Australian rules football in Queensland

Australian rules football in Queensland
Australian football at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast 2011
Governing body	AFL Queensland
Representative team	Queensland
First played	Brisbane 9 June 1866; 158 years ago (9 June 1866)
Registered players	51,941 (adult) 30,563 (child)[1]
Clubs	130 (10 competitions)
Club competitions
List Queensland Australian Football League AFLQ State Association AFL Cairns AFL Capricornia AFL Darling Downs AFL Mackay AFL Mount Isa AFL Townsville AFL Wide Bay
Audience records
Single match	37,473 (2019). AFL Second Qualifying Final Brisbane Lions vs Richmond (Gabba, Brisbane)[2]

In Queensland, Australian rules football (known mainly as "AFL") dates back to the colonial era in 1866, with organised competitions being continuous since the 1900s. Today, it is most popular in South East Queensland and the Cairns Region. There are 11 regional club competitions, the highest profile of which are the semi-professional Queensland Australian Football League and AFL Cairns. It is governed by AFL Queensland. According to Ausplay there are 51,941 adult players with a per capita rate of 1.2%, just under half of which are female, and 30,563 children.^[1] It is the seventh most participated team sport and fourth code of football after soccer, touch and rugby league.^[1]

Commencing in the capital of Brisbane, it was the colony's first official football code and the third in Australian to take it up. For two decades it remained the premier code, however a strong desire for representative success against New South Wales saw its rapid demise as Queenslanders switched to British football variants, particularly rugby. Existing in the shadow of three other football codes, and east of the cultural divide now described as the Barassi Line, it re-emerged mainly through its postwar re-appearance in schools and interstate migration. In 1986 the first new license for the national (AFL) competition was awarded to Brisbane, which became the first privately owned club. However the Gold Coast based Brisbane Bears' identity crisis, poor management and lack of success, compounded by the popularity of rugby league's Broncos, were major setbacks to the code. After the club in 1993 relocated to the Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba) and adopted a traditional member-based structure, membership, average attendances and television ratings tripled.^[3][4][5] The success that followed its merger with a Victorian club and entry into the national women's competition (AFLW) helped the code's participation to surge across the state in the early 21st century.

The state team, known as the "Maroons" debuted in 1884 against New South Wales and has been competitive against that state and the Australian Capital Territory however played their last senior match in 1988. The side's poor record contributed to the popularity of representative football in other codes, particularly the Queensland Reds (union) and later the Queensland Maroons (league). Despite its historical record, the team won Section B national titles in 1974 and 1979. Zane Taylor holds the record for the number of representative caps for Queensland. The underage team has been more successful with 4 Division 2 titles at the National Championships, the most recent in 2015.

Queensland has two fully professional teams competing in the AFL and AFLW: the Brisbane Lions (1996) and Gold Coast Suns (2009). These two teams compete against each other in the QClash. The Gold Coast hosted the inaugural AFLW Grand Final in 2017. Brisbane hosted the 2020 AFL Grand Final, making it the second state in history to hold an AFL Grand Final. AFL Premiership matches are now regularly played in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns. The AFL began matches in Townsville along with AFLW matches in Moreton Bay, Mackay in the 2010s and the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich in the 2020s. Combined average AFL club membership, television audience and attendance, while growing, is the smallest of any state.^[6]

More than 150 born and raised players have participated at AFL/AFLW level since Erwin Dornau's debut in 1948. Jason Dunstall, the first inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and granted Legend status, has the most goals, his tally of 1254 is the third highest in league history. Dayne Zorko has the most games. Ally Anderson won the competition best and fairest also has the most games while Katie Brennan has the most goals.