Queensland Australian Football League

Queensland Australian
Football League

Current season, competition or edition: 2024 QAFL season
Formerly	List Queensland Football League (QFL) (1903–27) Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL) (1927–64) Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) (1964–96; 2009–) Queensland State Football League (QSFL) (1997–99) AFL Queensland State League (AFLQSL) (2000–08)
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1903; 121 years ago (1903) in Brisbane, Queensland
First season	1904
No. of teams	12
Region	Queensland
Confederation	AFL Queensland
Most recent champion(s)	Morningside (2024)
Most titles	Mayne (15)
TV partner(s)	YouTube
Level on pyramid	2
Related competitions	Queensland Football Association
Official website	aflq.com.au

The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL /ˈkwɒfəl/ KWOF-əl or "Q-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland.

Founded in 1903 it was previously known as the Queensland Football League (QFL), Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL), Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) and AFL Queensland State League (AFLQSL), the QAFL is the premier semi-professional competition in Queensland.

Since its inception, more than fifty teams have played in the premiership competition. The premier division currently features 12 teams from as far north from Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, throughout the Brisbane Metropolitan Area and as far south as Palm Beach on the Gold Coast near the New South Wales border. The league is headquartered in Brisbane. However teams from the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast have dominated the competition since 2015.

Prior to formation of the QFL, a precursor existed in the form of the Queensland Football Association (QFA) between 1880 and 1890. However poor alignment with the Victorian Football Association, a failure to secure intercolonial tests and its failure to rein in the popularity of rugby saw its ultimate demise. Following a decade long hiatus in the sport, Australian rules saw renewed interest during the Federation of Australia and fans in Queensland at the turn of the century regrouped floating the idea of a new competition that would endure in the state.

The Queensland Football League (QFL) was formed in July 1903 at a meeting with 50 present at the South Brisbane Cycling Club and a total of 150 signed on as members.^[1] Unlike the previous league which affiliated with the VFA, this new body decided to affiliate with the Victorian Football League.^[2] Practice matches were held in August that year in the Botanical Gardens and attracted large crowds and interest.^[3] The first premiership was held in 1904 with most games being played at Queen's Park, a sporting facility within the grounds of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.

From 1905 to 1914 games were regularly played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground. Clubs included Brisbanes, Locomotives, Ipswich, Citys, Valleys, South Brisbane, North Brisbane, West Brisbane and Wynnum.

Between 1915 and 1919 the competition went into recess owing to World War I.

In 1926 Melbourne brewery Old Court Whisky donated the trophy to the competition. The first winner was Brisbane.^[4]

In August 1927 at a meeting of the Australian National Football Council it was decided that each of the state leagues were to include the words 'Australian National' in their names. Accordingly, the QFL was renamed the Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL) and football continued a steady growth in Brisbane.

Yeronga and Taringa fielded senior sides in the league for the first time in 1931, both having an immediate impact^[5] and finishing runner up in the years to follow.

In 1964 the QANFL dropped the 'National' reference to their name and became the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL), a limited liability company.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the QAFL saw a boom in popularity, boosted by televised matches it saw crowds of 500 to several thousand attending blockbuster matches, modest in comparison to attendances drawn in traditional football states but significant nonetheless.^[6] The QAFL and the Gold Coast league both competed directly with the VFL for local marketshare in 1982.^[7]

With its popularity increasing, the QAFL began to seek a VFL licence. In 1985 the QAFL had decided that pushing for a Melbourne-based club to relocate to Brisbane. However, after several failed attempts to relocate Melbourne clubs including Fitzroy and Richmond, it soon became evident that the VFL's preference was a new licence.

In 1986 the QAFL formed a consortium with Paul Cronin for a new VFL licence and the consortium won its bid for a new Brisbane based club. However the QAFL fell out with the Christopher Skase backed Brisbane Bears when the decision was made to base the new club at Carrara on the Gold Coast instead of the QAFL's preferred venue, the Brisbane Cricket Ground. The decision would begin a bitter and long protracted battle between the QAFL and the Bears^[8] which was not resolved until 1991.

The admission of the Brisbane Bears and to have the club based on the Gold Coast had a huge impact on the QAFL's crowds, with attendances falling from an average of 500 to just 50.^[9] Combined with the Bears poor on field and off field performances, the QAFL was severely weakened over the following years resulting in its voluntary liquidation in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000 the QSFL was replaced by a new organisation, AFL Queensland (AFLQ). The new premiership competition was called the AFLQ State League.

In November 2010 the AFL Queensland's Premier Division merged with AFL Canberra to form the North East Australian Football League, featuring all of its previous teams as well as the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions reserve teams in the Northern Conference of the league.^[10]

As a result, the QAFL was disbanded in favour of localised competitions throughout Queensland. The structural changes to the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) competition at the end of the 2013 season resulted in several clubs being relegated from the NEAFL, giving rise to a rebirth of the QAFL. As of 2014, there are 10 clubs who compete in the QAFL, most of which are based in South-East Queensland. After spending the 2021 season in the VFL, Aspley rejoined the QAFL in time for the 2022 season.

• 1904–1912:
  Queen's Park
• 1905–1914:
  Brisbane Cricket Ground, Exhibition Ground
• 1920–1959:
  Perry Park, Exhibition Ground
• 1959–1971:
  Brisbane Cricket Ground
• 1972–1989:
  Windsor Park

• Exhibition Ground was used for some games including the 1950 interstate carnival

Aspley	Coorparoo	Broadbeach	Labrador	Maroochydore
Morningside	Mount Gravatt	Noosa	P. B. Currumbin
Red.-Vic. Point	Sherwood Districts	Surfers Paradise	Wilston Grange

The Queensland Australian Football League operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.

15km
10miles

Noosa Tigers

Maroochydore

  

Locations of the teams on the Sunshine Coast, North of Brisbane

Aspley

Morningside

Mount Gravatt

Redland-Victoria Point

Sherwood Districts

Wilston Grange

Coorparoo

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Location of participating clubs across Brisbane (Sunshine Coast teams not shown)

Broadbeach

Labrador

Palm Beach Currumbin

Surfers Paradise

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Location of participating clubs on the Gold Coast, South of Brisbane

Football Club Name	Colours	Nickname	Home venue	Est.	First season	Premierships
						Total	Recent
Aspley		Hornets	Graham Road Oval, Carseldine	1964	2022	2	2023
Broadbeach		Cats	Subaru Oval, Mermaid Waters	1971	1997	1	2021
Coorparoo		Kings, Roos	Giffin Park, Coorparoo	1996	2025	-	-
Labrador		Tigers	Cooke-Murphy Oval, Labrador	1964	1997	0	−
Maroochydore		Roos	Neil Upton Oval, Maroochydore	1970	2020	0	−
Morningside		Panthers	Jack Esplen Oval, Hawthorne	1947	1947	10	2020
Mount Gravatt		Vultures	Southside Toyota Oval, Mt Gravatt	1964	1994	2	2007
Noosa		Tigers	Noosa Oval, Noosaville	1970	2021	0	−
Palm Beach Currumbin		Lions	Salk Oval, Palm Beach	1961	1997	2	2018
Redland-Victoria Point		Sharks	Totally Workwear Park, Southport	2020	2021	0	−
Sherwood Districts		Magpies	Powenyenna Oval, Chelmer	1991	1991	1	1996
Surfers Paradise		Demons	Sir Bruce Small Park, Benowa	1962	2014	1	2019
Wilston Grange		Gorillas	Hickey Park, Stafford	1945	1950	3	1972

• Sherwood Districts formerly known as West Brisbane and later Western Districts

Colours	Football Club	Nickname(s)	Location(s)	Home Ground(s)	Founded	Status
	Ascot	No Nickname	Brisbane			Defunct
	Brisbane (R)	Lions	Brisbane	Brisbane Cricket Ground	1996	VFL
	Brisbane *	No Nickname	Brisbane	Brisbane Cricket Ground		Defunct
	Brisbane *	No Nickname	Brisbane	Brisbane Cricket Ground		Defunct
	Caloundra	Panthers	Sunshine Coast	North Street Ground	1973	QFA
	City	No Nickname	Brisbane	Brisbane Cricket Ground		Defunct
	Coorparoo (1935-1995)	Roos	Brisbane		1935	QFA*
	Gold Coast (R)	Suns	Gold Coast	Carrara Stadium	2009	VFL
	Ipswich		Ipswich	North Ipswich Reserve	1870	Defunct
	Kedron	Redlegs	Brisbane	Kedron Oval	1937	QFA
	Locomotives	No Nickname	Brisbane		1907	Defunct
	Mayne	Tigers	Brisbane		1924	QFA
	Norths	No Nickname	Brisbane			Defunct
	North Brisbane *	Eagles	Brisbane	O'Callaghan Park		Defunct
	Northern Territory	Thunder	Alice Springs, Darwin	Traeger Park, Marrara Oval	2008	Defunct
	Redland	Sharks	Redland		1966	Defunct *
	Sandgate	Hawks	Brisbane	Sandgate Oval		QFA
	Sherwood *	Magpies	Brisbane			Active *
	Southport	Sharks	Gold Coast	Fankhauser Reserve	1961	VFL
	Souths	No Nickname	Brisbane			Defunct
	South Brisbane *	Devils	Brisbane			Defunct *
	Uni. of Queensland	Students	Brisbane		1956	QFA
	Valley	Valleys	Brisbane			Defunct
	Windsor-Zillmere *	Eagles	Brisbane	O'Callaghan Park	1962	QFA
	Western Districts *	Bulldogs	Brisbane		1991	Defunct *
	Workshops	No Nickname	Brisbane			Defunct
	Yeronga *	No Nickname	Brisbane		1928	Defunct *
	Yeronga South Brisbane *	Devils	Brisbane			QFA
	Zillmere *	Eagles	Brisbane	O'Callaghan Park	1923	QFA

• Brisbane (1920–1929)
• Coorparoo set to return to the Queensland Australian Football League in 2025.
• (R) = Reserves for AFL Seniors
• Redland merged with Victoria Point to form Redland-Victoria Point
• South Brisbane merged with Yeronga to form Yeronga South Brisbane
• Western Districts was originally Taringa, and then from a merger with Sherwood was then named West Brisbane, then Western Districts
• Zillmere renamed Windsor-Zillmere from merger with Windsor and then renamed North Brisbane through merger with Sandgate and then renamed Zillmere after demerger with Sandgate

The complete list of premiers teams is detailed below:^[11][12] In 2010, the QAFL competition was disbanded and its teams became part of the NEAFL Northern conference.
In 2014, the QAFL competition resumed with several former clubs of the NEAFL being relegated to the competition along with several newly promoted teams.

The complete list of premiers teams in all grades is detailed below.

• S = Seniors
• R = Reserves
• C = Colts

(R) = Reserves team for AFL Seniors team

Premiership tallies for the top Queensland football division:^[17]

• Team names in bold currently play in the QAFL.

Notes

• Australian Rules football in Queensland
• AFL Queensland

• AFL Queensland State website
• Official Facebook
• "Full Points Footy QAFL/AFL Queensland Summary Chart". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008.
• QAFF – Queensland footy history group
• Footynews Unofficial QAFL news and results