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 The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

(ARL Commission) and selects the members of the

Queensland rugby league team The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

. The QRL aims to "foster, develop, extend, govern and control Rugby League Football throughout the State of Queensland". Today the QRL administers the rugby league through its regional divisions. It is also responsible for the

Queensland Rugby League team The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league tea ...

. The QRL's headquarters are on Vulture Street, Woolloongabba 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 ...

History of the QRL

The Queensland Rugby Football League was formed in 1908 by seven rugby players who were dissatisfied with the administration of the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) as the Queensland Rugby Association. Those founding fathers were Micky Dore, George Watson, Jack Fihelly, J O'Connor. E Buchanan, Alf Faulkner and Sine Boland. Discussion about breaking away from the rugby 'union' and forming a professional 'league' in Queensland can be traced as far back as 1905 through the visions of then Deputy State Premier,

Michael Allison Michael Allison (August 7, 1958 – January 9, 2020), who recorded under the name Darshan Ambient, was an American musician and vocalist known for his ambient electronic music. Life and career Allison attended high school in Modesto, Califor ...

. On 14 March 1908, the breakaway group was first mentioned in the local media, and a fortnight later the first official announcement was made regarding the formation of the Queensland Rugby Association was made. On 16 May that year a hastily assembled Queensland team played the touring New Zealand "All Golds" side in

. Later that month there were three representative games against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, which acted as selection trials for a national team. In 1909, club rugby league officially began, with W. Evans scoring the inaugural try before backing up with another as North Brisbane beat Toombul 8–0 at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, although Valleys were the first premiers. Other teams that entered the competition include: Milton (1909), South Brisbane (1909), West End (1910), Natives (1912),

Merthyr Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of Kin ...

(1917) and Coorparoo (1917). In 2012, the QRL formally joined with the NSWRL and each

National Rugby League 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 ...

club, to form the

, which is the overarching governing body for all of Rugby League throughout Australia. Notwithstanding the Commission's role as supreme governing authority for the code, the QRL retains responsibility for both management of the Queensland State of Origin team in Origin series, as well as day-to-day accountability for the operations of 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 ...

second-tier league, and junior representative Rugby League, plus divisional leagues, throughout Queensland.

Current Major Competitions

Hostplus Cup

The

has been contested since 1996. Since 1998 the team winning the Queensland Cup is considered to be the premier club team in Queensland. The teams currently playing are: The teams formerly playing were:

Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League/FOGS Cup

The Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League, also known as the FOGS Cup, and the FOGS Colts Challenge is run by the Queensland Rugby League's South East Division. It is regarded as the division below the

. The teams are:

Cyril Connell Cup and Mal Meninga Cup

The Cyril Connell Cup & Mal Meninga Cup were introduced in 2009 to provide a pathway for young rugby league players to reach the professional levels of the game. Named after famous Queensland rugby league personalities Cyril Connell and

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

, the Cups have proved popular. Both competitions have the same structure of sixteen team split into two geographically aligned groups. Pool A contains teams from outside of Brisbane while Pool B comprises teams from the Brisbane metropolitan area and two Gold Coast Rugby League selections. The Cyril Connell Cup was discontinued after 2016. The teams are:

47th Battalion Shield

Like the Northern Division's "Foley Shield" or the South-East Division's "Bulimba Cup" the "47th Battalion Shield" is run as the Central Region's regional Carnival and none of the teams are club teams, with the only exception being some of the Women's teams. Its traditionally held over one weekend and normally at one venue with multiple grounds to play on.

The Foley Shield

The Foley Shield competition began in North

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 ...

in 1948. With the introduction of the Queensland Cup in 1996 the Foley Shield competition was scrapped, only to be reintroduced in 2000. Since the revamp in 2000 it has only contested by the three largest cities in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...

;

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, Mackay and

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Former

Brisbane Rugby League Premiership

The Brisbane Rugby League Premiership was a former top-flight rugby league competition. The competition ran fom 1922 until 1997, but became a second-tier competition with the advent of the ARL Premiership in 1995.

Bulimba Cup

The Bulimba Cup was similar to the Foley Shield in that it was contested by city representative sides in a region, this time the South East Region, with the teams being Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba.

QRL Divisions

The QRL administers rugby league in Queensland through the following divisions. * ''As of 2010 the Central, South West and Wide Bay divisions were amalgamated to form the new Central Division.''