A record contingent in red and yellow will shout and scream at the Gabba on Saturday night as the Gold Coast SUNS tackle the Brisbane Lions in the biggest AFL game in Queensland history.

Upwards of 8,000 tickets were sold to SUNS members before the AFL hoisted the ‘sold out’ flag inside 24 hours, ensuring a much louder Gold Coast ‘voice’ than is normal at the ground, where traditionally Brisbane members have an overwhelming majority.

With a huge national audience set to tune in, it’s the ‘big brother’ Lions, long-time flagship of the code in Queensland, against the ‘little brother’ SUNS, a new emerging force in the AFL coming off an extraordinary win in their first AFL final last week and a new emerging

It’s the match Queensland football chiefs have dreamed of for 40 years and worked towards for more than 20 years. And it has had long-time supporters of the code wishing the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Stadium, which will have a capacity of 63,000, was ready now.

Still, the crowd for the 7.35pm first bounce on Saturday night for QClash 30Q – and QClash Final #1 – will top the record of 33,612 set in Round 8 this year.

Had recent Gabba renovations not reduced the capacity the ground AFL record of 37,478, set when Brisbane hosted Richmond in the 2019 qualifying final would be under threat.

The all-Queensland semi-final is the crowning glory in the AFL’s expansion into the SUNShine State via the ‘birth’ of the SUNS in 2011, and the game’s explosion in the south-east corner in particular.

It’s difficult to accurately measure the precise impact of the SUNS in terms of AFL participation rates due to a change in AFL modelling.

Historical data says participation numbers in Queensland have jumped from 137,989 in 2012, which was 10.04% up on 2011, to 216,381 in 2015, 265,760 in 2018. And this week the AFL announced participation has doubled since 2019.

But since 2019 the definition of participation has been tightened to exclude children who are involved in school programs, and include only registered club participants.

Undeniable, though, are the relevant attendance figures. In 1992, in the Brisbane Bears’ last year at Carrara, 11 home games pulled an average crowd of 6499. And that included 13,053 for the game against Collingwood.

This year nine SUNS games at a much-improved Carrara, now People First Stadium, have  averaged 16,704, with 22,831 for Collingwood.

So no matter how you measure it, it’s been a big win for the game.

And history says the SUNS, seventh on the home-and-away-ladder, are a better chance of beating the third-placed Lions this week than they might have been early days. Especially since the introduction of the pre-finals bye in 2016 which took away much of the advantage of the top four sides.

Under the existing top eight system, introduced in 2000 following the abandonment of an old system in which week one saw 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5, only two teams from the top four were ousted in straight sets in 14 years – Port Adelaide in 2001 and West Coast in 2007.

It swung strongly in 2014, when Geelong and Fremantle were eliminated in ‘straight sets’. And Sydney likewise in 2015.

In 2016, with the benefit of the extra week off, the Bulldogs, seventh on the home-and-away ladder, beat West Coast (6^th), Hawthorn (3^rd), GWS (4^th) and minor premiers Sydney to win the flag, And from 2017-24 seven top four teams were bundled out in straight sets.

So, after the SUNS’ epic win over Fremantle in Perth last week and the Lions’ loss to Geelong in Melbourne, historically it’s pretty much an each-way bet in QClash #30 – and QClash Final #1.

It’s a rivalry that’s had its up and downs since 1987, when the Brisbane Bears became the Gold Coast’s before they relocated to Brisbane in 1993.

In 1988 the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants joined the National Rugby League and suddenly there was a sporting war for bragging rights in Australia’s sixth-biggest city.

Sadly, historically it has been a graveyard for professional sporting franchises.

Basketball tried the Cougars and the Rollers from 1990-96, and the Blaze from 2007-12, and in 2007 rugby union fielded the East Coast Aces, who had shut down within 12 months.

Baseball fielded teams known as the Clippers, Dolphine and the Clippers from 1989-99, and there was even an ice-hockey team originally formed as the Brisbane Blue Tongues that relocated to the Coast in 2008, setting up base at Bundall for what would be five years before they folded.

But through all this the AFL had never given up on the Gold Coast. And after the Lions’ triple premiership of 2001-03, the prospect of a second AFL team in Queensland became real.

Locally there was talk of QAFL powerhouse Southport stepping up to the big league and the possibility of luring a cash-strapped Melbourne club to the Gold Coast. And after a pre-season match at Carrara in 2005 between Brisbane and Essendon drew 16,591 the AFL got on board.

As the Gold Coast population grew and the commercial interests expanded the AFL scheduled two games at Carrara in 2006. A Melbourne home game against Adelaide drew a crowd of 8,258, and a Hawthorn home against Brisbane and pulled 12,315.

North Melbourne, who from 1999 had traded as ‘Kangaroos’ in a bid to increase the club’s national appeal, signed a lucrative deal to play three home games at Carrara in 2007-08.

With the full backing of the AFL, North Melbourne considered a full-time move to the Coast, and even filmed a television commercial shown in south-east Queensland promoting their team and the game.

In 2007, the Gold Coast Titans entered the NRL in an apparent bid to quell the AFL’s growth in the region, which took a turn in December 2007 when the Roos, who had joined the then VFL in 1925 and won the flag in 1975-77, voted against relocation and the AFL’s $100m package.

As TV personality James Brayshaw took over as chairman they changed their trading name back to ‘North Melbourne’ before fulfilling a lucrative contractual obligation to play three home matches at Carrara in 2008.

Local focus quickly turned to the possibility of the Gold Coast establishing their own team, which had been floated by Southport as early as 1996.

With next to no publicity the AFL registered the name ‘Gold Coast Football Club Ltd” with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on 24 December 2007, and in March 2008 the AFL’s 16 club presidents voted with the League administration to establish sides on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney.

In 2008 a local consortium that became known as GC17 – as in the 17^th licence – was established to drive an official bid for a licence under criteria defined by the league.

In a critical development, the Queensland Government finally committed to funding for a stadium in early 2009, and on 31 March 2009 the new club was granted a conditional licence.

As the saying goes, the rest is history. After a tough initiation the SUNS have flourished, qualifying for the AFL finals the first time this year as the Gold Coast Titans have found themselves in turmoil near the bottom of the NRL ladder.

A record membership, record corporate support, record crowds at People First Stadium, a record 15 home-and-away wins, including a record eight interstate wins are the byproduct of a significant growth in the code at grassroots level, which peaked two years ago when the StreetSmarts SUNS Academy delivered the club four first-round picks in the National Draft.

It’s what the battling Bears dreamed of in 1987 after the code had enjoyed two ‘toe in the water’ moments in the early 1980s.

In 1981 Essendon beat Hawthorn 22.19 (151) to 20.13 (133) in the first AFL match for premiership points in Queensland on a pear-shaped Gabba surrounded by a greyhound track.

Simon Madden kicked seven goals and Graeme Schultz five for the Bombers, whose team included a 20-year-old Neale Daniher in his 59^th game, brothers Simon and Justin Madden, Tim Watson, and was coached by first-year coach Kevin Sheedy.

Peter Murnane kicked five and Rick Davies four for a Hawks outfit coached by Allan Jeans which included the legendary Leigh Matthews, AFL 400-gamer Michael Tuck and subsequent SUNS coach Rodney Eade.

There was the AFL exhibition game at the Gabba during the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games, and, in the Covid season of 2020, the AFL Grand Final.

Now, with only Brisbane, Gold Coast and Adelaide of the non-Victorian clubs still ‘alive’ in the 2025 AFL premiership, eyes across the country and around the world will be on the team in ‘pink’ on Saturday night.

The timing could not be more perfect and the opportunity is massive, and a win over the Lions  to catapult the SUNS into a preliminary final against Collingwood at the MCG.