Australian rules football in Queensland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Australian rules football in Queensland
Snapshot
First played May, 1866
Participants 57,687 (total), 3,300 (senior)
Clubs  ?
Governing Body AFL Queensland
Audience
Game Attendance Record 37,224 (2005). Brisbane Lions vs Collingwood (Gabba)
Clubs & Competitions
Major club competitions Queensland State League
AFL Cairns
Principal Venues Brisbane Cricket Ground
Cazaly's Stadium

Australian rules football in Queensland has a history which dates back to the 1860s. By the 1880s it was the most prominent football code in the state, but was overtaken by rugby by 1900. However, the sport continued to be played throughout the twentieth century. Its recent surge in popularity in south east Queensland is partly due to the success of the Brisbane Lions in the national Australian Football League competition.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early Beginnings in South East Queensland

Australian rules football was first played in Queensland in May 1866 when the Brisbane Australian Football Club (distinct from the Brisbane Bears or Lions clubs) was formed. The original aim was to keep cricketers fit in the winter months. By 1870 four more clubs had been created: Volunteer Artillery, Brisbane Grammar School, Civil Service and Ipswich.

Although Australian rules was the most popular football code in Queensland by 1880, by the 1890s it had been overtaken by rugby union. The game was revived when the Queensland Football League (QFL) was formed in July 1903. The first premiership was held in 1904 with most games being played at Queen's Park, a sporting facility within the grounds of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. From 1905 to 1914 games were regularly played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground.

Queensland sent delegates to the Intercolonial Football Conferences in 1883 and 1908. At the time Queensland had over 300 teams. In 1884 Ipswich defeated a touring Essendon team.

Brisbane Grammar played matches against Ipswich Grammar in “Victorian Rules”. Independent Schools headmasters later voted by 1 vote to adopt rugby (due to the reference of Victorian Rules).

The premiership has been held every year from 1904, with the exception of the period from 1915 to 1919 when the competition went into recess owing to World War I. Since the inception of the QFL, more than fifty teams have played in the premiership competition.

In August 1927 at a meeting of the Australian National Football Council it was decided that each of the state leagues were to include the words 'Australian National' in their names. Accordingly the QFL was renamed the Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL).

[edit] 1950s and 60s - The Game Expands outside South East Queensland

In 1952, the Brisbane Exhibition Ground hosted a VFL match between Essendon and Geelong and was the first official VFL match to be played under floodlights.

Aussie Rules was introduced to Far North Queensland in the 1950s. In 1957 land was purchased in Cairns for the first dedicated field and by 1958 a junior competition had begun. Shortly later leagues were introduced to Townsville and Mount Isa.

A VFL exhibition game was played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground in 1959, attracting a large crowd.

In 1964 the QANFL became the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL), a limited liability company.

In the 1960s, the first leagues appeared in Mackay, the Darling Downs and Rockhampton.

[edit] 1980s - The Brisbane Bears Years

In 1986 it was announced that teams from Brisbane (Brisbane Bears) and Perth (West Coast Eagles) would compete in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1987. This had a deletrious effect on the QAFL which weakened over the following years. After the 1996 season, the QAFL went into receivership. A new governing body, the Queensland Australian Football Council, was formed in 1997, alongside a new premiership competition, Queensland State Football League (QSFL).

The Bears were hugely unsuccessful on the field, and with the admission of the successful Brisbane Broncos rugby league team into the New South Wales Rugby League, the popularity of Australian rules football plummeted. (The creation of the Broncos may have been made to counter Aussie rules overtaking rugby league in popularity in Queensland. NSWRL had resisted the move for a team in QLD for years and after the Bears were formed, created the Broncos the very next season).

Queenslander Jason Dunstall debuted for the Hawthorn Football Club in 1985 and quickly became one of the greatest players in the game, despite remaining almost unknown in his home state. He briefly represented a Queensland State of Origin team which played in a low key game against New South Wales in Sydney. During this time, however, the state produced few other talented players.

During the 1980s and 1990s, demographic trends of Victorian and South Australians (states where the code is extremely popular) migrating interstate in large numbers to Queensland. Support for Australian rules football grew, despite a lack of success from the Bears and support from fans.

In 1993, the Brisbane Bears moved from Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast to the Brisbane Cricket Ground. Interest, crowds and membership in the team increased considerably.

In 1995, the Bears made the AFL finals for the first time.

In 1996, six sell-out games at the Gabba caused the State Government to consider funding re-development of the ground, something that would be done several times over the following years to transform the small stadium into a world class venue.

[edit] Boom Times - Brisbane Lions Era

The Brisbane Lions began in 1996, when the AFL approved a merger between the Brisbane Bears and the formerly Melbourne based Fitzroy Football Club and on-field success increased substantially with the injection of Fitzroy players, further boosting the popularity of the code.

In a breakthrough for Australian Football in late 1990s, GPS schools in South East Queensland began playing Australian Rules for the first time since the turn of the century. Previously to this, South East Queensland private schools had been a staunchly rugby union stronghold since 1908. The Jason Dunstall Cup (named after champion Queensland product Jason Dunstall) was later begun, with independent schools such as BBC, ACGS, Nudgee College, Marist Brothers Ashgrove and Gregory Terrace represented with teams in the first division of the Queensland Independent Schools Australian Football League (QISAFL).

Also in the 1990s, the Cairns league experienced enormous growth financially on the back of gaming, with the Cazaly's social club quickly becoming the largest sporting club north of Brisbane. The Cazaly's Stadium received lights to play popular night football games and the western stand from the Gabba was transplanted to Cazaly's Stadium, enabling it to host AFL matches.

In 1999, the QSFL also went into voluntary liquidation being replaced. Another new organisation, AFL Queensland (AFLQ), was formed in 2000. The new premiership competition was called the AFLQ State League. That year, Nick Riewoldt became the first Queensland produced player to be taken as number 1 pick in the AFL Draft, recognised as the best junior talent in the nation.

In 2001, a Women's Footy competition began in earnest.

Three successive premierships for the Brisbane Lions in 2001, 2002 and 2003 saw crowds to Australian Football League matches in Brisbane to grow to an average of over 30,000, and in terms of attendance and membership, the AFL team in 2003 was the most popular team of any football code in the state. However despite increasing television ratings and media exposure, Australian rules football remains overall less popular as rugby league in the state.

During the Lions premiership years, junior Aussie Rules numbers exploded in South East Queensland, and grew solidly right across the state.

[edit] Recent History

From 2005, the growing local State League expanded to two divisions.

A record number of 13 Queenslanders were invited to attend the 2006 AFL Draft camp, representing 18% of the 72 camp invitees. [1]

Although state league crowds have dwindled with the increase in support for the Brisbane Lions AFL team, a healthy crowd of 3,257 saw the Southport Sharks defeat Morningside in the 2005 AFLQ Grand Final at the Gabba, while a crowd of over 3,000 saw the Southport Sharks win back-to-back premierships in 2006 at Carrara.

In 2006, support for the Brisbane Lions waned substantially due to two successive seasons out of the finals. From 2005 to 2006 total memberships decreased from 30,027 to 26,429 and the average home crowd fell from 33,101 to 28,305.

Despite the Lions' fall from grace, Queensland performed extremely well in the 2006 AFL Draft with a record 11 recruits, including 8 of the first 32 picks with some picks from previously undrafted regional areas such as Townsville, Toowoomba and Mackay.[1][2]

[edit] Aussie Rules on the Gold Coast

Australian football at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. Adelaide vs Melbourne
Enlarge
Australian football at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast. Adelaide vs Melbourne

The Gold Coast, where a hole had been left once the Brisbane Bears moved has grown to become the 6th biggest urban area with nearly 500,000 people. In recent years, several bids were made for a new AFL franchise by the powerhouse Southport Sharks Australian Football Club, including attempts to lure a Melbourne based club in 2004 [2]. Many of these attempts were knocked back due to the city's many many failed sporting franchises. However demographic trends suggested a growing demand for Australian rules football and in 2005 a pre-season practice match between the Brisbane Lions and Essendon drew a surprise audience of 16,591. In response, the Australian Football League stepped up efforts to expand into the Gold Coast market. A series of pre-season games and a home and away match was scheduled at Carrara for 2006. Despite a disappointing average crowd of around 10,000, the AFL announced intentions to include a side in the next 5 years [3]. A bitter turf war resulted over the use of Carrara stadium[3].

In July 2006, the Kangaroos announced that from 2007 they will move their home games scheduled at Manuka Oval in Canberra to play a number of home games at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast in an AFL backed push. [4]

[edit] Participation

In 2004, there were around 3,300 senior players in Queensland, with a total of 57,687 participants. Although the overall participation per capita is around 2%, the sport is growing faster in Queensland than any other Australian state. [5]

[edit] Audience

[edit] Attendance Record

[edit] Major Australian Rules Events in Queensland

[edit] Great Queensland Footballers

Over the years, Queensland has produced an amazing array of talent for elite leagues such as the Australian Football League, such as Jason Dunstall, Marcus Ashcroft, Gavin Crosisca, Scott McIvor, Danny Dickfos and Steven Lawrence.

[edit] Notable Queensland Players in the AFL

[edit] Representative Side

The Queensland state team has played interstate representative matches against all other Australian states, as well as selecting State of Origin teams as both Queensland and later as part of a combined "Allies" side.

In inter-league matches since 1991, Queensland has defeated both Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, and has performed well against more accomplished states such as Western Australia without winning.

The Queensland under-19 representative side is known as the Scorpions.

[edit] Leagues & Clubs

[edit] Professional Clubs

[edit] Open

[edit] South East Queensland Metropolitan Leagues

[edit] Regional Leagues

[edit] Junior

[edit] Women's

[edit] Masters

[edit] Principal Venues

[edit] Sources

  1. John Morton's Queensland Australian Rules Year Book 1960 by John Morton, 1960
  2. Queensland Team of the Century Football Record Official Programme, AFL Queensland, 2003
  3. Official Souvenir Programme of Collingwood v South Melbourne, Queensland Australian National Football League, 1935

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wealth of Maroon Talent article from the Courier Mail
  2. ^ Queensland dominates Draft - record 11 players chosen
  3. ^ "NRL complains of Carrara turf war" theage.com.au August 7, 2006 URL accessed 7 September 2006

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Australian rules football in Queensland
Governing Body

AFL Queensland
Professional Clubs

Brisbane Lions (AFL)
Metropolitan Leagues

AFLQ State League | AFLQ State Association
Regional Leagues

Bundaberg-Wide Bay | Cairns | Capricornia | Darling Downs | Mackay | Mt Isa | Townsville
Junior Leagues

Brisbane | Gold Coast | Cairns | Sunshine Coast | Darling Downs | Independent Schools
Women's Leagues

AFL Queensland Women's | Cairns
Masters Leagues

Masters Australian Football Queensland
Principal Venues

Brisbane Cricket Ground | Cazaly's Stadium
Australian rules football in Australia

States
ACT | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC | WA
Countries playing Australian rules football

Oceania
Australia | Fiji | Nauru | New Zealand | Papua New Guinea | Samoa | Solomon Islands | Tonga

Asia & Middle East
Brunei | Cambodia | China | East Timor | Hong Kong | India | Indonesia | Israel | Japan | Lebanon | Malaysia | Philippines | Pakistan | Singapore | South Korea | Thailand | United Arab Emirates | Vietnam

Europe
Austria | Belgium | Catalonia | Croatia | Czech Republic | Denmark | England | France | Germany | Ireland | Italy | Netherlands | Scotland | Spain | Sweden | Wales

Africa
Kenya | South Africa | Zimbabwe

Americas
Argentina | Bermuda | Canada | Chile | United States
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/u/s/Australian_rules_football_in_Queensland_64ed.html"