Brisbane Football Club (1866–1887)
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The Brisbane Football Club is a defunct
football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...
, formed in May 1866 in the colonial capital of
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
. Brisbane FC was the first known football club of any code in the
Colony of Queensland The Colony of Queensland was a colony of the British Empire from 1859 to 1901, when it became a State in the federal Australia, Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. At its greatest extent, the colony included the present-day Queensland, ...
. It was the first club outside Victoria to adopt what was then known as the ' Victorian rules' football (now known as
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
) from 1866. It is also the first recorded club to have played multiple football codes in Queensland, including
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
(1867–1875) and
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...
(1876–1879). Between 1870 and 1877 it also served as the governing body for football in the colony. Even after it deferred the laws of the game to the
Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...
in 1877 the club continued to have a strong influence on both Australian rules and rugby until the newly formed
Queensland Football Association The Queensland Football Association (QFA) is the largest Australian rules football league in Queensland and second largest in the world by number of senior clubs (after the Victorian Amateur Football Association). Dating back to 1969 and going by ...
in 1880 officially conferred governance to the Victorian Association. Following experimentation with other football codes, it re-committed to Australian rules (with occasional rugby matches) from 1879 after which it dominated in the sport. Playing in red and black hoops, in 1883 it earned the title the '' Invincible Reds''. It had an intense rivalry with the Ipswich Football Club. In 1885, the club's junior feeder school Brisbane Grammar switched to rugby and as a result, from 1886 Brisbane FC began to uphold a strong preference for that code, fielding its best players in its rugby side and playing only its seconds in the QFA. Due in part to its lack of playing depth this tipped dominance in favour of Ipswich and the club was regularly defeated by large margins. The Invincible tagline was widely mocked during its final years and its Victorian rules side was known simply as ''The Reds''. Reputational damage due to its defections to rugby on its identity and damaging losses in both codes ultimately led to its demise in 1887. The club was to last around only 20 years, and its allegiance to rugby signalled the end of Australian rules popularity in Queensland.


History


Mid-1800s: first football games in Brisbane

Football has been played in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
from very early times, as evidenced by this notice in ''
The Moreton Bay Courier ''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 ...
'' 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 '' ow called Australia Day">Australia_Day.html" ;"title="ow called Australia Day">ow called Australia Day' 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. Alternatively, they could have been playing in accordance with the recently published History of rugby union, 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 Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
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 ''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 ...
'' 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 ormerly 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." Original club members included: S. Hart, W. G. Macnish, W. H. Ryder, Charles Edward Wallen, G. Cowlishaw, and Tom Board.


Choice of Rules

It is not recorded why the club chose to adopt the contemporary Melbourne, rather than the Sydney, version of football. However Victorian football was far more popular and widespread than Sydney's of the time. There was regular competition with more than 14 clubs across Victoria and several schools playing it, whereas Sydney had just one club playing under
Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
rules (and
Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
was not formally codified until 1871). Several factors may have influenced the decision to adopt the Melbourne rules but it is significant that several of founding committee members were either Victorians, Victorian footballers and/or cricketers and some were involved in the early years of the code in Victoria. The timing of the Melbourne committee's redrafting of the laws was coincidentally drafted on 8th May which gave significant impetus for clubs across Australia to follow suit. One of the members of Brisbane's rules committee, Charles Edward Wallen, was schooled at Scotch College in Melbourne, and played in experimental rules matches umpired by Melbourne Football Club founder
Tom Wills Thomas Wentworth Wills (19 August 1835 – 2 May 1880) was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of Colo ...
in 1858. Tom Board and George Clencross-Smith were also both teammates of Wills at Geelong Football Club. Founding chair David Watterston was schooled in Melbourne after arriving in Australia from Scotland in 1853 before moving to Ipswich in 1860 working as editor of the '' Ipswich Herald'' then joining the ''
Brisbane Courier ''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 ...
'' in 1865. Watterson was a member of Brisbane's Victorian Cricket Club (formed 1863 and consisting of ex-Victorian players). The Victorian Club had on 26 May proposed that cricket ground make way off-season for football. Board, Ryder, Cowlishaw and Macnish were also all playing members of Victorians Club. Significantly, on 1 June 1866, the Brisbane Courier published the Melbourne Football Club rules as the official rules for the Queensland colony.


First games

The club had its first game on Saturday 9 June 1866, as reported in the ''Brisbane Courier'' a week later: :''About thirty members of the Brisbane Foot-ball Club mustered in the Queen's Park '' ow part of the City Botanic Gardens – see image below">City_Botanic_Gardens.html" ;"title="ow part of the City Botanic Gardens">ow part of the City Botanic Gardens – see image below' on Saturday afternoon, and played a scratch match. This was the first general turn out of the new club.'' The club also played matches on the 'cricket ground', located in the area then known as 'Green Hills' (beside Countess Street Petrie Terrace opposite the Victoria Barracks, Brisbane, Victoria Barracks – now occupied by the Northern Busway, Brisbane, Northern Busway), where cricket matches were also played since at least the early 1860s. The ''Brisbane Courier'' reported in July 1866: :''THE members of the Brisbane Football Club had a turn out on Saturday afternoon, and played several games. The place of meeting was the cricket ground. Though the muster was not large, the play was conducted in a spirited manner; and there were many good struggles before a goal was kicked. The ground was slippery in many places, and, as a matter of course, several "spills" occurred. There will be a practice at the Queen's Park this afternoon, the cricket ground being rather too far from the centre of the city.'' The club initially played intra-club matches, with teams selected arbitrarily. A second club was proposed, and shortly later Civil Service appeared, formed possibly after 19 July to facilitate scratch matches between the two clubs. A newspaper report listed the players for a 'Civil Service' team (Messrs. Boyce, French, J. Bourne, Scarr, Perse, Hill, T. B. Watterston, Mills, Coley, Stewart, Bunton, Gill, Burrowes, Ryder, King, Pugh, Darvall, Costello, Pounden, Somerset, Bourne, Kellett, and Miles) to play the 'All Comers' team (Messrs. Munce, Cowlishaw, Garbut, Horsley, Sheridan, Board, Faunce, Highfield, Watterston, Sheehan, Hart, Tregurtha, Zillman, G. Smith, E. Webb, H. Webb, Fowles, Kelly, Macquarie, Cotham, Millar, Miskin, and Everest). The ''
Brisbane Courier ''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 ...
'' further reported in late 1866: "ON the football ground ueen's Park 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." In 1867, the club was already experimenting with multiple codes, including, by all appearances matches in the 11 man British Association rules against the Volunteer Artillery club which included players from around the world. By early 1868, it appears the club was struggling somewhat – at its second annual meeting, Chairman Watterston 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 28 May 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." 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 (BGS) is an Independent school, independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Austra ...
(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.


1870s: Opposition clubs formed

Dr Kevin O'Doherty became president of the club in 1870. He would continue his presidency until returning to Ireland in 1885, a couple of years before the club folded. By 1870, the
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
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. By 1871 the club was acting as the governing body for the code in the colony, convening a committee of clubs to govern the rules of the game locally.


First Soccer match in Queensland (1875)

The club played at least one game of what was then referred to as " London Association rules" (now '
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
'): ''
The Queenslander ''The Queenslander'' was the weekly summary and literary edition of the ''Brisbane Courier'', the leading journal in the colony (later state) of Queensland since the 1850s. ''The Queenslander'' was launched by the Brisbane Newspaper Company in ...
'' of 14 August 1875 reported that on Saturday 7 August 1875, Brisbane FC played a game against the inmates and warders of the Woogaroo 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).


First rugby matches (1876–1879)

In 1876, two new Brisbane clubs (Rangers FC and Bonnet Rouge FC) were formed. The ''
Brisbane Courier ''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 ...
'' 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. Brisbane FC sent a letter to the Victorian Association Melbourne announcing the club's intention to formally adopt the rugby union rules over the Victorian rules for convenience playing against majority of its local opposition clubs. The three clubs commenced playing according to rugby union rules, but modified by local customary rules.Rugby in the Colony of Queensland (website)
Both Bonnet Rouge and Rangers clubs folded at the end of the 1877 season. However, the Excelsior club was formed in 1877 and the Wallaroos in 1880, with both clubs apparently playing according to 'Victorian rules'. In 1879 the ''
Brisbane Courier ''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 ...
'' 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".


1880s: Queensland Football Association

At a meeting of the clubs on 30 April 1880 for the purpose of forming the Queensland Football Association (QFA) to affiliate with the
Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...
, the club's representative E.C. Binge was the only club opposed to the association, believing that it had the right to govern itself, his motion lapsed and the formation proceeded. It had joined along with Wallaroo, Excelsiors and Athenians (Ipswich). The new association decided to recognise and play both Victorian and rugby rules. However, in 1882, a Brisbane FC representative (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 subsequently led to the formation of the Northern Rugby Union (now the
Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of Rugby union in Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. History The QRU was founded in Brisbane in 1883 as t ...
) in 1884). At the Brisbane club's annual general meeting in 1882, 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. In 1883 the club changed its colours, playing in red and black hoops, and immediately dominated the competition, earning the title the ''Invincible Reds''.
Boyd Dunlop Morehead Boyd Dunlop Morehead (24 August 1843 – 30 October 1905) was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was Premier of Queensland from November 1888 to June 1890. Early life Boyd Morehead was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the second son ...
was elected president for 1886, at the time he was also serving as leader of the opposition in Queensland Legislative Assembly. A newspaper report in late 1886 describes Brisbane FC as "the premier club". From this time Brisbane FC once again asserted its preference for rugby seeking to make a statement to the league it chose to field its best players in its rugby side and the rest in Victorian Association matches. This preference ultimately led to its demise as a club due to effect on its reputation of damaging losses in both codes.


1887 QFA season

According to the ''
Brisbane Courier ''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 ...
'' of 15 March 1887, Brisbane FC 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). On 15 May 1887, the "Invincibles" suffered a humiliating defeat 5 to 1 at the hands of Ipswich, observers noted that their entire senior team was missing from the roster, they had played their seconds team. However they atoned against Rovers in May 6 goals 10 to a solitary behind. They then travelled to Toowoomba to play against the new football club there. Again, they suffered a humiliating defeat 1 goals 7 against Ipswich 5 goals 8. Ipswich media again challenged the Reds' claim to the invincible title, however also questioned their players switching to play with other clubs. The Reds defeated Excelsiors 4 goals 19 to 2 goals 2. In June they were again thrashed by Ipswich 4 goals 11 to 6 behinds in front of a crowd of 650 at North Ipswich. Reds captain Greenwood represented Queensland against New South Wales in Sydney. Against Ipswich in July the club registered another loss 13 behinds to 10.


Disbanding

Prior to the end of the 1887 season, Brisbane FC fielded a much depleted side in August losing against Excelsiors 3 goals 13 to 2 goals 7, Brisbane FC did not take part in the last round of QFA matches, however L. H. Nathan acted as an impartial umpire. This is the last mention of the club playing matches and contemporary sources note that they had played their last match, so it would have been well known in football circles that the club intended to fold for the 1888 season. It is not recorded, but the demise of the club may have been the result the rapidly increasing popularity of rugby, with some Brisbane FC players possibly electing to join the newly formed rugby clubs, Fireflies and Wanderers (followed by the creation of four more rugby clubs by 1885–86). As rugby historian Sean Fagan noted: :''The defining moment in the code battle came with the 1886 Queensland '' ugby' 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 ''
880s The 880s decade ran from January 1, 880, to December 31, 889. Significant people * Al-Mu'tamid * Al-Muwaffaq * Charles the Fat * Alfred the Great * Al-Mufawwid * Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz * Basil I References Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT: ...
' came to a close, The ''
Queensland Figaro The ''Queensland Figaro and Punch'' was a weekly newspaper published from 1885 to 1936 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. History The newspaper was a merger of two previous newspapers, the '' Queensland Figaro'' and the '' Queensland Punch''. T ...
'' 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 '' occer', also in a sickly state but if anything showing more life than the Victorian game".''


Management


Notable players

* Cedric Wills (younger brother of
Tom Wills Thomas Wentworth Wills (19 August 1835 – 2 May 1880) was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of Colo ...
) * George Henry Pritchard (Brisbane grammarian who captained Queensland in both Rugby and Victorian Rules)


Later Brisbane Australian football clubs

Since this time, several Australian Football clubs have borne the Brisbane name, including "Brisbanes" in the 1920s, the
Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...
in the 1980s and 1990s and more recently, the
Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...
. However, these clubs are not connected with the original Brisbane Football Club.


See also

* History of soccer in Brisbane, Queensland


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brisbane Football Club (1866-1887) Australian rules football clubs established in 1866 Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1887 Australian rules football clubs in Brisbane 1866 establishments in Australia 1887 disestablishments in Australia