150 years of Australian rules football in Queensland?

Who would have believed this possible in this ‘Die in the Wool’ Rugby League State?

The first game of Australian rules football in Queensland occurred in 1866 long before any of the other codes of football began to be played in this state. This occurred shortly after the first games in Victoria. Some of the men who participated in the first games in Victoria were at the forefront of those first games in Queensland. The game remained strong in centers such as Ipswich, Maryborough and, to a lesser extent, in the capital city of Brisbane until the mid-1880s.

At that time two decisions made around 1886 brought about the near demise of our Australian game in Queensland and allowed for the rise in popularity and growth of first Rugby Union and then Rugby League.

The first decision was made by Queensland primary schools to replace Australian rules football with Rugby Union. The second decision came when the Brisbane teams refused to travel to Ipswich to play. This led to a decline in interest in the game in both cities, and fairly quickly players turned to other sports, including Rugby Union.

Prior to this time, there were a few “inter-colonial” games between a combination of a Queensland, a Victorian and a Sydney team. But in the mid-1880s, there was the first rugby match between New South Wales and Queensland, which created a lot of interest in the other code. This started the rise of rugby codes in Queensland.

The Australian game struggled into the 20th century, becoming a minor sport played primarily in Brisbane. But during the second half of the century, the national leagues grew in number and strength. So much so, that it is true that the game is played in all provincial cities and their surroundings throughout the state.

Many of these national leagues have interesting histories. It is true to acknowledge that, in some areas, footballers may play both rugby league and Australian rules football at the same time.

When national competition began throughout Australia during the 1980s, interest in our national game in Queensland grew rapidly. This occurred some 100 years after the troubles of the 1880s with the arrival of the Brisbane Bears. When the Bears and Fitzroy Lions merged and won three national top finishes in a row, the game grew even more rapidly across the state as we now had our own team in national competition.

Now, in the 150th year of our game in Queensland, there is a group of men and women sitting around, reviewing records, programmes, news reports and photographs, writing stories from their football clubs and leagues so that the history of our game will be preserved for forever. future generations.

The main project is to write a book that covers the whole picture of our game. Many of the group that writes the stories have contributed sections to incorporate them into this great project.

This project is called Q150 and details of the project can be found on the Queensland Australian Football Forensics website at http://www.q150.net.au.