join other clubs if they wished to continue playing. Several of the interested boys than started to play for a senior Club called Wanderers. Wanderers played at Frogs Hollow (as it was then called), in Queens Park.

The West's United Club then decided to approach the Wanderers Club to see if they would be interested in joining the two clubs into one. Several meetings were held and eventually the amalgamation took place, the name decided upon being West Wanderers United Soccer and Sporting Club. The new club was immediately successful in the Senior Fixtures as can be seen by the number of times the name appears on the Toowoomba Association trophies.

Eventually the club, after much fund raising, decided that its own playing fields were desirable. Ten acres of land was purchased on the Gore Highway at Drayton. This was levelled into two levels for two fields, plus a junior field. Fixtures then took place on these fields. A very modern clubhouse was then built, and at this stage the club had the best facilities in Toowoomba.

Unfortunately for the club, the interest rate on loaned moneys suddenly rose rapidly up to around seventeen percent and even though every avenue of raising income was explored, it was decided to sell the grounds. These grounds are now known as the Jack Martin Centre.

After the sale of the fields the club moved to Nell E. Robinson Park.

In 2010 the club changed its name to West Wanderers Football Club.