Gold Coast Suns

The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Founded in 2009, the club has been playing in the AFL since the 2011 season. It plays home matches at Carrara Stadium (known for commercial purposes as People First Stadium) and has its training and administrative facilities located at the adjacent Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre. The club is one of two AFL clubs based in Queensland, the other being its main rival, the Brisbane Lions, which it competes against in the QClash.

In addition to the men's team, the Suns field other teams, including an AFL Women's side, a reserves side in the Victorian Football League, and a Gold Coast Suns Academy side consisting of the club's best junior development signings. It also competes in Division 2 of the men's, women's underage championships, and the Talent League.

The first application for a licence by a Gold Coast team to enter the AFL was made in 1996 by the wealthy and popular Gold Coast-based Southport Sharks (formed 1961); with an excess of 20,000 members, the on-field QAFL powerhouse made a formal bid to the AFL. However, the AFL declined the licence in favour of admitting the Port Adelaide Football Club. There was strong opposition from the majority of the QAFL clubs and supporters, and the AFL felt that the popular Sharks brand, and its reliance on gaming and hospitality revenue, could divide rather than unite the Gold Coast community. In 2006, the AFL attempted to negotiate a merger between the Sharks and a Melbourne-based club. The AFL made the Gold Coast a primary target for a proposed relocation of the North Melbourne Football Club which had sold some of its home games there. The league pushed for a merger with the Sharks offering significant financial incentives, however North Melbourne blocked the move and the AFL decided that a new licence would be the best avenue for moving forward. On 24 December 2007, the AFL obtained Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) registration for the name "Gold Coast Football Club Ltd". In March 2008 the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish sides on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney. Shortly thereafter the AFL invited the Sharks to become part of a consortium, and the club made a $150,000 donation and sought to meet the strict criteria set down for inclusion by the AFL. As part of the winning bid, the Sharks contributed $10 million in corporate sponsorship. However the AFL officially ruled out use of the Sharks nickname (along with other nominations including the Dolphins and Pirates) for the new club, despite them being the highest polling choices of AFL supporters. The club's identity was put to a public nomination and voting process with the Marlins and Stingrays being the most popular of the available options among community stakeholders. In response to the poll, however the AFL announced that it would not adopt any of the community suggested names and the team would initially remain unnamed and that the nickname would evolve. However it was later leaked that the AFL's marketing department had already chosen the Suns brand independent of the community consultation.

The new club was formally granted the licence to compete in the AFL on 31 March 2009.

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou announced the club could debut in the Queensland State League in 2009 as it recruited players and prepared for its debut season in the AFL, which the league scheduled for 2011. Marquee AFL players such as Nick Riewoldt, Lance Franklin, Nic Naitanui and Kurt Tippett were speculated as potential signings for Gold Coast, though all four men ended up re-signing with their existing clubs. In June 2008 it was announced that the new team would play in the TAC Cup in 2009 and the Victorian Football League in 2010 ahead of its entry into the AFL in 2011. Later that year the board of business-people who had been appointed to set up the club, and were known as the GC17 bid, appointed WAFL coach and former West Coast player Guy McKenna as senior coach. Essendon administrator Travis Auld was selected as head of the GC17 board, and would go on to lead the club in an off-field capacity for several years.

The AFL were able to successfully negotiate with the Queensland Government to redevelop Carrara Stadium as the club's new home ground. The announcement of the redevelopment, of which a small portion was funded by the AFL, was made in May 2009. On 22 July 2010 club administrators announced that the club would be known as the Gold Coast Suns, and adopt the colours red, gold and blue.

The club's newly assembled junior squad competed in the 2009 TAC Cup under 18 competition and won most of their games, eventually finishing in 5th place. They defeated the Northern Knights in the elimination final but then lost their semi final to the Geelong Falcons.