The Greater Brisbane League or formerly the Greater Brisbane Baseball Board league (GB3) is the largest

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

in the Australian state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and covers all teams from Brisbane North, South, West, Metro as well as three

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

teams. These are from age groups

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Baseball Queensland Baseball Queensland is the governing body of baseball within Queensland. Baseball Queensland is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation. It is located in Milton, Queensland and run by chief executive officer Col Dick. It is also the gove ...

. To participate in the Greater Brisbane Major League, clubs must meet certain criteria set by Baseball Queensland. Generally the hardest criteria for clubs to meet is to field a team in the junior age levels U14's, U16's and U20's. When this criterion is not met, senior teams may only compete in the South Queensland Baseball League or Pacific League competition. The GBL consists of six senior division teams from Major/Pacific League A and B through to South Queensland League A-C and a separate Masters competition. Juniors consist of an U20 competition, division one and two U16 and a division one and two U14 competitions. U8, U10 and U12 competitions are run by their respective regions and are non-divisional.

History

The Greater Brisbane League was originally known as the Queensland Baseball Association fixtures, which began in 1946 when six teams entered the competition playing primarily at

New Farm Park New Farm Park is a heritage-listed riverfront public park at 137 Sydney Street, New Farm, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Albert Herbert Foster and built from 1914 to 1950 by Gladwin Legge & Co. It was added to the ...

Kalinga Park Kalinga Park is a heritage-listed park at 100 Bertha Street, Kalinga (formerly part of Wooloowin), City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The eastern section of the park is in neighbouring Clayfield. It is also known as Anzac Memorial Park. I ...

Langlands Park Langlands Park is a sporting venue in the suburb of Stones Corner, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the home ground of the Brisbane Tigers, a rugby league team that competes in the Queensland Cup. History Langlands Park is named fo ...

, Perry Park and the

Brisbane Exhibition Ground Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is located at 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and was established in 1875. It hosts more than 250 events each year, with the largest bein ...

. Uniforms were made out of surplus army uniforms and teams made up of many American ex-pat soldiers from World War II and A-Grade cricketers to keep game fit during the off-season.

Format

The current format of the league consists of six divisions as well as a concurrently run 'masters' division for players aged over 35 and women's competition. The competition is scheduled to last 16–20 rounds played on Fridays and Sundays between the first week of October with the playoffs finishing prior to Easter. Rounds played in Division 1 see teams match up twice in the round, usually on a Friday followed by Sunday. Rainouts are made up mid-week if possible. Division 2 is fixtured essentially as a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

for Division 1, playing the same club match ups prior to the Sunday game. Clubs who do not field a Division 1 team may field individual teams in Division 3–6. Playoffs are a top four

McIntyre system The McIntyre System, or systems as there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher. The systems were developed by Ken McIntyre, an Australian lawyer, historian and English lect ...

, with Division 1 playing a best of three series to determine winners.

Teams

Clubs currently in the Greater Brisbane League are: *Sunshine Coast only field junior (non GBL competitors) and women's teams (GBL competitors) **

The Mackerels Baseball Club ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

currently fields players 11 years to 17 years of age in association with Narangba Demons as the club was established in July 2020 with support from Baseball Qld. Below is a map indicating the locations of all eighteen teams competing in the Greater Brisbane League competition. The

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

is represented by the black square. Also note Toowoomba is located off the map to the west:

Commissioners Cup

The Commissioners Cup or Commissioners Shield is an annual, end of year event that usually coincides with the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

break of the season. It is a one off game in Major A, B and C grades between the current Greater Brisbane League leaders of the Northside and the Southside. Major A standings are on win percentage, whereas Major B and C-Grade standings are on points.

Major League Criteria

The basics to qualifying for Major League criteria, clubs must have a minimum of: *27 senior registered players excluding U18's, in at least the Major A, B and C grades *60 junior registered players *One team in each of the Baseball Queensland U14, U16 and U20 competitions; together with a minimum of one team in each of Little League, U8 and U10 *One level 1 accredited coach to each team: LL, U14, U16, U20 and all senior teams *One accredited scorer and umpire for all junior and senior games

Champions

:''See: List of Greater Brisbane League seasons#Greater Brisbane League''

Media coverage

The Greater Brisbane League is covered across many media sources from

Quest Community Newspapers Quest Community Newspapers is a newspaper company in Bowen Hills, Queensland, Australia. It is a subsidiary of News Corp Australia. It publishes weekly tabloids and one bi-weekly, providing news coverage primarily for the greater Brisbane ar ...

including the ''Redcliffe and Bayside Herald'', ''Caboolture Shire Herald'', ''Albert and Logan News'', ''Pine Rivers Press'', ''Northern Times'', and the ''Logan West Leader'', as well as many other regional newspapers such as the ''Hinterland Grapevine'', ''The Sunshine Coast Daily'', ''Gold Coast Bulletin'', ''Benowa Garden News'', and the ''Mudgee Guardian''. Major League results are also covered by the television

network 7 ''Network 7'' was a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Jane Hewland and Janet Street-Porter, who was also editor of the first s ...

and more in depth results are covered by '' The Sunday Mail'' and ''

The Courier Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

''.Queensland Major League Results. (7 December 2008). ''The Sunday Mail''
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References

{{Professional Baseball Baseball leagues in Australia Sport in Brisbane Professional sports leagues in Australia