Pat Maguire (left) - Brothers to the core. That’s Reg Cannon on the right.
Pat Maguire fought courageously for Brothers, on and off the football field.
A double premiership winner with Brothers in the 1960s, Maguire was president in the 1990s when the club faced enormous challenges just to survive after being turfed out of its spiritual home at Corbett Park, Grange.
Although Maguire had a stint with South Sydney when work took him to New South Wales, he was a Brothers’ man to the core, and a stalwart of the statewide Confraternity of Brothers Clubs. Maguire also was a Life Member of the Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Rugby League. His son, Scott, a star in the Queensland Cup in the 1990s, is head of sport at Padua College.
As a player Pat was at the peak of his powers in the late 1960s as a dashing winger for a star studded Brothers’ team which relished the style of football played under the new four tackle rule which replaced unlimited tackle football.
Norths had dominated the early part of the 1960s winning six premierships in seven years under the coaching of former Brothers’ supremo, Bob Bax. In 1967 Brothers finished third in the minor premiership and then beat Easts and minor premiers Valleys on the way to the Grand Final, where they defeated Norths 6-2 in a try-less match.
Brothers were minor premiers and major premiers in 1968, beating Easts in a free flowing Grand Final with Maguire scoring the final try in a 21-4 win. Maguire showed great pace in steaking away from the cover after brilliant lead-up work by Reg Cannon and Dennis Manteit, with Mainteit’s final pass a beauty. Those Brothers sides of ’67 and ’68 were among the finest club outfits in Australia, boasting Internationals Peter Gallagher, Johnny Gleeson, Dennis Manteit and Noel Cavanagh as well as a host of Queensland and Brisbane representative players, among them Cannon, Wayne Abdy, Eric Gelling, Barry ‘Tubby’ Dowling and John Bourke. The coach was Brian Davies, a former captain-coach of Australia.
At South Sydney Maguire there were internationals in reserve grade, such was the depth of talent at the power house of rugby league in the New South Wales’ capital. Maguire’s first grade appearances were few and far between In his first top grade appearance for the Rabbitohs his co-winger was dual international, Mike Cleary.
Maguire returned to Brothers’ playing ranks after his stint in Sydney, but a broken arm suffered in a match against the Dolphins at Redcliffe Showgrounds ruled him out of the club’s finals campaign in 1974, when they went all the way to the Grand Final, only to be beaten by Valleys in a try-less affair.
Instead of signalling the start of a new golden era, Brothers’ win in the 1987 Grand Final (under the coaching of Ross Strudwick) was followed by recriminations and despair, with the club declared bankrupt, its leagues club shut down and the footballers forced to become nomads. In coming years Brothers played out of Crosby Park (sharing with Brothers Rugby), Bray Park, Perry Park and O’Callaghan Park.
As president during much of that challenging time Maguire fought tooth and nail to keep the club alive, even aligning with Valleys for their last season – 2004. That was the end of Brothers at State level, but the juniors are still going strong.
Maguire retained his links with the game through the Men of League (now Family of League) Foundation as a (volunteer) welfare officer, even though he was battling ill-health. He maintained his involvement with Brothers until the end, providing input for a planned heritage sign on Kedron Brook, near the site of the former Brothers’ playing fields and leagues club.
Pat’s Australia Day parties at his home at Ferny Grove were the stuff of legend, with people travelling from as far as Cairns to attend.
Maguire passed away on January 9 while playing lawn bowls at Gaythorne.
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I have a story about Pat Maguire which dates back to around the year 1963/64. Pat was a winger for the Brothers Rugby Club back then. In those days QRU games were played at Normanby Oval in Brisbane. My Dad being a butcher had recently lost a couple of his fingers thanks to his electric band saw in late 1963. There was just an old grand stand which had no sides in those days at Normanby Oval & if you weren’t lucky enough to get a seat in the grand stand you stood behind the ropes around the ground. In that particular day we were lucky enough to secure a seat each in the rickety old grand stand. Both my Dad & I supported Brothers Rugby Club at the time. Pat Maguire was a very young and a up and coming winger for the club in those days. Anyway my Dad jumped out of his seat in the grand stand to get a better look as Brothers looked to have scored an exciting try in the corner but he was knocked off balance by another patron who happened to be sitting next to him. He fell heavily off the side of the stand and as it turned out broke two ribs plus opened up the wound where two of his fingers once were. So my Dad looked at me and said painfully “You are going to have to drive the car home son.”I looked at him in utter disbelief and said “Dad, I’m 10 years old.” The game had long finished after the QATB ambulance man had tried to help my Dad as best he could suggesting he go straight to the nearby Royal Brisbane Hospital at Herston just up the road from the Normanby Oval. Instead I saw Pat Maguire who lived in the same suburb as us walking along with a couple of his fellow Brothers team mates after the game so I approached him as I knew him from where he worked at our local paper shop and asked him if he would consider driving my Dad’s car home for him as my Dad was in a lot of pain and had no way to get his car home. Pat, being the absolute gentleman that he was readily agreed to drive my Dad’s car home. He got the car and my Dad and I home safely and even decided he would walk home from our place to his home which was at least a good mile or more from our home. I will never forget Pat’s selflessness on that day and I am saddened by the news of his passing. He was a wonderful bloke and a great footballer as well. Vale Pat Maguire.