In Queensland, Rugby league was introduced in 1908 and is the most watched winter sport in the state and the second most participated football code after soccer. Within its first decade it surpassed rugby union there to become the most popular football code as players switched to play professionally in the Queensland Rugby League (QRL).[1] In the 1920s, Queenslanders began leaving to play professionally in the New South Wales Rugby League which became a more popular competition. However Queensland maintained a strong rugby league culture, with the state continuing to perform well in interstate rugby league. The later advent of the State of Origin series ensured that players would return to represent their state. Regarded as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the term "Origin fever" is used by the media to describe the passion of the Queenslanders public for the competition and the chant "Queenslander!", attributed to Billy Moore in 1995, has become the state's battle cry. The Queensland Rugby League is the governing body and has 58,912 registered tackle players. Rugby league authorities often count an additional 70,000 registered touch football players as participants, though that sport is only loosely affiliated and is governed by Touch Football Queensland.
Queensland is home to four professional clubs, the Brisbane Broncos (1987), North Queensland Cowboys (1992), Gold Coast Titans (2007) and The Dolphins (2023) all participating in the National Rugby League (NRL). Lang Park, the spiritual home of the code in Queensland, is home to the two Brisbane based clubs. The Broncos, the oldest and most popular in the state, records the highest annual revenue of all NRL clubs.[2] Along with financial competitiveness, the Broncos have been voted one of Australia's most popular and most watched football teams,[3] and has one of the highest average attendances of any rugby league club in the world; 33,337 in the 2012 NRL season. Since 2019 Brisbane has also hosted Magic Round, a special NRL round in which all matches are played at Lang Park, the event is highly popular and averages near capacity for attendance at Lang Park.
Queensland origin legends include: Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer, Mal Meninga, Allan Langer, Johnathan Thurston, Arthur Beetson, Shane Webcke, Gordon Tallis, Wendell Sailor, Greg Inglis, Bob Lindner, Trevor Gillmeister, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Paul Vautin, Lote Tuquiri, and Petero Civoniceva.[4]
The earliest record of rugby football being played in Queensland is in 1876, when the Brisbane Football Club, formed in 1866 to play 'Victorian Rules', commenced playing according to the recently codified Rugby (Union) rules, to fit in with two newly formed football clubs (Rangers and Bonnet Rouge), before reverting to Australian Rules (with occasional Rugby matches) in 1879. The Queensland Rugby Union was subsequently constituted as the Northern Rugby Union in 1883, and a year later the first organised club competition took place in Brisbane. By 1887, the switch of private schools to rugby and regular contests between Queensland and New South Wales saw rugby's popularity overtake the Australian code, resulting in its complete demise in the colony by 1892.
On 16 May 1908 the first game of rugby league was played in the state when the touring New Zealand team played Queensland at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground.
The advent of professional rugby league in New South Wales saw many Queensland rugby players leaving for Sydney to play rugby league.
See main article: Brisbane Rugby League premiership.
See also: Winfield State League. In 1908, the Queensland Rugby Union banned its players from going to Sydney to play rugby league, which resulted in disgruntled players forming the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League (QARFL) (later renamed Queensland Rugby League). The new organisation was attacked by the local press and the QRU for introducing professionalism, which they claimed would destroy the sport. The first official club competition kicked off in Brisbane on May 8, 1909.
The league put down strong roots in the bush and in working class communities and these areas are still the heartland of the modern game of rugby league. Between 1914 and 1918 some major rugby union clubs switched to rugby league. By 1920, rugby union ceased to exist in Queensland. In 1922 the Brisbane Rugby Football League (BRFL, later BRL) was formed out of dissatisfaction with the way the QRL ran the game. Those involved took particular exception to the salary being earned by Harry Sunderland as secretary of the QRL. It remained the premier competition in Queensland for 75 years and the premier level of rugby league in the state until 1988.
By the late-1970s, crowds began to desert the BRL competition. Clubs found themselves in financial hardship, and the public began to support the Sydney competition which by then was being broadcast in Queensland. However, a small resurgence in the popularity of the Brisbane competition occurred after Queensland dominated the Interstate Series under new State of Origin rules. A statewide top tier short-format competition similar to the NSWRL's Amco Cup - the Winfield State League would run in parallel to the BRL competition from 1982 to 1995.
From 1909 to 1987, the Queensland Rugby Football League Premiership and the Brisbane Rugby League were considered to be top tier competitions parallel to the NSWRL premiership. This changed when, in 1988, the newly formed Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants joined the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. This led to the Brisbane Rugby League premiership being considered by most senior rugby league historians to have become a second-tier league in this year, as almost all of the top players in the competition left to play for either of the two new Queensland franchises in the NSWRL, including Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Colin Scott, Joe Kilroy, Bryan Niebling, Greg Conescu, and Greg Dowling who all joined the QRL's original bid, the Brisbane Broncos.
After the Broncos and Giants joined the NSWRL, the Brisbane Rugby League, along with its companion statewide competition the Winfield State League, remained, at least officially, first tier competitions. Both competitions eventually merged with each other into the statewide Queensland Cup in 1996, and after existing as a short post-season tournament to find a Brisbane champion in 1996 and 1997, the BRL was officially disbanded after 75 seasons in 1997.
The Brisbane Rugby League (2001) was re-established as a third-tier competition below the NRL and Queensland Cup. This completed a remarkable fall from grace for the local Brisbane competition in stature, from a top level competition alongside the NSWRL until 1987, to a second-tier league from 1988 to 1997 and then a third-tier league from 2001, although most BRL clubs joined the Queensland Cup exclusively in 1998 and their reserve grade teams compete in the current BRL competition along with community clubs.
See main article: Queensland Rugby League.
The Queensland Rugby League (QRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and selects the members of Queensland State of Origin teams.
See main article: National Rugby League. The National Rugby League (NRL) is Australia's top-level competition for the sport of rugby league.
The first Queensland teams joined the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership (the forerunner to the NRL) in 1988, which ultimately led to the downfall of the local Brisbane Premiership. These teams to begin play in the NSWRL were the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. Following this, the NSWRL expanded again in 1995, changing its name to the Australian Rugby League (ARL) to reflect the growth of the competition from a state based league into creating two Queensland expansion teams, the North Queensland Cowboys (Townsville) and South Queensland Crushers (Brisbane). However, the Super League War led to the demise of the South Queensland Crushers and the Gold Coast Chargers (name change of the aforementioned Giants), who were culled by the league at the end of the 1997 and 1998 seasons respectively. In 2007, after nine years, top level rugby league returned to the Gold Coast with the admission of the Gold Coast Titans to the NRL. As of 2021, there is great speculation that a second Brisbane team to finally replace the Crushers franchise of the 1990s will be added in the next few seasons.[5]
There are four Queensland based teams in the NRL: Brisbane Broncos, Dolphins, Gold Coast Titans, and North Queensland Cowboys.
The Gold Coast Chargers played in the 1988-1998 seasons and the South Queensland Crushers competed from 1995 to 1997.
| Club | Location | Home Ground(s) | First season | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Broncos | Brisbane, Queensland | Suncorp Stadium 52,500 (12 home games) | 1988 | |
| Dolphins | Brisbane, Queensland | Suncorp Stadium 52,500 (7 home games)Moreton Daily Stadium 11,500 (4 home games) | 2023 | |
| Gold Coast Titans | Gold Coast, Queensland | Cbus Super Stadium 27,500 (12 home games) | 2007 | |
| North Queensland Cowboys | North Queensland Stadium 25,000 (12 home games) | 1995 |
| Club | Location | Home Ground(s) | Seasons | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast Chargers | Gold Coast, Queensland | Carrara Stadium 22,000 (12 home games) | 1988 - 1998 | |
| South Queensland Crushers | Lang Park 22,000 (11 home games) | 1995 - 1997 |
See main article: Queensland Cup.
The Queensland Cup has been contested since 1996. Since 1998 the team winning the Queensland Cup is considered to be the premier club team in Queensland. This is because in 1996 and 1997 it was contested parallel to the Brisbane Rugby League, which was considered the premier competition in the state.
The Queensland Cup grew out of the Winfield State League. Since its formation in 1995, the Queensland Cup has been known as the Queensland Cup, Bundy Gold Cup, Channel 9 Cup. For sponsorship reasons it is currently known as the Intrust Super Cup.
See main article: Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League and FOGS Colts Challenge. Also known as the FOGS Cup & FOGS Colts Challenge, they are run by the Queensland Rugby League's South East Division. It is made up of 12 clubs, 7 of which play in the Queensland Cup. Generally, it is regarded as the division below the Queensland Cup. The FOGS Cup and FOGS Colts Challenge used to be known as the Quest Cup and Mixwell Cup, respectively.
See main article: Foley Shield.
The Foley Shield competition began in North Queensland 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; Cairns, Mackay and Townsville.
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.
There are over 250 clubs in Queensland, across over 20 competitions:
The game in the state is administered by five regions, these being:[6]
See main article: Queensland State of Origin Team. The Queensland State of Origin side is by far Queensland's most loved football team. Purely a representative team, they play three games a year against New South Wales in the competition known as the State of Origin, thus named because players represent their state of birth or the state where they played their first senior game of football. They are currently captained by Daly Cherry-Evans and coached by Billy Slater.
The Queensland and New South Wales teams are heavily competitive. During the 1980s Queensland had the upper hand (8 out of 10 to Qld); during the 1990s, factoring in Super League which took out most of the Queensland team (through the Brisbane Broncos), the results were reasonably similar (6 out of 10 to NSW); and during the first decade of the 2000s, New South Wales has had the upper hand, but are by no means dominant (4 out of 7 to NSW, with the most recent to Qld).