| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Inaugural season | 1922 (1909 asQRL) |
| Ceased | 1997 |
| Replaced by | Australian Rugby League Queensland Cup |
| Country |  Australia |
| Last premiers |  Redcliffe Dolphins (1997) |
| Most titles |  Fortitude Valley Diehards(16 titles) |
| Related competition | Brisbane Rugby League (2001) |
TheBrisbane Rugby League premiership was arugby league football competition inBrisbane,Queensland,Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in2001, known as the FOGS premiership under theQueensland Cup. The competition consists of Brisbane's top six rugby league clubs.
Each participating team is a feeder club for theQueensland Cup.
Prior to 1922, the competition was conducted under the auspices of theQueensland Rugby League. Until the 1980s it was the premier sporting competition in Brisbane, attracting large crowds and broad media coverage. The Brisbane Rugby League however, had been in slow decline for some 15 years as large numbers of its players left to compete in the more lucrativeSydney Rugby League, and began to lose popular interest with the creation of theBrisbane Broncos in 1988. Also in 1988, theSydney Rugby Leaguede facto superseded the Brisbane Rugby League by going national and including the Brisbane and Gold Coast clubs. However, the BRL maintained legal top-flight status until the advent of the nationalAustralian Rugby League premiership in 1995, which superseded both Brisbane Rugby League premiership and theSydney Rugby League premiership. The Brisbane Rugby League premiership then became a second-tier competition until it ceased and was fully replaced at this level by theQueensland Cup before the 1998 season.The FOGS Cup, a third-tier competition under theNRL andQueensland Cup, changed its name to theBrisbane Rugby League in 2016.
TheQueensland Rugby Football League (QRFL) was formed in 1908 by seven formerrugby union players who were dissatisfied with the administration of theQueensland 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 includedJohn Fihelly, anAustralian 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 againstSouths before a handful of spectators atBrisbane Cricket Ground.[1] Matches were played under the auspices of the Queensland Amateur Rugby Football League (later renamedQueensland Rugby League). The foundation clubs were:
| Season | Grand Final Information | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Premiers | Score | Runners-Up | |
| 1909 | Fortitude Valley | 22–4 |  South Brisbane |
| 1910 |  Ipswich | 17–2 |  Toombul |
| 1911 | Fortitude Valley-Toombul | 13–2 | Ipswich B |
| 1912 |  Brisbane Natives | 10–0 | South Brisbane |
| 1913 | West End | 5–3 | Brisbane Natives |
| 1914 | Fortitude Valley | 18–8 | West End |
| 1915 | Fortitude Valley | 10–9 |  West Brisbane |
| 1916 | West Brisbane | 4–2 | Fortitude Valley |
| 1917 | Fortitude Valley | 13–5 |  Brothers Old Boys/Merthyrs |
| 1918 | Fortitude Valley | 16–12 | Brothers Old Boys/Merthyrs |
| 1919 | Fortitude Valley | 28–2 |  Coorparoo |
| 1920 | West Brisbane | 16–8 | Brothers Old Boys |
| 1921 | Carltons | 12–10 | Coorparoo |
Note:Queensland Rugby League era statistics are not counted as Brisbane Rugby League statistics.
In 1922 the Brisbane Rugby Football League (Brisbane Rugby Football League, later Brisbane Rugby League) was formed out of dissatisfaction with the way theQueensland Rugby League ran the game. Those involved took particular exception to the salary being earned byHarry Sunderland as secretary of theQueensland 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 theQueensland 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, theQueensland Rugby League commenced its own competition involving Ipswich clubs and two supporting Brisbane clubs.
Until 1932Brisbane 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 toBrisbane 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.[2] Former Brisbane Rugby League chairman and Queensland Rugby League secretaryRon McAullife eventually secured the use ofBrisbane Football Stadium as a permanent home for rugby league inQueensland. Teams that joined the Brisbane Rugby League competition around this time were South Coast (1952–1953),Wynnum-Manly (1951) andRedcliffe (1960).
A then-record crowd atBrisbane Football Stadium of 19,824 saw Northern Suburbs defeat Fortitude Valley in the Brisbane Rugby League grand final in September 1961.[3]
In 1967 theQueensland 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 toSydney Rugby League clubs in theSydney Rugby League, and an increasing number of players left the Brisbane Rugby League. This also affected the popularity of theBulimba Cup which had been held between the cities ofBrisbane,Ipswich andToowoomba since the 1930s.
In 1978 the premiership trophy, theKirks Cup was replaced by the Winfield Cup.
TheQueensland 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. TheWinfield 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 fromWinfield cigarettes. TheQueensland Cup would eventually replace both theState 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) andLogan (1987).
Despite someNew 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 inQueensland until 1988 with the weekly live broadcast of the Match of the Round being played at Lang Park.
In 1986 theNew South Wales Rugby League decided to allow a team from Brisbane to enter the Sydney Rugby League premiership. While theNew South Wales Rugby League was originally negotiating a Brisbane team sponsored by theQueensland Rugby League, a private bid in the form of theBrisbane Broncos was instead accepted by theNew South Wales Rugby League. TheBrisbane Broncos debuted in theSydney Rugby League premiership in1988.
As theBroncos began to representBrisbane at rugby league in the public eye the Brisbane Rugby League competition entered the terminal phase of its decline. The dominance of theBrisbane 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 representQueensland again. The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was fully superseded by theAustralian Rugby League Premiership which took nationwide first-class status in 1995. The Brisbane Rugby League became a state competition from 1995-97 until theQueensland 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 defeatingEastern Suburbs 35–6, and the league was then declared defunct.
On 26 September 2014, the South East Queensland Division announced that they will be scrapping the existingFOGS Cup structure and reforming the Brisbane Rugby League as the state's secondary competition.[4] Legally, although they share the same name, this competition is completely separate from the original BRL.
| Colours | Club Name | Club Nickname | First Season(s) | Last Season(s) | BRL Grand Finals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Lost | |||||
 | Brisbane (BRL) | Broncos | 1994 | 1995 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christian Brothers | Old Boys | 1917, 1920 | 1918, 1929 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Eastern Suburbs | Tigers | 1917 | 1997 | 24 | 8 | 16 |
| Fortitude Valley | Diehards | 1909 | 1995 | 31 | 17 | 14 |
| Ipswich | Jets | 1986 | 1997 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
 | Logan (City) | Scorpions | 1988 | 1997 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Suburbs | Devils | 1920 | 1997 | 22 | 13 | 9 |
| Past Brothers Brisbane | Leprechauns | 1930 | 1997 | 19 | 9 | 10 |
| Redcliffe | Dolphins | 1947 | 1997 | 10 | 4 | 6 |
 | South Queensland (BRL) | Crushers | 1994 | 1995 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Southern Suburbs | Magpies | 1919 | 1997 | 17 | 8 | 9 |
 | University | Students | 1920 | 1933 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Western Suburbs | Panthers | 1915 | 1997 | 18 | 10 | 8 |
 | Wynnum-Manly | Seagulls | 1951 | 1997 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
(BRL) = Brisbane Rugby League side to the Sydney Rugby League/Australia Rugby League Senior Grade side.
Selected players from theBrisbane Rugby League clubs, representedBrisbane in a representative team calledBrisbane Capitals against variousSydney Rugby League clubs or againstSydney Capitals
Teams in bold still existed during the at the end of the 1st-grade competition in 1994.
| All Time Ladder | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | 1st season | Pld | W | L | D | W% |
| 1 | Valley-Toombul | 1911 | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 70.00% |
| 2 |  Natives | 1912 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 68.18% |
| 3 | Fortitude Valley | 1909 | 1,382 | 831 | 506 | 45 | 60.13% |
| 4 | Ipswich B | 1911 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 60.00% |
| 5 |  | 1914 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.55% |
| 6 | Northern Suburbs | 1920 | 1,266 | 681 | 548 | 37 | 53.79% |
| 7 |  South Brisbane | 1909 | 58 | 31 | 27 | 0 | 53.45% |
| 8 | Fortitude Valley-Tweed Heads | 1988 | 36 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 52.78% |
| 9 | Ipswich A | 1910 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 52.63% |
| 10 | Past Brothers Brisbane | 1931 | 1,126 | 569 | 519 | 38 | 50.53% |
| 11 | Redcliffe | 1960 | 733 | 370 | 345 | 18 | 50.48% |
| 12 | South Queensland | 1994 | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 50.00% |
| 13 | Western Suburbs | 1915 | 1,353 | 668 | 637 | 48 | 49.37% |
| 14 | Eastern Suburbs | 1917 | 1,322 | 636 | 640 | 46 | 48.11% |
| 15 | Southern Suburbs | 1919 | 1,286 | 612 | 638 | 36 | 47.59% |
| 16 | Past Brothers (Merthyr) | 1917 | 182 | 86 | 84 | 12 | 47.25% |
| 17 | Ipswich | 1986 | 171 | 80 | 82 | 9 | 46.78% |
| =18 | Ipswich West End | 1916 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 40.00% |
| =18 | Wynnum | 1914 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 40.00% |
| 20 | | 1909 | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 38.89% |
| 21 | University | 1920 | 200 | 76 | 116 | 8 | 38.00% |
| 22 | | 1915 | 19 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 36.84% |
| 23 | Wynnum-Manly | 1951 | 852 | 303 | 530 | 19 | 35.56% |
| =24 | West End | 1913 | 48 | 16 | 29 | 3 | 33.33% |
| =24 | North Brisbane | 1909 | 33 | 11 | 22 | 0 | 33.33% |
| =24 | East Brisbane | 1910 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 33.33% |
| =24 | | 1912 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 33.33% |
| =24 | | 1920 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 33.33% |
| =29 | | 1917 | 22 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 31.82% |
| =29 | Brisbane | 1994 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 31.82% |
| 31 | | 1912 | 28 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 28.57% |
| 32 | | 1952 | 35 | 8 | 27 | 0 | 22.86% |
| 33 | Logan | 1988 | 130 | 28 | 94 | 8 | 21.54% |
| 34 | Railways | 1913 | 39 | 8 | 30 | 1 | 20.51% |
| 35 | Wynnum District | 1931 | 56 | 8 | 46 | 2 | 14.29% |
| 36 | Ipswich Starlights | 1916 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 37 | | 1916 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 08.33% |
| =38 | | 1920 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 00.00% |
| =38 | | 1911 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 00.00% |
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