The Foley Shield is a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

competition 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 ...

administered by the

Queensland Rugby League 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 membe ...

. Prior to 1948 an inter-town competition known as the Carlton Cup was contested in

. This was revamped, and renamed in honour of Arch Foley, a member of the 1918

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

representative team that travelled north to

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 ...

, and south throughout

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...

. He was a founding member of the Townsville Souths rugby league club, and with later Australian Prime Minister

Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden, (13 April 189421 April 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958 and also served ...

formed the North Queensland Rugby League in 1919. In 1948 the competition was structured into a Northern Zone (

Babinda Babinda is a rural town and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Babinda had a population of 1,253 people. Geography Babinda is located south of Cairns. The town is noted for its proximity to Queensl ...

, Tully and Eacham) and a Southern Zone (

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 Airpor ...

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

and

). The following year, a Central Zone (

Herbert River The Herbert River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert George Wyndham Herbert, the fir ...

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits unde ...

and Home Hill) was added. The grand final was played in

, and was a highlight of the

calendar. The Foley Shield continued to be held annually until the introduction of the statewide

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by fou ...

competition in 1996. In 2000 the competition was reinstated, and was contested by

and

. In an attempt to re-invent the competition and renew the tradition and passion in the shield, Mount Isa, with the Mid-West league, (Mount Isa-Mid West) and Innisfail-Eacham returned to the competition and Cape York/Torres Strait joined the competition, and the Shield was played as a round robin at the Townsville Sports Reserve over the Easter weekend in 2009. In 2010, the competition was moved to the Labour Day Long Weekend, with a preliminary round played in regional centres over the Anzac Day Long Weekend. In 2011, the competition moved to the 20th to 22 May to be played in Townsville, with no preliminary round played. Townsville will split into two zones, Townsville City and Townsville Country. This brings the Townsville district in line with their Juniors, who found the move successful. This has followed the lead of Cairns who split. into Cairns and Innisfail-Eacham. Also, the re-introduction of Bowen to the Foley Shield (Formerly part of Whitsunday) who will combine with Palm Island, who play a 7 team A-Grade Competition. They will be known as Bowen-Palm Island. Mount Isa-Mid West will be known as Northern Outback, and Cape-Torres will be known as Remote Areas Rugby League. (RARL)

Teams

Grand Final results

* 1948: Babinda 7 defeated Ayr 2 * 1949: Townsville 22 defeated Cairns 13 * 1950: Ayr 23 defeated Cairns 15 * 1951: Babinda 19 defeated Ayr 15 * 1952: Herbert River 15 defeated Babinda 4 * 1953: Cairns 18 defeated Townsville 15 * 1954: Ayr 18 defeated Cairns 12 * 1955: Cairns 26 defeated Townsville 17 * 1956: Townsville 23 defeated Cairns 16 * 1957: Townsville 38 defeated Cairns 15 * 1958: Cairns 29 defeated Townsville 15 * 1959: Mackay 29 defeated Cairns 18 * 1960: Innisfail 12 defeated Herbert River 9 * 1961: Eacham 35 defeated Mackay 10 * 1962: Townsville 8 defeated Eacham 3 * 1963: Tully 29 defeated Burdekin 15 * 1964: Innisfail 30 defeated Townsville 8 * 1965: Herbert River 14 defeated Cairns 7 * 1966: Cairns 14 defeated Townsville 10 * 1967: Townsville 16 defeated Innisfail 15 * 1968: Innisfail 22 defeated Mackay 12 * 1969: Mount Isa 12 defeated Townsville 9 * 1970: Cairns 12 defeated Townsville 9 * 1971: Cairns 37 defeated Whitsunday 6 * 1972: Mount Isa 19 defeated Innisfail 16 * 1973: Whitsunday 19 defeated Innisfail 16 * 1974: Cairns 12 defeated Mount Isa 6 * 1975: Innisfail 15 defeated Townsville 4 * 1976: Cairns 11 defeated Townsville 10 * 1977: Mount Isa 18 defeated Innisfail 16 * 1978: Mount Isa 15 defeated Mackay 12 * 1979: Mount Isa 26 defeated Townsville 6 * 1980: Herbert River 18 defeated Burdekin 13 * 1981: Mount Isa 13 defeated Innisfail 9 * 1982: Townsville 25 drew with Herbert River 25 (both teams were declared joint winners after the scores were tied after extra time) * 1983: Mount Isa 22 defeated Townsville 10 * 1984: Mackay 21 defeated Mount Isa 4 * 1985: Mount Isa 26 defeated Burdekin 2 * 1986: Cairns 36 defeated Townsville 34 * 1987: Townsville 30 defeated Cairns 26 * 1988: Mount Isa 22 defeated Mackay 18 * 1989: Innisfail-Eacham 40 defeated Mackay 12 * 1990: Innisfail-Eacham 28 defeated Cairns 14 * 1991: Mackay 30 defeated Cairns 22 * 1992: Mackay 31 defeated Mount Isa 12 * 1993: Cairns 30 defeated Mackay 24 * 1994: Mackay 22 defeated Cairns 6 * 1995: Cairns 34 defeated Mackay 24 * 2000: Townsville 40 defeated Mackay 16 * 2001: Townsville 28 defeated Cairns 24 * 2002: Townsville 28 defeated Cairns 22 * 2003: Townsville 28 defeated Cairns 26 * 2004: Mackay 44 defeated Cairns 28 * 2005: Cairns 36 defeated Mackay 32 * 2006: Cairns 24 defeated Townsville 22 * 2007: Townsville 14 defeated Cairns 4 * 2008: Cairns 30 defeated Townsville 28 * 2009: Innisfail-Eacham 32 defeated Cape-Torres 22 * 2010: Townsville 48 defeated Mount Isa-Mid West 12 * 2011: Mackay 30 defeated Townsville City 14

Sources

History

Rleague.com World of Rugby League Queensland website

World of Rugby League Forums

North Queensland Cowboys website

Results

Retrieved 22 May 2006.

Teams

Grand Final results

Sources

History

Results

Further reading