The Queensland Rugby Football League
[ QRL Constitution, 2009: 3] (QRL
[ QRL Constitution, 2009: 2]) is the governing body for
rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the
Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL Commission) and selects the members of the
Queensland rugby league team.
The QRL aims to "foster, develop, extend, govern and control Rugby League Football throughout the State of Queensland".
Today the QRL administers the rugby league through its regional divisions. It is also responsible for the
Queensland Rugby League team. The QRL's headquarters are on Vulture Street,
Woolloongabba in
Brisbane.
History of the QRL
The Queensland Rugby Football League was formed in 1908 by seven
rugby players who were dissatisfied with the administration of the
Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) as the Queensland Rugby Association.
Those founding fathers were
Micky Dore,
George Watson,
Jack Fihelly, J O'Connor. E Buchanan,
Alf Faulkner and
Sine Boland. Discussion about breaking away from the rugby 'union' and forming a professional 'league' in Queensland can be traced as far back as 1905 through the visions of then Deputy State Premier,
Michael Allison
Michael Allison (August 7, 1958 – January 9, 2020), who recorded under the name Darshan Ambient, was an American musician and vocalist known for his ambient electronic music.
Life and career
Allison attended high school in Modesto, Califo ...
.
On 14 March 1908, the breakaway group was first mentioned in the local media, and a fortnight later the first official announcement was made regarding the formation of the Queensland Rugby Association was made. On 16 May that year a hastily assembled Queensland team played the touring
New Zealand "All Golds" side in
Brisbane. Later that month there were three representative games against
New South Wales, which acted as selection trials for a national team.
In 1909, club rugby league officially began, with W. Evans scoring the inaugural try before backing up with another as North Brisbane beat Toombul 8-0 at the
Brisbane Cricket Ground, although Valleys were the first premiers. Other teams that entered the competition include: Milton (1909), South Brisbane (1909),
West End
West End most commonly refers to:
* West End of London, an area of central London, England
* West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England
West End may also refer to:
Pl ...
(1910), Natives (1912),
Merthyr (1917) and
Coorparoo (1917).
In 2012, the QRL formally joined with the
NSWRL and each
National Rugby League club, to form the
Australian Rugby League Commission, which is the overarching governing body for all of Rugby League throughout Australia. Notwithstanding the Commission's role as supreme governing authority for the code, the QRL retains responsibility for both management of the
Queensland State of Origin team in Origin series, as well as day-to-day accountability for the operations of the
Queensland Cup second-tier league, and junior representative Rugby League, plus divisional leagues, throughout Queensland.
Current Major Competitions
Intrust Super Cup
The Queensland Cup has been contested since 1996. Since 1998 the team winning the Queensland Cup is considered to be the premier club team in Queensland.
FOGS Cup
The
Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League, also known as the FOGS Cup, and the
FOGS Colts Challenge
The FOGS Colts Challenge is an 11-team rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League, QRL. It is the highest level of junior rugby league in Brisbane before players move into senior rugby. FOGS in an acronym for Former Origin Great ...
is run by the Queensland Rugby League's
South East Division. It is regarded as the division below the
Queensland Cup.
Mal Meninga Cup
The Cyril Connell & Mal Meninga Cups were introduced in 2009 to provide a pathway for young rugby league players to reach the professional levels of the game. Named after famous Queensland rugby league personalities
Cyril Connell and
Mal Meninga, the Cups have proved popular. Both competitions have the same structure of sixteen team split into two geographically aligned groups. Pool A contains teams from outside of Brisbane while Pool B comprises teams from the Brisbane metropolitan area and two Gold Coast Rugby League selections. The Cyril Connell Cup was discontinued after 2016.
The teams are:
47th Battalion Shield
Like the
Northern Division's "Foley Shield" or the
South-East Division's "Bulimba Cup" the "47th Battalion Shield" is run as the Central Region's regional Carnival and none of the teams are club teams, with the only exception being some of the Women's teams. Its traditionally held over one weekend and normally at one venue with multiple grounds to play on.
The Foley Shield
The Foley Shield competition began in North
Queensland in 1948. With the introduction of the Queensland Cup in 1996 the Foley Shield competition was scrapped, only to be reintroduced in 2000. Since the revamp in 2000 it has only contested by the three largest cities in
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...
;
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
,
Mackay Mackay may refer to:
*Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives
Mackay may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Mackay Region, a local government area
** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region
*** Mackay Airport ...
and
Townsville.
Former
Brisbane Rugby League Premiership
The Brisbane Rugby League Premiership was a former top-flight rugby league competition. The competition ran fom 1922 until 1997, but became a second tier competition with the advent of the
ARL Premiership
The ARL Premiership was Australia's first grade rugby league competition between 1995 and 1997. It replaced the previous competition, the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, after the competition expanded to 20 teams with the admittance of fo ...
in 1995.
Bulimba Cup
The Bulimba Cup was similar to the Foley Shield in that it was contested by city representative sides in a region, this time the
South East Region, with the teams being Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba.
QRL Divisions
The QRL administers rugby league in Queensland through the following divisions.
*
''As of 2010 the Central, South West and Wide Bay divisions were amalgamated to form the new Central Division.''
Central Queensland Capras
*
Central Highlands Rugby League
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
*
Central West Rugby League
*
Gladstone & District Rugby League
*
Rockhampton & District Rugby League
South West Queensland Mustangs
*
Roma District Rugby League
*
Toowoomba Rugby League
**
Border Rivers Rugby League
Defunct Competitions
* Western Rugby League
Wide Bay Bulls
WIDE or Wide may refer to:
*Wide (cricket)
*Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data
*WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment
*Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment
*WIDE-LP, a radio ...
*
Bundaberg Rugby League
*
Central Burnett Rugby League
*
Northern Districts Rugby League
*
South Burnett Rugby League
*
Sunshine Coast Rugby League
North Queensland Marlins
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
*
Cairns District Rugby League
*
Mackay & District Rugby League
*
Mount Isa Rugby League
*
Remote Areas Rugby League
*
Townsville & District Rugby League
Defunct Competitions
* Mid West Rugby League
* Northern Peninsula Area Rugby League
South East Poinsettias
South East Poinsettias is the name of the southeast division of the Queensland Rugby League. They run competitions such as "The Mixwell Cup," which is the division below the Queensland Cup, and "The Mixwell Colts."
Brothers-Valleys participated ...
*
Brisbane Second Division Rugby League ''The Poinsettias / The Stingers (Juniors)''
*
Gold Coast Rugby League (''
The Vikings'')
*
Ipswich Rugby League
The Rugby League Ipswich is a rugby league football competition based in Ipswich, Queensland. It is under the administration of the Queensland Rugby League through the South East Queensland Division, which also administers the Brisbane and Gold ...
(''The Diggers'')
Seasons
*
1908 Queensland Rugby League season
The first season of Rugby League in Queensland saw the formation of an association in March 1908, footballers begin training in the new code by early May, and the first in a series of representative matches played on 16 May. Club football began a ...
*
1909 Queensland Rugby League season
*
1910 Queensland Rugby League season
*
1911 Queensland Rugby League season
See also
*
Rugby league in Queensland
*
Australian Rugby League
*
Queensland Rugby League team
References
In-line
General
*
External links
*
League's Queensland pageQueensland Rugby League HistoryRugby League clubs in Queensland
{{Rugby league in Australia
Rugby league governing bodies in Queensland
Ru
Rugby league in Queensland
1908 establishments in Australia
Sports leagues established in 1908