Brisbane Premier League

Brisbane Premier League (BPL) is the first tier of senior football (soccer) league in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, run by Football Brisbane (FB). After a 26 match regular season, the top 6 teams on the league table qualify for the finals series. The bottom 2 teams are relegated to Division 1.

In 2013, a major restructuring of the BPL along with the rest of the Football Brisbane pyramid will take place.

Teams Competing

The teams for season 2011 are shown in the table below.

2010 Season

Rochedale Rovers were champions in the 2010 regular season, after a fantastic start to the season that saw them go 21 games undefeated. Beenleigh and Pine Rivers United were relegated.

Finals Series

Rochedale Rovers came into the finals as favourites despite a poor run of form through the final few rounds. Unfortunately for Rovers their slump continued, going down 1–3 to Brisbane Wolves in the Qualifying Final. In the other games, Olympic FC defeated Eastern Suburbs while Capalaba came back from 2 goals down to force a penalty shoot out with 2009 Premiers Peninsula Power, and went on to win the game.

This set up another home finals match for Capalaba, who despite a taxing schedule managed to defeat Olympic after another 120 minutes of football. They then travelled to Rochedale to try to join Wolves in the grand final, but lost 3–0 after a string of first half goals. Rochedale, who had lost the Canale Cup final to Capalaba a week before their preliminary final clash, faced Wolves in a rematch of the QF at Perry Park. The grand final was scoreless at half time, but Wolves took the lead in the 2nd and held their nerve despite going down to 9 men to claim back to back finals series victories. Rochedale also had a man sent off in a thrilling final.

2011 Season

The season began 2 weeks later than usual after the 2011 Brisbane flood. Many Premier League teams found their home grounds underwater, including Taringa Rovers, University of Queensland, Olympic FC and Eastern Suburbs. A new website was released for the 2011 season, named The Washing Line. The season finally got underway on Friday 4 March, with Peninsula Power drawing 1–1 at home to newcomers North Pine.

Wolves FC (renamed from Brisbane Wolves in 2011) have been the stand out team of the 2011 season, winning 7–3 over Olympic, 5–0 over Brisbane City, 6–1 over Redlands United and an unbelievable 11–1 over Taringa Rovers within their first 8 games of the season. 2010 champions Rochedale Rovers struggled to keep pace with Wolves but remained in the hunt, along with Olympic and much to some peoples surprise, Eastern Suburbs. North Pine also surprised with some solid performances, however Pine Hills were less impressive, without a win and bottom of the league in May. Peninsula Power also started the season slowly, managing their first win against the University of Queensland on May 14. They backed that win up with a 7–1 battering over Pine Hills to kick start their season.

Wolves trashed Mount Gravatt 9–1 on May 21, to increase their season goal tally to 50 – after only 10 games. They followed this up with a 3–0 away victory at unbeaten Rochedale Rovers, to go 9 points clear at the top heading into June. On June 25, Capalaba became the first team to take any points off Wolves all season with a 3–2 victory. The following week, Souths United lost 8–1 to Wolves, leaving them currently locked in a relegation battle with Mount Gravatt. The gap closed to only one point after Mt Gravatt claimed a 2–1 victory against 12th placed Souths on July 23.

On Tuesday August 16, Wolves FC secured the Veto Brisbane Premier League title with a 5–2 away win at relegated Pine Hills. Meanwhile stunning wins for North Pine over Rochedale Rovers and Olympic FC lifted the promoted side into 5th position with only 3 weeks remaining, and a 4–1 final day victory over Brisbane City was enough to see them into the finals series. A 3–0 win for Souths United against Eastern Suburbs lifted them 4 points clear of Mount Gravatt with only two matches to play. Mount Gravatt were then relegated following a 2–5 defeat to Wolves. Remarkably, Wolves finishes the regular season having scored 102 goals.

Finals Series

In a repeat of the 2010 Qualifying Final, Wolves faced Rochedale Rovers however this time the match was played at Carmichael Park. Two late 1st half goals from Americans Patrick Hopkins and Steffen Vroom took Wolves into a 2–0 lead that proved to be enough as they held out for a 2–1 victory. Elsewhere, Peninsula Power knocked out Eastern Suburbs with a 2–1 home win, while Olympic FC defeated North Pine 3–1. Olympic would go on to defeat Peninsula in Extra Time before facing Rochedale for a place in the 2011 Grand Final. But as Rochedale had done to Capalaba the previous year, they defeated their opposition 3–0 to set up a rematch with Wolves FC. The Grand Final is at Perry Park on Sunday 25 September.

Media

The league and its lower divisions are covered by several local newspapers throughout the city, suburbs and surrounding areas including Ipswich and Toowoomba. Highlights of matches, often at least 2 matches per round, in the league are put together by PaulyTV. Live scores and updates from all Brisbane Premier League matches can be found on The Washing Line Facebook page. The Washing Line website also publishes reports, previews and newspaper articles from around the city.

There are also 2 radio shows during the week broadcast on 101FM. The Football Brisbane Show is on between 7pm to 8pm on Wednesday nights, featuring reviews and previews of BPL matches, tips and interviews with players and coaches. Songs and Goals is a 3 hour show on a Saturday afternoon between 4pm and 7pm, which features live score updates from around Brisbane, chat on footballing issues locally and globally, as well as interviews with local football personalities in Brisbane.

On Sunday May 23, 2010, a match between Brisbane Wolves and Pine Rivers United became the first BPL match to be streamed live on the internet. Wolves won 5–2.

On Saturday June 11, 2011, a match between Redlands United and Olympic FC featured on The Danny Baker Show in the UK, on BBC Radio 5 Live. Olympic won 3–2.

See also

• History of association football in Brisbane, Queensland
• Current Brisbane Premier League Table