The Western Mustangs are changing their name to the Western Clydesdales and are calling for community support to help realise our region’s Intrust Super Cup dream after announcing the news at Toowoomba’s NRL game today.

The club will play out the 2021 Hastings Deering Colts season as the Mustangs before adopting the Western Clydesdales name for the 2022 season onwards.

Retaining Western in the name demonstrates the club’s commitment to representing all of south-west Queensland, while returning to the Clydesdales name will evoke strong feelings of pride and passion for rugby league lovers in the region.

Club Chairman Michael Burns hoped adopting the Clydesdales name again would ignite support for the club in the community, and build further momentum for the Intrust Super Cup quest.

“The Clydesdales are an icon of rugby league in Queensland. It’s a name that sparks memories of passion and success, and a name that proudly represents rugby league in our region,” Burns said.

“It’s important all of our region feels represented by the club and that’s why we’ve retained Western in our name. The Board also feels our club needs to play under the name of the Clydesdales given its significance to the game in our region.

“We think the Western Clydesdales is the perfect mix of honouring history while building for a strong future.”

The club is ramping up efforts to earn a place in the Intrust Super Cup for 2023 by adding exceptional talent to its board in Southern Queensland Country Tourism CEO Peter Homan, former Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce CEO Greg Johnson and respected rugby league administrator Joe Hannant.

It’s also launching a community campaign to help to secure the financial support to fund a Commercial Manager position and other measures to attract the sponsorship income needed to bankroll an Intrust Super Cup club.

Part of the community campaign is signing up people for $500 to its Clydesdales Club, which will be an exclusive group of supporters who will hold a special place in the club’s history.

“The QRL has already told us we’re ready to join the Intrust Super Cup if we can prove we satisfy the stringent financial criteria for entering the semi-professional statewide competition,” Burns said.

“We’re determined to make this Intrust Super Cup dream a reality for the rugby league and wider community, but first we need help from the community to make this happen.

“We’ve already signed up some supporters to the Clydesdales Club before taking the push public, so we’re hoping others also see this as an awesome opportunity to be part of something special.”

You can find more information on becoming part of the Clydesdales Club here.