Chronicle campaigns to get Toowoomba in Qld Cup

THIS weekend teams from across Queensland and Papua New Guinea will kick-off the Intrust Super Cup season.

That is great except for one thing - Toowoomba won't be part of it.

And the time has come for that to stop.

The Toowoomba Clydesdales are an iconic part of Australia's rugby league history and while the club has teams from under 16s up to under 20s, one thing remains missing.

Since 1996, Toowoomba has not had a state league team and that needs to change.

Toowoomba has teams in the under 16 Cyril Connell Cup, under 18 Mal Meninga Cup and under 20 FOGS Cup Colts Challenge and junior development squads, but not an open team in the state league.

The Clydesdales board, headed by chairman Paul Reedy, has been working towards re-admission into the Intrust Super Cup and The Chronicle is right behind that bid.

We support it that much that today we will kick-off our Clydesdales' Q-Cup Quest campaign.

Having a Clydesdales team in the ISC would give rugby league players from across the TRL catchment a pathway to follow their dreams in the sport from under 16s right through to the Queensland Cup and then hopefully on to the NRL.

The time has come for our players to be able to chase their dreams from their hometown, rather than lose their talents to other regions.

"I think it is probably the most important issue we have to support rugby league in our area," Clydesdales chairman Paul Reedy said.

"It will inject more life into rugby league. It will boost numbers across the board."

The Clydesdales have such a proud history having beaten teams from Brisbane and Sydney along with representative squads from New South Wales, New Zealand and England.

"It is probably one of the proudest names in rugby league anywhere in Australia," Reedy said.

"Some of the greatest people to play our game played in a Clydesdales jersey."

So the rightful place for the Clydesdales to play is in one of the strongest rugby league competitions in the world.

The Chronicle will follow the efforts of the Clydesdales board in earning re-admission to the Queensland Cup and will pro-actively throw our support behind their bid.

We hope the community across the Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley does the same.

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