SUPPORTER, COACH & RESEARCHER

Sterling McQuire started playing football at Nerimbera when he was 8 years old, 54 years later he is still at Nerimbera and has a stand named after him (pictured on right). He comes from a family of footballers, his parents, siblings and his children have all played at Nerimbera.

Sterling is keen on researching the history of the club and told us that the team that played against Mount Morgan in the 1950s came out of Nerimbera.

In 1974, Sterling remembers a couple of girls coming over to his house to ask his father if he could show them how to play soccer, “and that’s virtually how it all started” he told us. In 1975 after the women at Nerimbera had encouraged another team to form at the All Blacks club, the two teams had their first matches. Sterling marked the field for them.

Since then, Sterling has kept a record of the women’s teams at Nerimbera (pictured on left). He says, “it shut down for 3 years in ‘80, ’81 and ‘82 for some reason. But then it’s been going continuously ever since.”

Over the years the Nerimbera has had many female players go on to play for QLD. The first player to make this transition was Pam Reynolds. “She was our first QLD representative in 1978,” Sterling explained to us. Sterling had coached the women’s team that year and told us, “she was just a natural.”

Sterling also acknowledges that there are still challenges for female players. “Somehow when they do the fixtures they’ve got 1st, 2nd, 3rd and sometimes a 4th division. Women will always be tucked under that like they’re a lower grade, but they’re not. They’re the 1st division, same as the men.”