Predecessor: QRFL The
Queensland Rugby Football League (QRFL) was formed in 1908 by seven former
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 QRFL 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 8 May 1909.
Norths played against
Souths before a handful of spectators at
Brisbane Cricket Ground. Matches were played under the auspices of the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League (later renamed
Queensland Rugby League). The foundation clubs were: •
North Brisbane •
Fortitude Valley •
South Brisbane •
Toombul Note:
Queensland Rugby League 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
Queensland Rugby League ran the game. Those involved took particular exception to the salary being earned by
Harry Sunderland as secretary of the
Queensland Rugby League. 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
Queensland Rugby League 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
Queensland Rugby League commenced its own competition involving Ipswich clubs and two supporting Brisbane clubs. Until 1932
Brisbane Exhibition Ground was the home of rugby league in the city. The complicated arrangement between the Brisbane Rugby League,
Queensland Rugby League and Royal National Association (who administered the Exhibition Ground) led to
Brisbane Cricket Ground 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
Queensland. Teams that joined the Brisbane Rugby League competition around this time were South Coast (1952–1953),
Wynnum-Manly (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
Queensland Rugby League 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 which had been held between the cities of
Brisbane,
Ipswich and
Toowoomba since the 1930s. In 1978 the premiership trophy, the
Kirks Cup was replaced by the Winfield Cup. The
Queensland Rugby League 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 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
Queensland Cup would eventually replace both the
State league and the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in 1996 and 1998. In the 1980s, two further teams were added to the Brisbane Rugby League competition:
Ipswich (1986) and
Logan (1987). Despite some
New South Wales Rugby League (
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
Queensland until 1988 with the weekly live broadcast of the Match of the Round being played at Lang Park.
Decline In 1986 the
New South Wales Rugby League decided to allow a team from Brisbane to enter the Sydney Rugby League premiership. While the
New South Wales Rugby League was originally negotiating a Brisbane team sponsored by the
Queensland Rugby League, a private bid in the form of the
Brisbane Broncos was instead accepted by the
New South Wales Rugby League. The
Brisbane Broncos debuted in the
Sydney Rugby League premiership in
1988. As the
Broncos began to represent
Brisbane at rugby league in the public eye the Brisbane Rugby League competition entered the terminal phase of its decline. The dominance of the
Brisbane Broncos 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
Queensland 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
Queensland Cup, 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==