Australian rules football in South East Queensland

The Queensland state team who played Melbourne in 1888

The earliest known record of Australian rules football commencing in Queensland was in May 1866, when the Brisbane Football Club was formed,[1] with the aim of keeping cricketers fit in the winter months. The club played its first match on Saturday 9 June 1866 at Queen's Park (now part of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens).[3] By 1870 four more clubs had been created: Volunteer Artillery, Brisbane Grammar School, Civil Service and Ipswich, all adopting Victorian Rules over rugby football.

The original Brisbane Football Club disbanded in the late 1880s and has no direct relationship to the modern Brisbane Bears or Lions clubs.

The first schoolboys match was between Brisbane Grammar played matches against Ipswich Grammar in 1870 – the outcome was a draw. Early games in Queensland were exceptionally long – one match between IGS and Brisbane Grammar in 1876 commenced at 10.30am and ended at 2.30pm, at which time IGS had scored 6 goals to Brisbane Grammar's nil.

During this era, no local governing body for the game was established. All rules and decisions about the rules and competitions were still made from Melbourne and was known in Queensland as "Victorian Rules".

However Victorian rules was growing rapidly and was the most popular football code in Queensland by 1880. Queensland sent delegates to the Intercolonial Football Conference in 1883.

By the early 1880s, there may have been as many as 300 players in the Brisbane and Ipswich region, as contemporaneous newspaper records show that there were at least six active clubs (Brisbane, Excelsiors, Grammars, Wallaroos, Rovers and Athenians (Ipswich)), each of which had at least two teams ('senior' and 'junior' 20s). Matches were played at the Albert Ground, Kedron Park, Grammar School and Ipswich, with occasional matches at Queen's Park.[4][5]

In 1887, one of the most significant events in the history of the code occurred at this time. Independent Schools headmasters voted by 1 vote to adopt rugby football.[6] The decision was influenced by the recent creation of a Queensland-based governing body to govern rugby, and the majority of councillors objected on the basis that the reference of "Victorian" in the name of the sport did not represent the interests of Queenslanders. This dealt a significant blow to the sport and advantage to rugby union.

Despite the advances made by Queensland football, it was clear that Victoria was progressing faster than any other state. On 21 June 1890, South Melbourne Football Club toured, playing against Queensland on Albion Park. The result of the match was a complete 6-17 to 1-0 humiliation (behinds were recorded in the scores at the time but did not actually count until 1897). The humiliation was obviously felt by the players as when Queensland defeated a New South Wales Rugby Union team shortly afterwards many of the former rugby players receded from the Australian football ranks and formed clubs of their own.[7] Over the next few years, rugby union's popularity in South East Queensland would swamp Victorian Rules.

In 1969, the "South Queensland Australian Football Association" (SQAFA) was established with the purpose of developing players for the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL). Most of the players were amateurs. In 1992, the league changed its name to the "Brisbane Australian Football League" (BAFL) and included clubs from the Sunshine Coast.

Another name change in 2000 brought about AFL South Queensland. In 2006, AFL South Queensland was taken under the umbrella of AFL Queensland and rebranded as the Queensland State Association. In 2012, it was renamed South East Queensland AFL.[8] Finally in 2014 the local level was divided into two leagues, the Queensland Football Association (QFA) and the Queensland Amateur Football Association (QAFA). Again in 2017 the name will change again to the Queensland Football Association (QFA), now covering five (5) divisions and the re-introduction of two (2) regional based leagues (AFL Northern Rivers & AFL Sunshine Coast / Wide Bay).

Colours	Club Name	Nickname	Suburb/s	Location/s	Home Ground/s	Formed
	Beenleigh	Buffaloes	Beenleigh	Logan	Guardian Gantry Hire Oval	1998
	Caloundra	Panthers	Golden Beach	Sunshine Coast	Carter Park	1973
	Coorparoo [note 1]	Kings	Coorparoo	Brisbane	Giffin Park	1996
	Hinterland	Blues	Palmwoods	Sunshine Coast	G Rae Oval	1970
	Mayne	Tigers	Enoggera	Brisbane	Enoggera Memorial Park	1924
	Moreton Bay	Lions	Burpengary	Moreton Bay	Moreton Bay Regional Sports Park	1987
	Springwood	Pumas	Underwood	Brisbane	Lowe Oval	1972
	Uni. of Queensland	Red Lions	St Lucia	Brisbane	UQ Playing Field 2	1956

Notes

Several clubs from SE Queensland do not take part of local competitions, giving priority to QAFL or VFL competitions where they compete.
Other clubs have teams in both, QFA and QAFL/VFL.

Colours	Club Name	City	Suburbs	QFA	Other competition/s
	Aspley	Brisbane	Carseldine	Y
	Brisbane Lions	Brisbane	Woolloongabba	–	AFL, VFL [note 1]
	Broadbeach	Gold Coast	Mermaid Waters	–	QAFL
	Gold Coast Suns	Gold Coast	Carrara	–	AFL, VFL [note 1]
	Labrador	Gold Coast	Labrador	Y	QAFL
	Maroochydore	Sunshine Coast	Maroochydore	Y	QAFL
	Morningside	Brisbane	Hawthorne	Y	QAFL
	Mount Gravatt	Brisbane	Upper Mount Gravatt	Y	QAFL
	Noosa	Noosa	Noosaville	–	QAFL
	Palm Beach Currumbin	Gold Coast	Palm Beach	–	QAFL
	Redland-Victoria Point	Victoria Point	Victoria Point	Y	QAFL
	Southport	Gold Coast	Southport	–	VFL
	Sherwood Districts	Brisbane	Chelmer	Y	QAFL
	Wilston Grange	Brisbane	Stafford	Y	QAFL

Notes

As of 2018 season:

Colours	Club Name	Nickname	Location/s	Home Ground/s	Formed
	Banyo	Bloods	Banyo, Brisbane	Nudgee Recreation Reserve	1967
	Calamvale	Leopards	Calamvale, Brisbane	Calamvale Sportsfield	?
	Lismore	Swans	Lismore, New South Wales	Gloria Mortimer Oval	2002
	Marsden	Hawks	Marsden, Brisbane	Mudgee Street Park	1992
	Murri	Mavericks	Kedron, Brisbane	Melrose Park	1998
	Pomona	Demons	Pomona, Sunshine Coast	Reserve Street Oval	1973

All four AFL Bundaberg-Wide Bay Clubs from 2002, Hervey Bay Bombers, Across the Waves Bundaberg Eagles, Brothers Bulldogs and Maryborough Bears were joined by teams further south, Gympie Cats, Pomona Demons, Glasshouse and Bribie Island to play one season against each other before reverting to their various regional leagues in 2004 once again.

Finals summary:

• Elimination Final - Maryborough 13.8-86 defeated Glasshouse 10.7-67
• Qualifying Final - Across the Waves 13.12-90 defeated Bribie Island 11.11-77
• First Semi Final - Maryborough 15.14-104 defeated Bribie Island 12.6-78
• Second Semi Final - Hervey Bay 18.15-123 defeated Across the Waves 9.7-61
• Preliminary Final - Across the Waves 14.15-99 defeated Maryborough 4.10-34
• GRAND FINAL - Hervey Bay 8.8-56 defeated Across the Waves 6.17-53