Brisbane Australian Football Club - 1870s: Opposition Clubs Formed

1870s: Opposition Clubs Formed

By 1870, the Ipswich Football Club had formed and became the only other organised club in the region and hence the Brisbane club's only competition. Brisbane won the first three games of that season.

It also appears that the club played at least one game of what was then referred to as "London Association rules" (now 'soccer'): The Queenslander of 14 August 1875 reported that on Saturday 7 August 1875, Brisbane FC played a game against the inmates and warders of the Woogaroo (now the suburb of Goodna) Lunatic Asylum: "… play commenced at half-past 2 ... One rule provided that the ball should not be handled nor carried." Moreover, the Victorian publication The Footballer reported in 1875 in its section on "Football in Queensland" that the “match was played without handling the ball under any circumstances whatever (Association rules)." This is the earliest known game of 'soccer' played in the Brisbane region (and possibly in Australia).

In 1876, two new Brisbane clubs (Rangers FC and Bonnet Rouge FC) were formed. The Brisbane Courier of 10 May 1876 reported: "At a meeting of the newly-formed football club at Petrie-terrace, held yesterday evening, it was decided to call the club the "Bonnet Rouge Football Club;" the uniform to be a red cap, of any shape whatever. The Rugby Union Football Rules were finally adopted, as it was understood that these had been decided upon by other Brisbane clubs." These three clubs commenced playing according to Rugby Union rules, but modified by local customary rules.

Unfortunately, the Bonnet Rouge and Rangers clubs disappear from the public record after the 1877 season. However, the Excelsior club was formed in 1877 and the Wallaroos in 1880, with both clubs apparently playing according to 'Victorian Rules'.

In 1879 the Brisbane Courier reported that the Brisbane FC had reverted to what had become known as the 'Victorian rules', “in place of the Rugby Union Rules played by the club during the last three seasons”.

The image at right entitled "Soccer Team Brisbane ca 1870" (from the John Oxley Library at the State Library of Queensland), if correctly dated, is more likely a photograph of a Brisbane 'Melbourne Rules' team and possibly the Rangers FC, rather than Brisbane FC, which played in scarlet, as noted above (note also that Melbourne Rules was played with a near-spherical ball at that time). Alternatively, given the number of players in the photograph, it may be an Association Football team from a later date.