The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

football competition in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, known as the FOGS premiership under the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

. The competition consists of Brisbane's top six rugby league clubs.
Each participating team is a feeder club for the

. Prior to 1922, the competition was conducted under the auspices of the

Queensland Rugby League The Queensland Rugby Football League QRL Constitution, 2009: 3 (QRL QRL Constitution, 2009: 2) is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the mem ...

. Until the 1980s it was the premier sporting competition in Brisbane, attracting large crowds and broad media coverage. The Brisbane Rugby League however, had been in slow decline for some 15 years as large numbers of its players left to compete in the more lucrative Sydney Rugby League, and began to lose popular interest with the creation of the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

in 1988. Also in 1988, the Sydney Rugby League de facto superseded the Brisbane Rugby League by going national and including the Brisbane and Gold Coast clubs. However, the BRL maintained legal top-flight status until the advent of the national Australian Rugby League premiership in 1995, which superseded both Brisbane Rugby League premiership and the Sydney Rugby League premiership. The Brisbane Rugby League premiership then became a second-tier competition until it ceased and was fully replaced at this level by the

before the 1998 season. The FOGS Cup, a third-tier competition under the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

, changed its name to the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in Brisbane Rugby League (2001), 2001, kno ...

in 2016.

History

Predecessor: QRFL

The Queensland Rugby Football League (QRFL) was formed in 1908 by seven former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

players who were dissatisfied with the administration of the

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of Rugby union in Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. History The QRU was founded in Brisbane in 1883 as t ...

(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 QRFL included John Fihelly, an

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

Member of Parliament who became Minister for Railways and Deputy Premier. The first official club competition kicked off in Brisbane on 8 May 1909. Norths played against Souths before a handful of spectators at

Brisbane Cricket Ground The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...

. Matches were played under the auspices of the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League (later renamed

). The foundation clubs were: * North Brisbane *

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestri ...

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 14,292 people. Geography South Brisbane is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the nor ...

* Toombul Note:

era statistics are not counted as Brisbane Rugby League statistics.

Schism: establishment of the Brisbane Rugby League

In 1922 the Brisbane Rugby Football League (Brisbane Rugby Football League, later Brisbane Rugby League) was formed out of dissatisfaction with the way the

ran the game. Those involved took particular exception to the salary being earned by

Harry Sunderland Harry Sunderland (23 November 1889 – 15 January 1964) was an Australian rugby league football administrator and journalist. Sunderland was born in Gympie, Queensland in 1889. From 1913 to 1922, Sunderland was the Queensland Rugby League's ...

as secretary of the

. The Brisbane Rugby League took control of the local competition. Competing in the Brisbane Rugby League competition that year were Brothers, Carltons, Coorparoo, University, Valley and Wests, with Past Grammars rejoining in 1924. Although the

attempted to regain control of the Brisbane Rugby League competition in 1923 and 1924, the Brisbane Rugby League remained steadfast and the dispute simmered into the next decade. so dire did the situation become, that by the late 1920s, the

commenced its own competition involving Ipswich clubs and two supporting Brisbane clubs. Until 1932

Brisbane Exhibition Ground The Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the largest being the Royal Queen ...

was the home of rugby league in the city. The complicated arrangement between the Brisbane Rugby League,

and Royal National Association (who administered the Exhibition Ground) led to

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 Coorparoo and Wynnum), Southern Suburbs (incorporating Carltons), Western Suburbs, Northern Suburbs (incorporating Past Grammars), Fortitude Valley and Past Brothers (whose players had to prove that they had attended a Christian Brothers school). In 1934, the University Amateur Rugby League Club folded and disappeared from the competition. In 1953 the friction between the Queensland Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League ended, with the Brisbane Rugby League being replaced by the Brisbane division of the Queensland Rugby League. Former Brisbane Rugby League chairman and Queensland Rugby League secretary Ron McAullife eventually secured the use of Brisbane Football Stadium as a permanent home for rugby league in

. Teams that joined the Brisbane Rugby League competition around this time were South Coast (1952–1953),

Wynnum-Manly The Wynnum Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Sin ...

(1951) and Redcliffe (1960). A then-record crowd at Brisbane Football Stadium of 19,824 saw Northern Suburbs defeat Fortitude Valley in the Brisbane Rugby League grand final in September 1961.

Golden Years

In 1967 the

removed the residential qualifications for players in Brisbane Rugby League 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 broadcasts of Brisbane Rugby League games in the same year. The money made from jersey sponsorships and advertising hoardings at grounds was not able to compete with poker machine money available to Sydney Rugby League clubs in the Sydney Rugby League, and an increasing number of players left the Brisbane Rugby League. This also affected the popularity of the

Bulimba Cup The Bulimba Cup was an Australian rugby league football competition contested by the Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba representative rugby league sides during the mid 20th century. In 1931, a team from Lismore, New South Wales participated. It wa ...

which had been held between the cities of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

and

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

since the 1930s. In 1978 the premiership trophy, the Kirks Cup was replaced by the Winfield Cup. The

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 statewide competition. The

Winfield State League The Winfield State League was a rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It was administered by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition was the QRL's parallel to the NSWRL's Amco Cup knockout and ran alongside the Brisbane ...

was created in 1982. The State League competition ran in parallel to the Brisbane Rugby League competition from 1982 to 1995. Also, like with Sydney's competition, Brisbane's competition was also called the Winfield Cup during the 1980s, due to sponsorship from Winfield cigarettes. The

would eventually replace both the

State league A state league is a level of competition in Sport in Australia, Australian sport directly below that of a national league. Most of these competitions are based in a single States and territories of Australia, state or territory, and from this the te ...

and the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1996 and 1998. In the 1980s, two further teams were added to the Brisbane Rugby League competition:

(1986) and

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gove ...

(1987). Despite some

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

( Sydney Rugby League) premiership games being re-broadcast during late night timeslots from the late 1970s, the Brisbane Rugby League remained the more popular competition in

until 1988 with the weekly live broadcast of the Match of the Round being played at Lang Park.

Decline

In 1986 the

decided to allow a team from Brisbane to enter the Sydney Rugby League premiership. While the

was originally negotiating a Brisbane team sponsored by the

, a private bid in the form of the

was instead accepted by the

. The

debuted in the Sydney Rugby League premiership in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. As the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed of horse, male or female, with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

began to represent

at rugby league in the public eye the Brisbane Rugby League competition entered the terminal phase of its decline. The dominance of the

in the media resulted in the Brisbane Rugby League losing live coverage of games and receiving only minor interest from the sports media. The drop in interest saw the Brisbane Rugby League, its clubs and its junior development base incurring significant and crippling financial losses. Several longstanding clubs were not able to survive the impact over the coming years. From 1988, Brisbane Rugby League players weren't chosen to represent

again. The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was fully superseded by the Australian Rugby League Premiership which took nationwide first-class status in 1995. The Brisbane Rugby League became a state competition from 1995-97 until the

, which became a league-style competition in 1998, superseded the Brisbane Rugby League as the top state league. Redcliffe won the last Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final in 1997 defeating Eastern Suburbs 35–6, and the league was then declared defunct.

Return of the Brisbane Rugby League Premiership

On 26 September 2014, the South East Queensland Division announced that they will be scrapping the existing FOGS Cup structure and reforming the Brisbane Rugby League as the state's secondary competition. Legally, although they share the same name, this competition is completely separate from the original BRL.

Brisbane Rugby League Club Teams

(Reserve Grade) = Reserve Grade side to the Senior Grade side.

Representative Brisbane Rugby League team

Selected players from the

Rugby League clubs, represented

in a representative team called

Brisbane Capitals Brisbane Capitals is a NBL1 North club based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 North. The club is a division of Brisbane Basketball Incorporated (BBI), one of the major administrative basketball o ...

against various

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Rugby League clubs or against Sydney Capitals

First-grade wins, losses, win percentage and draws

Teams in bold still existed during the at the end of the 1st-grade competition in 1994.

Grand Final results

* * = Team undefeated *Although the Brisbane Rugby League took a significant financial and competitive downturn, it did not become a second-flight competition when the

entered the Sydney Rugby League in 1988. Rather, it officially lost top-tier status after the 1994 season, before the advent of the Australian Rugby League, in 1995.

Brisbane Rugby League Premiers (All Grades) (1922–1997)

* * = Team undefeated

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 NSWRL that was the end of the Brisbane Rugby League, 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, in 2001, on the decline of the Brisbane Rugby League and the rise of the Sydney 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, in 2001, on the support of the Brisbane Rugby League in the Wynnum-Manly district.''

References

External links

*
A History of Brisbane Rugby League (1909–2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brisbane Rugby League Premiership 1922 in rugby league Rugby league competitions in Queensland Rugby league in Brisbane Queensland Rugby League