Rugby union in Queensland
| Rugby union in Queensland | |
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Queensland Reds fans celebrate their title win in 2011
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| Governing body | Queensland Rugby Union |
| State team | Queensland Reds |
| First played | 1876 |
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Club competitions
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Rugby union is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports in Queensland. The earliest known rugby football games played in Brisbane occurred 1876, when the Brisbane Football Club elected to change to Rugby instead of 'Victorian Rules' (now known as Australian Rules) which it had played since its founding in 1866, to permit competition with the newly formed Rangers and Bonnet Rouge football clubs. The Rugby game continued for three seasons, when clubs reverted to Victorian Rules in 1879.
Fred Lea, an Englishman educated at Allesley College near Rugby in Warwickshire, arrived in Brisbane in 1878 and was amazed to find that Victorian rules (now called Australian Rules) was the only form of football being played. Lea took up the Victorian game, playing it in 1879-81. However, in 1880 he was able to sway two of the local clubs, Brisbane F.C. (founded 1866) and Wallaroo (1878), to try rugby. Three matches were played between the clubs.
In the following seasons, Brisbane's four football clubs played matches under both codes, although the majority were overwhelmingly Victorian rules games. In the late winter of 1882 the Brisbane F.C. contacted the Sydney Wallaroo club, challenging them to a rugby match.
As the NSWRU were keen to keep the inter-colony matches going, a NSW team journeyed to Brisbane in 1883. Trained in readiness by Fred Lea, the Queensland team ambushed the visitors and gained a victory over the New South Welshmen.
The win gave rugby in Brisbane a huge boost, with many footballers wanting to try the code. It was thought that Brisbane's four clubs would simply increase the number of rugby matches for 1884, while still playing Victorian rules as well.
However, it soon became clear that moves were afoot to form a ‘Queensland Football [Victorian rules] Association’, meaning affiliated clubs could no longer play rugby. With Fred Lea (who would be later called 'The Father of Queensland rugby') actively involved, it was decided to form the Northern Rugby Football Union now named Queensland Rugby Union (QRU). On November 2, 1883, a meeting was held at the Exchange Hotel, in Brisbane and the decision was made to form a rugby association in the Colony of Queensland. The name of the newly founded union the Northern Rugby Union, was used to distinguish it from the Southern Rugby Union, which was the governing body of rugby in New South Wales. Enough players aligned with the rugby body to form two clubs.
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