1 December 2015
The first official football match in Queensland was played under what were known as the Melbourne Rules.
It took place in Queen’s Park (now known as the Brisbane Botanical Gardens). The match commenced on Saturday 21 July 1866.
Below is an excerpt from Athenians and Red Invincibles, a book that goes into great detail on the origins of football in Queensland. https://www.q150.net.au/shop/
The first season
Brisbane’s newspapers prepared the sporting public for the inaugural match by reporting on some of the rules in early June 1866. The Brisbane Courier quoted directly from the rules that were published in the Melbourne-based newspaper, The Australasian:1
“Two posts … shall be erected at a distance of twenty yards on each side of the goal posts and in a straight line with them … any player catching the ball directly from the foot or leg may call ‘mark’. Tripping and hacking are strictly prohibited. The ball may be taken in hand at any time, but not carried further than is necessary for a kick … the ball while in play may under no circumstances be thrown”.
The Brisbane Courier, June 1, 1866.
The following weekend – on June 9, 1866 − a “scratch match” was held, and immediately the rules were the cause for some conjecture. Some participants had not kicked a football for some time, and for others it was their first football experience. Many of the players, spectators and journalists appeared to have no knowledge of the conventions of a codified football match, and those who had experienced football elsewhere had various notions as to how a football match should be played. Melbourne Rules were the rules in Brisbane, but some members disputed their validity, and others interpreted them in different ways.
Over the next six weeks, the Brisbane footballers held several more Saturday practice matches and numerous mid-week afternoon training sessions. Players and spectators enjoyed the practice matches as the participants worked towards a consensus on the Melbourne Rules. The players agreed on a few conventions: it was “Melbourne Rules, Brisbane style”.
The availability of suitable venues proved a challenge. In early July 1866 The Brisbane Courier noted that, “several games [had been] played. The grounds were somewhat hard and rough, and exceedingly uncomfortable to those who received ‘spills’ but everything went off pleasantly, and there were no disputes”. Victoria Park (adjacent to the current Royal Brisbane Hospital) was tried as a venue, but rejected. Brisbane was having a wet winter, and it was concluded by The Brisbane Courier that Victoria Park was “not a very suitable place for the game, there being too much gravel and clay about it. As those who practise football are aware, a ‘buster’ is a thing that cannot always be avoided, and it is especially unpleasant to get one on very hard or very soft ground”.
In spite of difficulties with rules and facilities, preparations for something more serious than practice matches were under way. The Brisbane Courier journalist assigned to cover football gave credit to “the club − or rather the members individually − for the improvement that has taken place in their play since football was started in Brisbane. A few weeks more practice, and they will have attained a fair state of efficiency”. The journalist announced that “a match between the Civil Service and the rest of the club [was] on the tapis, and will probably take place on Saturday week.” In the week before Queensland’s inaugural football contest, members of the Brisbane Football Club practised every afternoon in Queen’s Park.
Many in Brisbane eagerly awaited the first official match, scheduled for July 14, 1866. Confusion reigned on match day as Queen’s Park was inundated by unseasonal rains and ruled unfit for play. The poor weather necessitated a late change to the Green Hills Cricket Ground, which was adjacent to the current Roma Street railway station. Some players and spectators went to Queen’s Park as planned while others stayed away, believing the match had been cancelled. These difficulties caused Queensland’s first football match to be postponed until the following Saturday.
After a prolonged preparation, the first Melbourne Rules football fixture in Queensland took place at Queen’s Park over two consecutive Saturdays, on July 21 and July 28, 1866. Two teams were selected from within the Brisbane Football Club:
Civil Service: J.A. [Alick] Boyce, J. [John] French, J.O. [Joe] Bourne,[William] Scarr,Persee, S.G. [Stan] Hill, T.B. [Tom] Watterston, Mills, B.J. Coley, Stewart, Buxton, Gill, E.M. [Edward] Burrowes, [William] Ryder, Hickey, Pugh, F.O. Darvall, Costello, T.W. [Theo] Poulden, Kellett, Miles, Miskin.
All Comers: G. [George] Cowlishaw, Munce, Garbut, Horsley, Sheridan, Faunel, Highfield, D. [David] Watterston, Sheehan, S.B. [Studholme] Hart, Tregurtha, Zillman, E. Webb, Fowles, Kelly, McQuarie, Cotham, Millar, G. [George] Bourne, Beer, Lynch, Dickins.
The Brisbane Courier, July 23, 1866.
Matches of this era were not always bound by time limits, and the first team to score two goals was often determined the victor. After both teams had failed to score on the first weekend of Queensland football, a return match was organised for the following week. After another goal-less session of play held over two and a half hours, the first match in Queensland – conducted over five hours on successive Saturdays – was declared a scoreless draw.
The Brisbane members organised a second match for the first Saturday of August. George Cowlishaw had the prestigious honour of kicking the first goal in Queensland football for the victorious All Comers team.
In the final match of Queensland’s first football season, the Australian-born Brisbane Football Club members were pitted against those members had been born elsewhere. The Brisbane Courier dubbed the match “Australia versus The World”. Joe Bourne, aged twenty-two, captained the Australian team, which included George Cowlishaw, Thos Board and William Macnish. Thos Board had participated in a similar Australia versus The World event in Geelong in 1863. On that occasion he played in an Australian team that was led by Colden Harrison and Tom Wills.1
An athletics carnival that had been organised by the Brisbane Football Club concluded the inaugural season of Queensland football. The day consisted “of flat races of various distances, hurdle races, leaping [and] kicking the football”.11 Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle noted the day’s success.
During the winter months in Brisbane, the gentlemen had no sort of out-door exercises, but at last a Football Club was started, and in a very short time mustered about seventy members, many of whom had never seen the game played … The consequence was that we had some very interesting matches during the season, amongst others the “Civil Service” v the “Town”, and “Australians” v the “World”. As the cricket season was approaching it was thought advisable to terminate the Football season with some Athletic Sports … and on Saturday last the sport came off in the Queen’s Park in the presence of a large number of spectators. The matches were confined to the members of the club, and consequently were not so numerous as they could have been.
Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, September 22, 1866.
The Brisbane Football Club’s athletic sports day at the end of winter became an annual feature of the Brisbane sporting calendar for the next fourteen years. Eventually it involved more than just the members of the Brisbane club.
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