page_title: History of soccer in Brisbane, Queensland
section_title: First football clubs
hierarchical_section_title: History of soccer in Brisbane, Queensland / Mid-1800s: First football games in Brisbane / First football clubs
caption_attribution_description: English: Brisbane F.C. (Queensland, Australia) squad. The team switched from rugby union to Australian rules that year.
context_page_description: The earliest known records of regular association football games in Brisbane date from the early 1880s, when a group comprising mostly Scottish immigrants commenced playing at Queen's Park, adjacent to Alice and Edward Streets in the city and vacant land in Melbourne Street South Brisbane, between Grey and Stanley Streets. This group of players subsequently formed the Anglo-Queensland Football Association in early 1884, and commenced playing fixtures at the sports field behind the Pineapple Hotel, in Main Street Kangaroo Point, and at Queen's Park, in June 1884.
  After a promising start, the game in Brisbane then developed erratically, hampered by the overwhelming popularity of the Rugby football codes: initially Rugby Union, which had commenced in Brisbane several years earlier, then rugby league from the 1920s onwards. The game also suffered from ongoing periodic disunity, caused initially by disaffected clubs from nearby Ipswich and later by disagreements over funding of the game and payments to players. In contrast with this the game boomed in Ipswich, with clubs from that city dominating Brisbane and combined Brisbane-Ipswich competitions until around 1960.
context_section_description: Organised games of football were being played in Brisbane by the mid-1860s, as reported by the Brisbane Courier in 1866: "ON the football ground, on Saturday afternoon, there was no match; but two sides were chosen, and a very lively game was played ... Five goals were kicked ... The football season will end in a few weeks and the committee of the club contemplate getting up some athletic sports as an appropriate finale." However, it is most likely that this report referred to the Brisbane Football Club (formed in 1866) and that they were playing in accordance with the Melbourne rules (codified in 1859, now known as Australian rules football). The 'football ground' referred to here is most likely the area then known as 'Queen's Park' (now part of the City Botanic Gardens) or possibly the sports field located in the area then known as 'Green Hills' (then located beside Countess Street Petrie Terrace opposite the Victoria Barracks - now occupied by the Northern Busway), where cricket matches were also played since at least the early 1860s.
  The first known reference to a soccer club in Brisbane was the Petrie Terrace Football Club formed in 1876, whose players initially elected to adopt the "London Association rules" (codified in 1863 - now The Football Association's 'Laws of the Game') "until better ones could be framed ...". However, it appears that the club subsequently adopted the recently codified rugby union rules (1871), as just a week later it was reported that "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 rules were finally adopted, as it was understood that these had been decided upon by other Brisbane clubs."
  As well as the Brisbane Football Club, the only other known Brisbane club at the time was the Rangers Football Club (formed in 1876), both of which were now playing according to both the Melbourne rules and the rugby union rules.
caption: Brisbane Football Club ca 1879 (playing Melbourne rules and rugby rules)
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