The Gold Coast SUNS have reached 20,000 members for the first time in club history.

The major milestone was announced at Metricon Stadium today with a host of foundation and platinum Gold Coast SUNS members invited to celebrate the occasion alongside players and staff.

“This announcement means so much to our club, our members are really important to us,” GC SUNS Chairman Tony Cochrane said.

“We’ve kept growing and becoming a bigger and more important part of our community and are the first sporting franchise ever in history to pass 20,000 members here on the Gold Coast.

“Everybody’s now seeing the journey we’re on and are seeing success come to the club.

“We’ve got an enormous task still in front of us, but we are a very stable club now and have a lot of very good people here and a tremendous culture.”

GC SUNS Chief Executive Mark Evans echoed the sentiments of the Chairman and reinforced the club’s purpose in the community.

“Our mission as a club is to inspire people to become a part of our extraordinary journey,” Evans said.

“This journey to take the reins of a club in a non-traditional football state and to try to grow something from scratch is an extraordinary story.

“In Queensland we’re dealing with record participation, record Auskick numbers and a record number of school teams which is just an incredible result.

“We feel the support from the Gold Coast every day, so to our members and fans we must say a massive thank you.”

In 2021 the club set its highest membership total of 19,460, and 2022 marks the third-straight year the club has broken its membership record, with 44% growth since 2019.

The announcement comes after Queensland has enjoyed record-breaking participation numbers in community football this year, with over 55,000 people involved in the game.

The 2022 membership window closes on August 30, with the club striving to continue its impressive membership growth in the time remaining.