Brisbane Australian Football Club
Encyclopedia
The now-defunct Brisbane Football Club, formed in May 1866, is the first known football
club of any code in Brisbane, Queensland.
The club initially played according to what was then known as the 'Victorian Rules'
(previously known as 'Melbourne Rules', which would later become known as 'Australian Rules'
football). It is not known why the club adopted the Melbourne interpretation of football rules over the contemporary Sydney version of football (the latter was based on Rugby school rules
- Rugby football
was not formally codified until 1871).
However, the club was to last around only 20 years, disappearing from the public record in the late 1880s.
from very early times, as evidenced by this notice in The Moreton Bay Courier in 1849 (a mere 25 years after the arrival of the first white settlers in the Brisbane region, at which time the population was around 2000 people, many of whom were former convicts and poor Irish immigrants):
Given the inchoate nature of the various types of football at that time, they may have been playing simple mob football
. Alternatively, they could have been playing in accordance with the recently published Rugby school rules
(1845) or the Cambridge Rules (1848), the latter being the forerunner of Association Football rules. The game that was to become 'Australian Rules'
football was not to be codified for another 10 years.
At a subsequent meeting on 31 May "About 20 members were present; and the first business transacted was the election of twelve new members ... The annual subscription was fixed at 5s ... The uniform chosen was a scarlet shirt, with a distinguishing color for the captain ... A resolution was passed authorising the printing of the rules, as well as the laws of football passed at a meeting of delegates of clubs held in Melbourne on the 8th ult., which latter, it was decided, should be the laws recognised by the Brisbane Club."
However, by early 1868, it appears the club was struggling somewhat - at its second annual meeting (chaired by then Brisbane Courier journalist David Watterston), it was reported that "Your committee ... though not able, in speaking of the operations of the past season, to refer to them as a perfect success ... can yet congratulate the members upon the satisfactory manner in which the game was carried on during the greater part of the season ... The number of paying members on the list at the beginning of last season was 68, and 15 new members joined the club in 1867. The total number, however, was reduced by 31 who resigned or left the city, and by 7 who were struck off in consequence of their subscriptions being unpaid. The total number of paid members to begin the present season with is 45."
It was also noted that "Your committee have still to regret the absence of a rival club ... Perhaps, considering the number of names on the books last year, the formation of a second club would rather retard than advance the game in Brisbane just now."
However, it appears the 1868 season was more successful - at the annual general meeting held at Lenneberg's Café, Queen Street, on May 28 1869, chairman Watterston reported "Your committee ... feel that they have cause to congratulate the members on the continued interest manifested in the game during the past season, as will be seen from the large attendance at all the practices ... Three first-class matches have, however, been played — two with the Police ... and the other by the club, and one with the 50th Regiment (Queen's Own), in which the club proved victorious."
- now occupied by the Northern Busway
), where cricket matches were also played since at least the early 1860s.
The club competed against four ad hoc teams in the Brisbane area between 1868 and 1869, including Volunteer Artillery, the newly formed Brisbane Grammar School
(then located on land which is now the Roma Street railway station) a Civil Service team and a police team, playing eight games in its inaugural 'inter'-club' season.
By 1870, the Ipswich
Football Club had formed and became the only other organised club in the region and hence the Brisbane club's only competition. Brisbane won the first three games of that season.
It also appears that the club played at least one game of what was then referred to as "London Association rules" (now 'soccer'): The Queenslander
of 14 August 1875 reported that on Saturday 7 August 1875, Brisbane FC played a game against the inmates and warders of the Woogaroo (now the suburb of Goodna) Lunatic Asylum: "… play commenced at half-past 2 ... One rule provided that the ball should not be handled nor carried." Moreover, the Victorian publication The Footballer reported in 1875 in its section on "Football in Queensland" that the “match was played without handling the ball under any circumstances whatever (Association rules)." This is the earliest known game of 'soccer' played in the Brisbane region (and possibly in Australia).
In 1876, two new Brisbane clubs (Rangers FC and Bonnet Rouge FC) were formed. The Brisbane Courier of 10 May 1876 reported: "At a meeting of the newly-formed football club at Petrie-terrace, held yesterday evening, it was decided to call the club the "Bonnet Rouge Football Club;" the uniform to be a red cap, of any shape whatever. The Rugby Union Football Rules were finally adopted, as it was understood that these had been decided upon by other Brisbane clubs." These three clubs commenced playing according to Rugby Union rules, but modified by local customary rules.
The image at the right entitled "Soccer Team Brisbane ca 1870" (from the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland
), if correctly dated, is more likely a photograph of a Brisbane 'Victorian Rules' team (possibly Rangers FC), as there is no known record of organised soccer games
in Brisbane until 1884. As well as this, at that time, 'Victorian Rules' teams comprised 13 players (which matches the number in the photograph) and was played with a near-spherical ball
, as shown.
Brisbane advocates of the Victorian rules game reacted angrily and declared that no QFA player would be permitted to play under Rugby rules, which led to the formation of the Northern Rugby Union (now the Queensland Rugby Union
) in 1884. At the Brisbane club's annual general meeting that year, the club secretary, Thomas Welsby, reminded members that, according to their constitution, the club should only play Victorian Rules and urged them to decide whether to adhere to this rule or introduce the Rugby rules. The club ultimately decided to follow the Australian game but, according to the AFL Queensland history, the club folded in 1886.
However, the last known reference to the club is in the Brisbane Courier of 15 March 1887, where it was reported it competed in the "Combined Football Sports" against Rovers, Excelsiors, Fireflies, Wallaroos, South Brisbanes, Wanderers, Ipswich, Sandgate and Wasps (Fireflies and Wanderers clubs were foundation members of the Northern Rugby Union in 1884). Curiously, it appears that none of the several soccer clubs
in the region was invited (unless 'Rovers' refers to the Bundamba Rovers).
The demise of the club could possibly be attributed to the rapidly increasing popularity of the Rugby game from the mid-1880s. As Rugby historian Sean Fagan
noted:
Fagan further noted:
in the 1980s and 1990s and more recently, the Brisbane Lions
. However, these clubs are not connected with the original Brisbane Football Club.
Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
club of any code in Brisbane, Queensland.
The club initially played according to what was then known as the 'Victorian Rules'
Laws of Australian football
The laws of Australian football describe the rules of the game of Australian rules football as they have evolved and adapted, with the same underlying core rules, since 1859....
(previously known as 'Melbourne Rules', which would later become known as 'Australian Rules'
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
football). It is not known why the club adopted the Melbourne interpretation of football rules over the contemporary Sydney version of football (the latter was based on Rugby school rules
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
- Rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
was not formally codified until 1871).
However, the club was to last around only 20 years, disappearing from the public record in the late 1880s.
Mid-1800s: First football games in Brisbane
Football has been played in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
from very early times, as evidenced by this notice in The Moreton Bay Courier in 1849 (a mere 25 years after the arrival of the first white settlers in the Brisbane region, at which time the population was around 2000 people, many of whom were former convicts and poor Irish immigrants):
- ANNIVERSARY.
- TO the SPORTING BLADES of BRISBANE.
- BEING determined that the Anniversary [now called Australia DayAustralia DayAustralia Day is the official national day of Australia...
] shall not pass over without a little fun, in addition to the usual English Sports, the Lads of Kangaroo Point - CHALLENGE
- all comers to a Game of Foot Ball – preliminaries to be settled at the Commercial Inn, Kangaroo Point, on the evening of the 24th.
Given the inchoate nature of the various types of football at that time, they may have been playing simple mob football
Mob football
Mob football is the name given to some varieties of Medieval football, which emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages.Mob football distinguished itself from other codes by typically having an unlimited number of players and very few rules. By some accounts, any means could be used to move the ball...
. Alternatively, they could have been playing in accordance with the recently published Rugby school rules
History of rugby union
The history of rugby union follows from various football games played long before the 19th century, but it was not until the middle of that century that rules were formulated and codified....
(1845) or the Cambridge Rules (1848), the latter being the forerunner of Association Football rules. The game that was to become 'Australian Rules'
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
football was not to be codified for another 10 years.
1866: Club formed
The Brisbane Football Club was formed at a meeting on 22 May 1866: the Brisbane Courier reported that "A meeting of gentlemen favorable to the formation of a Football Club in Brisbane was held on Tuesday, at Braysher's Metropolitan Hotel [formerly in Edward Street near Mary Street] ... a committee was appointed to prepare a code of rules ... The prospects of the club must be certainly very encouraging to the promoters, as already more than twenty gentlemen have joined, and a large number of others have signified their wish to do so."At a subsequent meeting on 31 May "About 20 members were present; and the first business transacted was the election of twelve new members ... The annual subscription was fixed at 5s ... The uniform chosen was a scarlet shirt, with a distinguishing color for the captain ... A resolution was passed authorising the printing of the rules, as well as the laws of football passed at a meeting of delegates of clubs held in Melbourne on the 8th ult., which latter, it was decided, should be the laws recognised by the Brisbane Club."
However, by early 1868, it appears the club was struggling somewhat - at its second annual meeting (chaired by then Brisbane Courier journalist David Watterston), it was reported that "Your committee ... though not able, in speaking of the operations of the past season, to refer to them as a perfect success ... can yet congratulate the members upon the satisfactory manner in which the game was carried on during the greater part of the season ... The number of paying members on the list at the beginning of last season was 68, and 15 new members joined the club in 1867. The total number, however, was reduced by 31 who resigned or left the city, and by 7 who were struck off in consequence of their subscriptions being unpaid. The total number of paid members to begin the present season with is 45."
It was also noted that "Your committee have still to regret the absence of a rival club ... Perhaps, considering the number of names on the books last year, the formation of a second club would rather retard than advance the game in Brisbane just now."
However, it appears the 1868 season was more successful - at the annual general meeting held at Lenneberg's Café, Queen Street, on May 28 1869, chairman Watterston reported "Your committee ... feel that they have cause to congratulate the members on the continued interest manifested in the game during the past season, as will be seen from the large attendance at all the practices ... Three first-class matches have, however, been played — two with the Police ... and the other by the club, and one with the 50th Regiment (Queen's Own), in which the club proved victorious."
First games
The Brisbane Courier reported in late 1866: "ON the football ground, on Saturday afternoon, there was no match; but two sides were chosen, and a very lively game was played ...Five goals were kicked ... The football season will end in a few weeks and the committee of the club contemplate getting up some athletic sports as an appropriate finale." The 'football ground' referred to here is most likely the area then known as 'Queen's Park' (now part of the City Botanic Gardens - see image at right), or possibly the sports field located in the area then known as 'Green Hills' (then located beside Countess Street Petrie Terrace opposite the Victoria BarracksVictoria Barracks, Brisbane
Victoria Barracks is an Australian Army base in the Brisbane suburb of Petrie Terrace in Queensland.The Victoria Barracks Museum is located on the site, and contains a large collection of replica and service medals covering the Army's involvement in the Boer War, World War I and World War...
- now occupied by the Northern Busway
Northern Busway, Brisbane
Northern Busway is a bus-only road in Brisbane, Queensland. The busway allows buses to travel north/south through the Brisbane City without encountering car traffic. The first section of the Northern Busway opened in February 2004 had one station, QUT Kelvin Grove, later Normanby and RCH Herston...
), where cricket matches were also played since at least the early 1860s.
The club competed against four ad hoc teams in the Brisbane area between 1868 and 1869, including Volunteer Artillery, the newly formed Brisbane Grammar School
Brisbane Grammar School
Brisbane Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia...
(then located on land which is now the Roma Street railway station) a Civil Service team and a police team, playing eight games in its inaugural 'inter'-club' season.
By 1870, the Ipswich
Ipswich, Queensland
Ipswich is a city in South-East Queensland, Australia. Situated along the Bremer River Valley approximately 40 kilometres away from the state's capital Brisbane. The suburb by the same name forms the city's Central Business District and administrative centre...
Football Club had formed and became the only other organised club in the region and hence the Brisbane club's only competition. Brisbane won the first three games of that season.
It also appears that the club played at least one game of what was then referred to as "London Association rules" (now 'soccer'): The Queenslander
The Queenslander
The Queenslander was the weekly summary and literary edition of the 'Brisbane Courier' , since the 1850s the leading journal in the colony later federal state of Queensland...
of 14 August 1875 reported that on Saturday 7 August 1875, Brisbane FC played a game against the inmates and warders of the Woogaroo (now the suburb of Goodna) Lunatic Asylum: "… play commenced at half-past 2 ... One rule provided that the ball should not be handled nor carried." Moreover, the Victorian publication The Footballer reported in 1875 in its section on "Football in Queensland" that the “match was played without handling the ball under any circumstances whatever (Association rules)." This is the earliest known game of 'soccer' played in the Brisbane region (and possibly in Australia).
In 1876, two new Brisbane clubs (Rangers FC and Bonnet Rouge FC) were formed. The Brisbane Courier of 10 May 1876 reported: "At a meeting of the newly-formed football club at Petrie-terrace, held yesterday evening, it was decided to call the club the "Bonnet Rouge Football Club;" the uniform to be a red cap, of any shape whatever. The Rugby Union Football Rules were finally adopted, as it was understood that these had been decided upon by other Brisbane clubs." These three clubs commenced playing according to Rugby Union rules, but modified by local customary rules.
The image at the right entitled "Soccer Team Brisbane ca 1870" (from the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland
State Library of Queensland
The State Library of Queensland is a large public library provided to the people of the State of Queensland, Australia, by the state government. Its legislative basis is provided by the Queensland Libraries Act 1988...
), if correctly dated, is more likely a photograph of a Brisbane 'Victorian Rules' team (possibly Rangers FC), as there is no known record of organised soccer games
History of association football in Brisbane, Queensland
The first recorded regular games of Association Football in Brisbane were played in 1884, by a group comprising mostly Scottish immigrants, at the sportsfield behind the Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point...
in Brisbane until 1884. As well as this, at that time, 'Victorian Rules' teams comprised 13 players (which matches the number in the photograph) and was played with a near-spherical ball
Football (ball)
A football is an inflated ball used to play one of the various sports known as football.The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder, sometimes inside a leather cover...
, as shown.
1880: Queensland Football Association
In 1879 the Brisbane Courier reported that the Brisbane FC had reverted to what had become known as the 'Victorian rules', “in place of the Rugby Union Rules played by the club during the last three seasons”. The following year, the club became a foundation member of the Queensland Football Association (QFA), along with Wallaroo, Excelsiors and Athenians (Ipswich) and the new association decided to recognise and play both Victorian and Rugby rules. However, in 1882, it appears the Brisbane club decided to play Rugby exclusively, when a club representative (Daniel Foley Pring Roberts) arranged a Rugby match against the Sydney Wallaroos Rugby club, after the NSWRU (Rugby Union) offered to pay all costs associated with the match.Brisbane advocates of the Victorian rules game reacted angrily and declared that no QFA player would be permitted to play under Rugby rules, which led to the formation of the Northern Rugby Union (now the Queensland Rugby Union
Queensland Rugby Union
The Queensland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Queensland. It is a member and founding union of the Australian Rugby Union.-See also:*Queensland Reds*Australian Rugby Union*The Wallabies*Rugby union in Queensland...
) in 1884. At the Brisbane club's annual general meeting that year, the club secretary, Thomas Welsby, reminded members that, according to their constitution, the club should only play Victorian Rules and urged them to decide whether to adhere to this rule or introduce the Rugby rules. The club ultimately decided to follow the Australian game but, according to the AFL Queensland history, the club folded in 1886.
However, the last known reference to the club is in the Brisbane Courier of 15 March 1887, where it was reported it competed in the "Combined Football Sports" against Rovers, Excelsiors, Fireflies, Wallaroos, South Brisbanes, Wanderers, Ipswich, Sandgate and Wasps (Fireflies and Wanderers clubs were foundation members of the Northern Rugby Union in 1884). Curiously, it appears that none of the several soccer clubs
History of association football in Brisbane, Queensland
The first recorded regular games of Association Football in Brisbane were played in 1884, by a group comprising mostly Scottish immigrants, at the sportsfield behind the Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point...
in the region was invited (unless 'Rovers' refers to the Bundamba Rovers).
The demise of the club could possibly be attributed to the rapidly increasing popularity of the Rugby game from the mid-1880s. As Rugby historian Sean Fagan
Sean Fagan
Sean Patrick Fagan is a Sydney, Australia based sports historian, author and journalist, specialising in early Australian history and particular the origins and local development of the popular football codes in Australia. He has written articles for Australian national daily newspapers, numerous...
noted:
- The defining moment in the code battle came with the 1886 Queensland [Rugby] side, who defeated NSW for the first time in Sydney. “The success of this team undoubtedly won the day for rugby game in Queensland. The Victorian game supporters were struggling hard to uphold the premier position they had gained but after the brilliant performance of the 1886 team, who lost only one match through their tour, the rugby game became very popular and the next season several new clubs were formed and the Victorian game began to wane” (QRU Annual, 1902).
Fagan further noted:
- As the decade [1880s] came to a close, The Queensland Figaro summed up the state of play in the colony as “Rugby, an unbounded success; Melbourne rules very sick indeed, in fact on their last legs; British Association Rules [soccer], also in a sickly state but if anything showing more life than the Victorian game.”
Later Brisbane Australian Football Clubs
Since this time, several Australian Football clubs have borne the Brisbane name, including "Brisbanes" in the 1920s, the Brisbane BearsBrisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
in the 1980s and 1990s and more recently, the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
. However, these clubs are not connected with the original Brisbane Football Club.