August 2, 2013
The Nanango Stags (or “the Blues” as they were called in earlier years) will be celebrating their Centenary with a huge day of junior and senior rugby league on Saturday.
Junior matches kick off at 8:30am.
The on-field action will culminate at 5:30pm with another re-match between this year’s two centenary teams: Nanango and Blackbutt.
Nanango rained on Blackbutt’s centenary parade last weekend by defeating them 38-36 so the Timbertowners will be keen to repay the favour in front of Nanango’s home crowd.
After the main game winds up, there’ll be a big pig on a spit dinner in the grounds, speeches, presentations, and reminiscences of 100 years of footy that will continue late into the night.
Centenary Program
| 8:30am | Nanango v Kingaroy (U6); Nanango v Kingaroy 1 (U8); Nanango v Kingaroy 1 (U10) |
| 8:50am | Wondai v Cherbourg (U6); Wondai v Cherbourg (U8); Wondai v Cherbourg (U10) |
| 9:10am | Blackbutt v Kingaroy (U6); Blackbutt v Kingaroy 2 (U8); Nanango v Kingaroy 2 (U10) |
| 9:30am | Murgon v Nanango (U6); Murgon v Nanango (U8); Murgon v Wondai (U10) |
| 9:50am | Cherbourg v Kingaroy (U6); Cherbourg v Kingaroy 1 (U8); Kingaroy 1 v Cherbourg (U10) |
| 10:10am | Wondai v Blackbutt (U6); Wondai v Blackbutt (U8); Nanango v Murgon (U10) |
| 10:30am | Murgon v Nanango (U6); Nanango v Kingaroy 2 (U8); Kingaroy 2 v Cherbourg (U10) |
| 10:50am | Cherbourg v Wondai (U6); Kingaroy 1 v Murgon 2 (U8); Murgon v Kingaroy 1 (U10) |
| 11:10am | Murgon v Blackbutt (U6); Blackbutt v Kingaroy 2 (U8); Wondai v Kingaroy 2 (U10) |
| 11:30am | Murgon v Nanango (U8); Blackbutt v Murgon (U12) |
| 11:50am | Murgon 2 v Wondai (U8) |
| 12:30pm | Nanango v Kingaroy (U12) |
| 1:30pm | Nanango v Kingaroy (U14) |
| 2:30pm | Nanango v Kingaroy (U16) |
| 3:30pm | Premier League – Cherbourg v Wondai |
| 4:45pm | Nanango Club photo – all teams together |
| 5:30pm | Premier League – Nanango v Blackbutt |
* * *
The early history of the Stags may be lost in time but from a club history prepared in 1987, “Nanango RLFC Life History 1913-1987”, it appears that before 1913, there was a rugby union team bearing the Nanango name.
They played at the Nanango Showgrounds as the “Nanango Rovers” and continued playing there after switching to rugby league in 1913.
The current playing area, now known as Fred Kassulke Oval, was purchased in 1959.
Nanango won the “Lower South Burnett” rugby league premiership that year in a tough match against Wondai played at the new ground. Nanango were behind 5-3 at half-time but pulled away to win 13-5.
A report from the time indicated the gate was £99 12/- and there was “a touch of glamour” at the game because of “the presence of Miss Queensland (Miss Nancy Knudsen) who kicked off”.
The Stags then suffered a drought in premiership victories until 1970, when the club was victorious 13-5 over Kilkivan-Goomeri in a game touted to be “one of the greatest grand finals of our era”.
Some of the South Burnett Grand Finals that Nanango have contested:
- 1951 Goomeri 8 d Nanango 7
- 1958 Wondai 18 d Nanango 8
- 1959 Nanango 13 d Wondai 5
- 1960 Kingaroy 3 d Nanango 2
- 1964 Murgon 7 d Nanango 2
- 1970 Nanango 13 d Kilkivan-Goomeri 5
- 1977 Nanango 19 d Kingaroy 7
- 1978 Wondai 42 d Nanango 0
- 1984 Nanango 17 d Wondai 6
- 1986 Wondai 12 d Nanango 6
- 1987 Nanango 20 d Murgon 18
- 1988 Cherbourg 28 d Nanango 20
- 1993 Kingaroy 22 d Nanango 4
- 1995 Wondai 60 d Nanango 16
- 2000 Nanango 50 d Murgon-Goomeri 24
NB. This is not a complete list of South Burnett premierships
