1 December 2015
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, enthusiasts had several flirtations with reviving the game. One such effort showed potential for long-lasting success. On the evening of 24th July 1900, a meeting chaired by former Queensland representative Mr W Ham at the Carlton Club saw the formation of ‘The Queensland Association of the Australian Game of Football’. The Queensland premier Robert Philp became the patron of the new body and Tom Welsby was one of the vice-presidents. A game between Ipswich and Brisbane followed at the North Ipswich Reserve on 18th August with a view to preparing the way for a serious reintroduction of the game in 1901. However, nothing eventuated in 1901 or 1902.
The prime movers when a meaningful and ultimately enduring Australian rules organisation finally took hold in Brisbane in the early twentieth century were fresh faces. Certainly, several of the nineteenth century protagonists had roles in the new movement, but the driving forces were a group of younger football enthusiasts who were new to Queensland, having arrived in Brisbane after the code had lapsed into its period of dormancy.
By the winter of 1903 many former Victorian and South Australian players resident in Brisbane were keen to see the game they loved established in the northern capital city. Four of these men were the driving forces behind the game’s revival in Queensland – Fred Vare, Arthur Watson, Jack Martin and Arthur Collinson. Collinson would become a stalwart of the game and, in 2008, one of seven inaugural Legends in the Queensland Australian Football Hall of Fame. The men’s tireless efforts in securing and preparing grounds, organising practice matches and in gathering the names of intending players and supporters were at the heart of the game’s rebirth.
In 1903 Vare and Watson were members of the committee of the South Brisbane Cycling Club. The club’s rooms in George Street in Brisbane City provided the setting for the official revival of Australian rules in Queensland. The first meeting of enthusiasts keen to see the game developed made the decision to form the Queensland Football League (QFL) on the evening of Wednesday 29th July 1903. Mr W Johnston of Melbourne chaired the meeting which had thirty in attendance. Vare and Martin were the meeting’s unanimous choices as joint secretaries. The decision was made to write to the VFL to request a copy of their by-laws.
The football evangelists of 1903 sought to win local support for a code which records suggest hadn’t been played in Brisbane since 1890, and hardly at all in Ipswich since 1892. As such, practice matches were a regular occurrence in 1903, commencing before the League had officially formed. The first such game in 1903 took place on 11th July at Queen’s Park in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens with Vare’s team defeating Watson’s team. Queen’s Park, which was still used for a variety of sports in the early twentieth century, would host many QFL fixtures up to the end of the 1912 season.
As the winter of 1903 progressed, the names of more players and supporters were registered by the League, with a view to commencing premiership competition the following year. In a spirit of cooperation, those new to the game made good progress under the tutelage of the older players. In The Brisbane Courier in late July it was reported that “the beginners have already made good progress under the instruction of the older players, and in a few weeks’ time a couple of full teams will probably take the field”.
The practice matches continued every Saturday at the Gardens ground that winter until 22nd August, with teams headed by Martin and Collinson also making appearances during this time. The season’s games came to a conclusion when a ‘B team’ defeated an ‘A team’ on 5th September. The groundwork complete, the stage had been set for a commencement of a premiership competition which has continued to the present day.
Indicative extract from the Queensland Australian rules football history to be published in 2016.
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