Brisbane Rugby League premiership

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The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a rugby league competition held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 1909 to 1997. Until the 1980s it was the premier sporting competition in Brisbane, attracting large crowds and broad media coverage. It then declined as large numbers of players left to play in the more lucrative New South Wales Rugby League premiership, and began to lose popular interest with the creation of the Brisbane Broncos in 1988. The Queensland Cup replaced the Brisbane premiership in 1998.

1 History
2 Teams
3 Grand Final results
- 3.1 Queensland Rugby League premiership (1909-1921)
- 3.2 Brisbane Rugby League premiership (1922-1997)
4 Quotes
5 Sources
6 See also

[edit] History

[edit] Establishment of the Queensland Rugby League

The Queensland Rugby League was formed in 1908 by seven rugby union players who were dissatisfied with the administration of the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU). The new organisation was attacked by both the local press and the QRU for introducing professionalism, which they claimed would destroy the sport. The "founding fathers" of the QRL included John Fihelly, an Australian Labor Party Member of Parliament who became Minister for Railways and Deputy Premier.

The first official club competition kicked off in Brisbane on May 8, 1909. Matches were played under the auspices of the Queensland Rugby Football League (QRFL, later QRL). The foundation clubs were:

North Brisbane
Toombul
Valley
South Brisbane
Milton

[edit] Schism: establishment of the Brisbane Rugby League

In 1922 the Brisbane Rugby Football League (BRFL, later BRL) was formed out of dissatisfaction with the way the QRFL ran the game. Those involved took particular exception to the salary being earned by Harry Sunderland as secretary of the QRL. The BRFL took control of the local competition. Competing in the BRFL competition that year were Brothers, Carltons, Coorparoo, University, Valley and Grammars. Although the QRL attempted to regain control of the BRL competition in 1923 and 1924, the BRL remained steadfast and the dispute simmered into the next decade. During this time the QRL continued to hold its own Brisbane competition.

Until 1932 the Brisbane Exhibition Ground was the home of rugby league in the city. The complicated arrangement between the BRL, QRL and Royal National Association (who administered the Exhibition Ground) led to the The Gabba being used for rugby league matches.

In 1933 district football was introduced to provide community support and player equalisation. This meant that players had to live within a certain distance of their club. Accordingly Brisbane was divided into Eastern Suburbs (incorporating Cooparoo and Wynnum), Southern Suburbs (incorporating Carltons), Western Suburbs, Northern Suburbs (incorporating Grammers), Fortitude Valley and Past Brothers (whose players had to prove that they had attended a Christian Brothers school). In 1934 University returned to rugby union.

The dispute was finally ended in 1953 when the BRL and QRL administrations were finally united. Former BRL chairman and QRL secretary Ron McAullife secured the use of Lang Park as a permanent home for rugby league in Queensland. Teams that joined the BRL competition around this time were South Coast (1952-1955), Wynnum-Manly (1952) and Redcliffe (1955).

[edit] Decline

In 1967 the QRL removed the residential qualifications for player in BRL clubs, meaning that players did not have to reside in their certain suburbs to play for their teams. This reduced community support for teams, and club decisions began to be made on a more commercial basis.

This coincided with the commencement of television telecasts of BRL games in the same year. The money made from jersey sponsorships and advertising hoardings at ground was not able to compete with poker machine money available to clubs in the New South Wales Rugby League and an increasing number of players left the BRL. This also effected the popularity of the Bulimba Cup (rugby league competition) that had been held between Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba since the 1930s.

The effect of television coverage on attendances became pronounced by the mid-1970s and crowds began to desert the BRL competition. Clubs found themselves in financial hardship, and the public began to support the Sydney competition that was now broadcast in Queensland.

The QRL commissioned Eric White Associates to investigate the administrative structure of the game in Queensland in 1977. One of the recommendations was the creation of a state-wide competition. The Winfield State League was created in 1982. The State League competition ran in parallel to the BRL competition from 1982 to 1995. The Queensland Cup (rugby league competition) would eventually replace both it and the BRL competition in the 1990s.

In the 1980s, two further teams were added to the BRL competition: Ipswich (1985) and Logan (1988).

In 1985 the New South Wales Rugby League decided to allow a team from Brisbane to enter the Sydney competition. The Brisbane Broncos debuted in the NSWRL in 1988. As the Broncos began to represent Brisbane at rugby league in the public eye the BRL competition entered the terminal phase of its decline. The BRL premiership was supersceded by the Queensland Cup competition in 1998. Redcliffe won the last BRL Grand Final in 1997 defeating Easts 18-16.

[edit] Teams

Team	Location	Home Ground	Foundation Year	BRL Premierships
Easts Tigers	Coorparoo	Langlands Park	1933	8
Ipswich Jets	Ipswich	Q.L.D. Group Stadium	1986	0
Logan Scorpians	Logan City	Meakin Park	1987	0
Milton	Milton		1909	0
Norths Devils	Nundah	Bishop Park	1927	13
Past Brothers	Brisbane	Corbett Park	1917	10
Redcliffe Dolphins	Redcliffe	Dolphin Oval	1947	4
Souths Magpies	West End	Davies Park	1921 (as Carltons)	8
Toombul	Toombul		1909	0
University	St Lucia	University of Queensland	1922	2
Wests Panthers	Bardon	Purtell Park	1915 (as Toowong)	10
Wynnum-Manly Seagulls	Brisbane	Kougari Oval	1951	4
Valleys Diehards	Brisbane	Allan Border Field	1909	24

[edit] Grand Final results

[edit] Queensland Rugby League premiership (1909-1921)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Score
1909	Valley	South Brisbane	22 - 4
1910	Ipswich	Toombul	17 - 2
1911	Valley-Toombul	Ipswich	13 - 2
1912	Natives	South Brisbane	10 - 0
1913	West End	Natives	5 - 3
1914	Valleys	West End	18 - 8
1915	Valleys	Western Suburbs	10 - 9
1916	Western Suburbs	Valleys	4 - 2
1917	Valleys	Merthyrs	13 - 5
1918	Valleys	Merthyrs	16 - 12
1919	Valleys	Coorparoo	28 - 2
1920	Western Suburbs	Christian Brothers	16 - 8
1921	Carltons	Coorparoo	12 - 10

[edit] Brisbane Rugby League premiership (1922-1997)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Score
1922	Western Suburbs	Coorparoo	20 - 9
1923	Coorparoo	Valleys	13 - 2
1924	Valleys	Christian Brothers	11 - 8
1925	Carltons	Coorparoo	24 - 5
1926	Past Brothers	Coorparoo	6 - 5
1927	Past Grammars	Western Suburbs	13 - 11
1928	University	Carltons	10 - 7
1929	University	Coorparoo	12 - 11
1930	Carltons	Valleys	19 - 8
1931	Valleys	Past Grammars	27 - 9
1932	Western Suburbs	Past Grammars	8 - 7
1933	Valleys	Western Suburbs	9 - 3
1934	Northern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	7 - 4
1935	Past Brothers	Valleys	11 - 9
1936	Western Suburbs	Valleys	13 - 12
1937	Valleys	Western Suburbs	9 - 7
1938	Northern Suburbs	Valleys	16 - 10
1939	Past Brothers	Northern Suburbs	11 - 9
1940	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers	17 - 11
1941	Valleys	Northern Suburbs	13 - 7
1942	Past Brothers	Southern Suburbs	20 - 11
1943	Past Brothers	Valleys	13 - 7
1944	Valleys	Northern Suburbs	16 - 12
1945	Southern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs	21 - 11
1946	Valleys	Eastern Suburbs	5 - 2
1947	Eastern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	15 - 2
1948	Western Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	14 - 8
1949	Southern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	22 - 8
1950	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	14 - 10
1951	Southern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	20 - 10
1952	Western Suburbs	Past Brothers	15 - 14
1953	Southern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	21 - 4
1954	Western Suburbs	Past Brothers	35 - 18
1955	Valleys	Past Brothers	17 - 7
1956	Past Brothers	Western Suburbs	17 - 10
1957	Valleys	Past Brothers	18 - 17
1958	Past Brothers	Valleys	22 - 7
1959	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers	24 - 18
1960	Northern Suburbs	Valleys	18 - 5
1961	Northern Suburbs	Valleys	29 - 5
1962	Northern Suburbs	Valleys	22 - 0
1963	Northern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	18 - 8
1964	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers	13 - 4
1965	Redcliffe	Valleys	15 - 2
1966	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers	9 - 6
1967	Past Brothers	Northern Suburbs	6 - 2
1968	Past Brothers	Eastern Suburbs	21 - 4
1969	Northern Suburbs	Valleys	14 - 2
1970	Valleys	Northern Suburbs	13 - 11
1971	Valleys	Eastern Suburbs	18 - 10
1972	Eastern Suburbs	Valleys	16 - 15
1973	Valleys	Redcliffe	15 - 7
1974	Valleys	Past Brothers	9 - 2
1975	Western Suburbs	Redcliffe	26 - 24
1976	Western Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	16 - 1
1977	Eastern Suburbs	Redcliffe	17 - 13
1978	Eastern Suburbs	Valleys	14 - 10
1979	Valleys	Southern Suburbs	26 - 0
1980	Northern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	17 - 15
1981	Southern Suburbs	Redcliffe	13 - 9
1982	Wynnum-Manly	Southern Suburbs	17 - 3
1983	Eastern Suburbs	Redcliffe	14 - 6
1984	Wynnum-Manly	Southern Suburbs	42 - 8
1985	Southern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly	10 - 8
1986	Wynnum-Manly	Past Brothers	14 - 6
1987	Past Brothers	Redcliffe	26 - 8
1988	Seagulls-Diehards	Ipswich	17 - 14
1989	Valleys	Ipswich	28 - 4
1990	Valleys	Northern Suburbs	17 - 16
1991	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	25 - 10
1992	Western Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	40 - 10
1993	Western Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	18 - 12
1994	Redcliffe	Western Suburbs	24 - 18
1995	Wynnum	Eastern Suburbs	32 - 24
1996	Redcliffe	Southern Suburbs	16 - 12
1997	Redcliffe	Eastern Suburbs	35 - 6

[edit] Quotes

"Well that is a tragedy, to be honest with you. There's no club identity at all now. If you don't follow the Broncos well who do you follow? That means you've got to follow a New South Wales side. I think I'm sure that's what McAuliffe didn't want to happen. But when they brought in the Queensland side into the NRL that was the end of the BRL, as far as that was concerned. It should never have happened because as it turned out, if we did lose players from Queensland to go to New South Wales we had the State of Origin. We've been winning the State of Origin, and you can imagine if we were keeping our players, the club competition would be just as good as what it was when I was playing. But that is a tragedy as far as I'm concerned is that the people miss that club identity." -Barry Muir on the decline of the BRL and the rise of the National Rugby League.
"Yeah well the crowd was great, they supported you wholeheartedly, they came along but it wasn't only down here on the football field it was on the streets up there. People would come up and talk to you, they'd stop you in the street and get your autograph and have a talk to you and wish you all the best and really support you in what you were doing and lifting the Club. There was four or five players here that were top-line footballers and we used to go up on the terrace and sell raffles in front of McCarthy's Jewellers store on the terrace and we'd do an hour there and then pop down to the Manly Hotel and do an hour there and then we'd pop down to Fishers (pub) and do an hour there. The players were prepared to do it because they were getting the support from this area and they would give it back on the playing field and however they could meet the people on the streets. I don't think anyone turned away from you, it was just one big happy family. We used to have like a barbecue after the game and there'd be 100 or 200 people that would turn up for the barbecue, we had it at various areas." -Lionel Morgan on the support of the BRL in the Wynnum-Manly district.