Queensland Suburban Rugby Union

Queensland Suburban Rugby Union

Subbies
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1964 (Qld Sub-Districts R.U.) 1994 (Qld Suburban R.U.)
QRU affiliation	1964
Website	qsru.com.au

The Queensland Suburban Rugby Union, or QSRU, is affiliated to the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) and runs the rugby competition colloquially known as "Subbies" in Brisbane and South East Queensland.

The QSRU selects a representative side to play annual matches against NSW Suburban, for the Barraclough Shield. The major "Subbies" trophy is the Barber Cup, awarded to the first grade premiers of the first division.

The Subbies competition has around 1000 players and 20 clubs competing in three divisions, spread across Brisbane spanning from Redcliffe to Beenleigh, and Wynnum to Ipswich. The competition is for amateur players, and provides another tier of rugby below the Brisbane premier club competition.

The earliest predecessors of the sub-districts rugby union in Queensland were the Minor Rugby Union and the Sub-Junior Minor Rugby Union, which were founded in 1888 and 1890 respectively for second and third tier teams.

The Queensland Sub-District Rugby Union was founded in 1964. Mirror Newspapers donated the Sunday Truth Shield for the competition which was contested by nine teams including the Commonwealth Bank, AMP, Bank of New South Wales, and Law Clerks. The Gold Coast Eagles joined in 1965, winning the competition that year and in 1966, and finishing second in 1967.

The competition was restructured in 1993 to provide a secondary level of rugby under the Brisbane premiership. Strong district and suburban clubs in Brisbane were grouped into a new suburban competition sponsored by Coca-Cola. Teams in the competition's inaugural season included Caboolture and Everton Park to the north, Kenmore and Ipswich to the west, Redlands and Wynnum to the east, and Beenleigh and Logan City to the south.

Membership of the Subbies competition grew in the 1990s with an increase in corporate and university sides as well as teams formed by ex-students of schools. The growth in population of Brisbane led to the growth in the number of rugby clubs.

When Coca-Cola's sponsorship ended after the 1998 season, the QSRU administered 47 teams representing 30 clubs in seven grades of competition spread across five divisions. Division I was composed of the Norbert Byrne Cup (1st grade), Geoff R. Pegg Cup (2nd grade), and Robert A. Tuckey Cup (Colts) competitions; with the club championship Sydney Cup awarded based on the best all round performance of the Division I clubs. The lower division competitions were the John Barber Cup (Division II), Edinburgh Cup (Division III), Ian Scotney Cup (Division IV), and Darwin V. Normanby Cup (Division V). A number of Division I clubs, however, had begun to experience problems in fielding a colts (under 20s) side.