Brisbane Rugby League History

Brisbane Rugby League - attempts to understand why this once great competition is now a shadow of its former self. Paper by Dr. Greg Mallory 1999. Donated by the author August 2002.

This paper is dedicated to John Mallory, amatuer historian of Rugby League and great supporter of Brothers, Brisbane, Queensland and Australia.

Paper presented to Teams and Fans Conference - 15 to 18 July 1999. The Third Conference of the Football Studies Group.

In 1971 40,000 people attended the Brisbane Grand Final between Valleys and Easts with the leader of the Federal Opposition, Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret, in attendance. The story was on the front page of The Courier-Mail and, amongst other things, made reference to Valleys' 'Diehard spirit'. The 1987 Brisbane Grand Final between Brothers and Redcliffe, the last before the Brisbane Broncos entered the New South Wales (NSW) competition, received similar attention from The Courier-Mail. Last year the author was in West End on the afternoon of the Preliminary Final of the Queensland Cup and decided to go to the public bar of the Melbourne Hotel to watch the match. The bar manager said that no-one in the bar would be interested in the match and that if I wished to watch it, he would turn it on for me on a TV in the corner. This story shows the change in attitude of public bar drinkers in Brisbane - the community of West End used to support Souths Rugby League club and the Melbourne hotel was a 'mecca' for Rugby League as it was owned by Gary Balkin, a former Brisbane club footballer and one of the founders of the Broncos.

On the first round of the Queensland Cup in 1999 not one TV channel reported any of the scores on the Sunday night and the author was told that they did not have the time to fit them in. This reflected the scant attention the Queensland Cup now receives in The Courier-Mail. In the light of this what does one make of the remark from a Metropolitan Cup Official during the annual game this year between the Brisbane Capitals and Sydney Metros played at Belmore Oval, Sydney, on 7 April. After admiring the superior play of the Brisbane team this official said: "These Brisbane blokes are alright, which Group do they come from?" Does this official's remark reflect a perception from Rugby League supporters 'South of the Tweed' that most Queensland Rugby League teams emerge from the local park and Queensland and Brisbane do not have a competition with a proud history?

With all the crying from our ‘southern cousins' about the impending death of Western Suburbs or South Sydney, where was the outcry from Sydney and indeed Brisbane when the mighty Fortitude Valleys team died or this year when Past Brothers did not field a team in the Queensland Cup or the Brisbane A Grade competition. This paper is a forerunner to what is hoped to be a much larger study on the Brisbane Rugby League and attempts to understand why this great competition is now a shadow of its former self. The paper will focus on a number of events and issues and discuss these in the brief time that has been allocated.

Brief History of the BRL The first club season of Rugby League began in Brisbane on 8 May 1909 with the founding clubs being North Brisbane, Toombul, Valley, South Brisbane and later on Milton. The matches were played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground and were under control of the Queensland Rugby Football League (QRFL and later QRL). In 1918 the Western Suburbs club was stripped of its premiership points by the QRL for playing an unregistered Sydney player Ricketty Johnson. In response, Wests withdrew from the competition. This event was known as the 'Ricketty Johnson ring-in' case and set in motion events which would bring about the formation of the Brisbane Rugby League (BRFL and later the BRL') in 1922. The issues that drove this 'breakaway' were the dictatorial attitude of the QRL and the lack of compensation for the players.

According to the Howells: "So, the Brisbane rugby league was born out of dissatisfaction with the Rugby League administration and resentment over the salary paid to Harry Sunderland. He was receiving a good salary as QRL secretary and at the same time was being paid for his newspaper writing as well. The players were not receiving compensation for injuries and they believed that Sunderland was getting money that was rightly due to them. The issue was little different from that which had caused the original breakaway from the Rugby Union. The players were basically working-class, it was their blood and skin left on the playing fields, and their financial remuneration had been minimal."

The BRL grew in strength combating a QRL attempt at winning back control in 1923-24. The original teams were Brothers, Carltons, Coorparoo, University, Valley and the Grammars club was added the next season. An issue facing the new administration was the location of matches for its representative teams. The BRL obtained the Exhibition Grounds for its matches against Toowoomba. (12)

District football was another issue that confronted the new administration. This concept meant that players had to reside in the club's district. Two positive arguments were promoted for district football, those being firstly that it provided a community base and secondly it made a more equitable competition. Brisbane was to be divided into Eastern suburbs, South Brisbane, Western suburbs, North Brisbane and Fortitude Valley. The Past Brothers club, by their very nature defied the district concept, however proof had to be obtained that the players had been to or have attended a Christian Brothers College.

In 1933 district football became a reality when Carltons became Southern Suburbs, Coorparoo and Wynnum (formerly Wynnum Rugby Union) became Eastern Suburbs and Grammars became Northern Suburbs. According to Ryan the 'district scheme' introduced strict residential provisions for players and "the BRFL hoped to insure the true identity of the club teams by enforcing a 'locals only' team make-up" In 1934 University returned to Rugby Union, the South Coast was in the competition for a brief time between 1952-5. Wynnum-Manly joined in 1952 and Redcliffe in 1960. Logan City entered a C grade side in 1987 and three grades entered in 1988 and Ipswich entered in 1985.

The New South Wales Factor - One cannot have a discussion about any level of Rugby League played in Queensland without discussing the obsession of beating NSW. This attitude partially derives from the 'stealing' of players from Queensland by the rich poker machine driven clubs and sending them back in NSW jerseys. According to Scott, this finding can be traced back to the 1920s where the Press mooted a state of origin concept. A great example of how committed the QRL was to beating NSW that a 'Ways & Means' Committee was set up in the 1970s with the purpose of increasing the skill and fitness level of Queensland players.

One of the ideas was to subject twenty players to an intensive coaching and training camp for two months. They lived at Lang Park and slept in the old dressing sheds on camp stretchers. A number of players used to sneak home at nights to visit their wives but they were supposed to be back at 10 o'clock. The gates were locked so when a number arrived back late one night they decided to scale the fence. Seven car loads of police arrived and attempted to arrest the players as they thought Lang Park was under siege. Greg Vievers describes the conditions under which the players lived: "They'd wake you at 5.30 a.m. and you'd go to the track at 6 a.m. or down to Victoria Park and then come back for breakfast at 7.30. Weights at 8.30 and then we had lectures after that from various doctors and bloody university people and then we went out and had ball skills and more lectures after lunch. Then training with the ball from three to six for two months."

Another illustration of the obsession with NSW was the Sunday-Mail's column 'Insider'. This column promoted NSW as a mysterious place where strange things went on to ex-Queenslanders. Readers were also kept informed of the form of the NSW leading players as well as political developments at 'Phillip Street" and how this impacted on the QRL.

The Scott Theories In an interview conducted with Edmund Scott grandson of one of the founders of the BRL, he claimed that the death of district football in the 1960s destroyed local community support for Rugby League. He referred to the "tribalism" associated with each district in the 1940s and 50s as each group was fiercely loyal to their own territory. For example Paddington was associated with Wests, Stones Corner with Easts, West End with Souths, Nundah with Norths and New Farm/Valley with Valleys. He contrasted this situation with that of the Brisbane clubs in the 1970s and 80s when he said: " Wally Lewis playing for Wynnum meant nothing to Wynnum people because he wasn't a Wynnum boy.... and I can remember getting tackled by some bloke at Crosby Park and this clown coming over the top of me and giving me one for my trouble, and (this bloke) being attacked by a couple of women because they hit one of their boys... so there was a very strong (feeling), the Diehard, the Fortitude Valley boys, and the Paddington boys and the Stones Corner boys, they were part of a big community.... and the local community came and saw them play football and supported them and barracked for them".

This is reinforced by Kevin Brasch current Chairman of the BRL in an interview conducted in 1998: "For instance from where we are now (Lang Park) if you were part of the Paddington mob and you went past where the Post Office is, you got done-over, and vice-versa...... it was District football, this would have been in the 40s, my father used to tell me about it".

Scott's second theory is that the 1922 BRL breakaway from the QRL was similar to the 1987 Bronco 'falling out' with the QRL. The obsession of beating NSW led to a hostile consortium to the QRL being organised in order to obtain the licence to play in the NSW competition in 1988. This contempt for the domination of Rugby League by 'Phillip Street' is almost 'folk-lore' in Queensland and can be articulated from people in all walks of life - taxi drivers, drinkers in pubs, people in work places, in what Andrew Moore describes as the "contested territory of communities". This attitude helped the Broncos lead the revolt against the NSWRL and the ARL in the Superleague War.

Kevin Brasch's sociological explanations - Kevin Brasch in his interview gave a number of sociological reasons for the decline in Brisbane Club football. In essence, they reflected the changing nature of society with different leisure interests for players and spectators. For example there has been a growth of other sports like Touch football and triathlons with women competing with men on an almost equal basis. Women were no longer spectators and men were more inclined to be involved in the sport of their girlfriends. Some of the other reasons were availability of Pay TV where it was much easier to watch a game of rugby league from the lounge-room, the developing sports such as basketball, and the poaching of players at a younger age to other sports such as life-saving and little athletics.

He gave an example of an Inala U16 player who the BRL regarded as a new Wally Lewis being approached by the Institute of Sport to take up kayaking and presenting him with the scenario that he might represent Australia at the next Olympics. As Kevin Brasch said "there are too many pigs in the trough"

The Press Response & 1987/88 - Both Steve Ricketts, Chief Rugby League writer for The Courier-Mail and Tony Durkin, Editor of Rugby League Week, claim that the BRL competition was declining during the 1980s and people were looking to Sydney to see a better standard of Rugby League. Both these commentators are originally from NSW but are very loyal to Queensland. Ricketts says that The Courier-Mail had to have a hook to hang stories on after the Broncos entry into the NSW competition in 1988 so the coaches became a focus for their stories. For example Tommy Raundonikis was one coach in the Brisbane competition who could command a detailed story.

Examination of The Courier-Mail shows a continuation of big stories on the local competition after the Broncos entry. Ricketts also says that The Courier-Mail's emphasis is national and the advertising people control the number of pages devoted to each sport.

"If you have a look at a typical sports section, you've got to understand with the paper the advertising people dictate how much space we get in the paper and they go over to the sports editor and say today you have three and a half pages to sport, that's it, you can have an argument with them, and they might give you another half page."

Rugby League Week used to have a Queensland edition with local stories generally making the front page. The Australian also ran local stories. However Durkin agrees when he says that Rugby League Week is a national magazine and must emphasise the national competition. "We're a national rugby League magazine, so we cover what we regard as the national game, which is the National Rugby League competition, which was the NSW competition which was the ARL competition, we also cover NZ, sell in New Zealand and in England, but that's not our market, our market is NSW and Qld and believe it or not... almost half our sales are in Qld."

The change in emphasis of the Courier-Mail is examined in the coverage of the 1987 Grand Final the first Broncos game at Lang Park, and the 1988 Grand Final. The 1987 Grand Final and the Broncos made the front page whereas the 1988 Grand Final only made the sports pages.

Comparison with Adelaide - A brief research of the Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide's main paper, shows that the local Australian Rules competition appears to be not treated in the same way that the Queensland Cup competition is presented in The Courier-Mail. Adelaide has roughly an equivalent population to Brisbane and has boasted a fine local Australian Rules competition and has had a city team entering a national competition. The coverage seems to be on a balance with the national competition. Discussions with a Brisbane taxi driver who was an Adelaide resident for ten years have revealed that the Adelaide clubs resisted strongly the push from Victoria and South Australia to enter a team into a national competition and fought hard to maintain the status of their local competition.

The Uniqueness of Brisbane Rugby League - In my view one cannot have any discussion on Brisbane Rugby League without mentioning three characters.

Firstly there is George Lovejoy who called rugby league on radio station 4BH from 1950 to the early 1970s. He used the expression "Rugby League Football, the Greatest Game of All" and was a household name in Brisbane. He not only called club football, but Bulimba Cup, State trials, Interstate and International matches. He called Interstate and International matches in Sydney and toured with the Kangaroos on a number of occasions. He befriended other callers such as Frank Hyde and Eddie Waring.

Ron McAuliffe, the ALP Senator, former BRL, QRL and Lang Park Trust Chairman, dominated the Administration in Queensland and was responsible for the introduction of the State of Origin, which made the whole issue of the inequality between the two states a lot more fairer.

Barry Muir dominated the headlines as a player and coach and invented the expression 'cockroaches' for NSW players. Muir played halfback for Wests, Brisbane, Queensland and Australia and was often involved in controversy.

CONCLUSIONS As stated at the beginning, this paper hopes to be a forerunner to a longer study on the BRL. This brief paper has attempted to identify the events and the issues that have shaped the BRL in its developed and subsequent decline. It could be said that the BRL has been affected by two factors. Firstly it has been a victim of the move from community based Rugby League to corporate Rugby League, a theme touched on in this paper. The second factor is that it has been a victim of the domination of NSW culture over a range of areas of Queensland life to the extent that very little public profile exists for local Rugby League in this state.

In order to write a detailed history of the BRL the following overlapping areas have been identified that would require further investigation.
Local Rugby League and its relationship with the community
The rise of corporate Rugby League in Brisbane
The role of the Press
The changing nature of society and Rugby League's reaction
The spectator
The NSW factor
Rugby League's competitors
The changing role of the club
The death of Valleys and Brothers - why did it happen?

ENDNOTES 1. The Courier-Mail, 20 September, 1971, pg.1. Valleys were famous for winning games in a close encounter and holding on against all odds. The Press always referred to this as the 'Diehard spirit'.
2. The Courier-Mail, 21 September, 1987, pg.1.
3. The author rang all TV channels that night and received the same information from all.
4. See appendix D.
5. In NSW, the Country Rugby League divide NSW into a number of areas called Groups and each Group is assigned a particular number.
6. This information is from 'Bumper' Dwyer, Newtown Director who was asked this question by the Wentworthville official.
7. Max and Reet Howell, the Greatest Game Under the Sun: the History of Rugby League in Queensland (Brisbane: Leon Beddington for the Queensland Rugby League, 198? pp. 19-20 and Ronald James Ryan, "The History of Rugby League Football in Australia": A Thesis presented to the Department of Physical Education, California State University, Long Beach, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts, December, 1978, p.69.
8. Ryan uses QRFL and BRFL whereas Howell and Scott uses BRL and QRL.
9. Edmond Scott, 'Rugby League in Brisbane: From the Genesis to the Formation of the Brisbane Rugby League'., Masters of Human Movement Studies (Qualifying) University of Queensland, 1990, pp. 42-51, and Howell pp. 41-2.
10. Howell, p.54.
11. Ryan, p.71
12. Howell, p.54.
13. Scott, p.60
14. Scott, p.60.
15. Ryan p.73.
16. Ryan, p.73.
17. Brian Lourigan & Steve Ricketts, Lang Park, The First 36 Years: Memories, Magic, Mayhem, Brisbane, Queensland Rugby Football League Limited, 1994, pg. 151
18. Artie Beetson played in the Redcliffe Grand Final in 1965.
19. Scott, pp. 53-54.
20. Lourigan and Ricketts, Lang Park Memories, p. 137.
21. Phillip Street in Sydney is where the NSW Rugby League offices are located (and ARL).
22. See appendix F.
23. Edmund Scott Interview, Brisbane, 14 December, 1998.
24. Kevin Brasch Interview, Lang Park, Brisbane, 20 October, 1998.
25. George Lovejoy Interview, Brisbane, September,1996.
26. Andrew Moore 'Super league and the Decline of Working Class Culture', paper given to First Conference of the Football Studies Group, Brisbane, March, 1997.
27. Kevin Brasch Interview, Lang Park, Brisbane, October, 1998.
28. Brasch Interview, October, 1988.
29. See appendix G.
30. See Appendix H.
31. Steve Ricketts Interview: Brisbane, 12 January, 1999.
32. See Appendix I.
33. See Appendix J.
34. Tony Durkin Interview: Brisbane, 21 October, 1998.
35. See appendices C, K, L, M, N, O
36. Adelaide Advertiser, 2 July, 1988 and 17 July, 1998.
37. See Appendices P, Q.
38. Discussion with Brisbane Taxi Driver, 3 May, 1999.
39. Lovejoy Interview, September, 1996.
40. Lourigan and Ricketts, Lang Park Memories, p. 138.
41. See Appendix S
42. It may be a utopian dream but the author wishes to return to the times where the local clubs were part of Brisbane culture and The Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail would publish photos of the teams.