Talk:Australian rules football in Queensland

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To Dan, who created this article from info in the article on AFL Queensland: I note you have removed some information regarding some of the reasons why the game fell away in popularity in the late 1800s. I think the information is quite valid and is of interest to readers. I hope you'll consider reinstating it - I will leave it up to you as to what you decide to do, thanks.

If you don't have the information available, the paragraph in question read:

However, a series of events would cause a shift in popularity from the national game to rugby. One significant factor was the 1887 decision of Brisbane Grammar School to play rugby in lieu of Australian rules. Then, in 1890, the powerful touring South Melbourne team secured some big wins over the local boys. To further enhance rugby's relative standing, the Queensland rugby team met with considerable success against New South Wales in the 1890s. The combined effect of these events was that the national game became dormant by the mid-1890s.--GregP 07:23, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

For the moment I have taken this information off as I could not find any specific sources to back it up. If you have some I would be happy to reinclude it, but at the moment it appears nothing more than unpublished speculation.--dan, dan and dan 06:40, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

No problem - most of the information is from the 'Queensland Australian National Football League Official Souvenir Programme of Collingwood v South Melbourne', dated Saturday 27th July 1935. The article in question is headed 'History of the Australian Game'. For your interest, it reads in part 'On 21st June, 1890, South Melbourne paid a visit to Brisbane and played Queensland on Albion Park. The visiting players were so superior that they made the local talent look like novices'. The article continues 'The match developed into a farce. This was keenly felt by many Brisbane players, and proved a set-back to the Australian game in Queensland that has not yet been recovered. When Queensland defeated a New South Wales Rugby Union team shortly afterwards many old Rugbyites receded from the Australian ranks and formed clubs of their own. Victoria made no effort to rectify the blunder, while on the other hand New South Wales fostered the Rugby Union game in Queensland, where recruits were always obtained among immigrants.'

A check of the Brisbane Courier of 1890 confirmed the results of the South Brisbane games (in an era when behinds were recorded but did not count towards the team total):

1. On Saturday 21st June South Melbourne 13-12 defeated Brisbane 2-3 at the Breakfast Creek Sports Ground (now known as Albion Park).

2. On Monday 23rd June South Melbourne 10-17 defeated Ipswich 5-5 at Town Reserve, Ipswich.

3. On Tuesday 24th June South Melbourne 6-17 d Queensland 1-0 at the Breakfast Creek Sports Ground.

The reference to Brisbane Grammar School is from 'Brisbane in the 1890s' by Ronald Lawson, University of Queensland Press, 1973, page 203.

If this info is sufficient for your requirements, I'd be very grateful if you could reinclude the section in question. Thanks.--GregP 13:55, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I will write this up in proper reference format, although it may have to wait until after Boxing Day. ;) --dan, dan and dan 21:52, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] AFL in Cairns

This article focuses primarilly on AFL in Brisbane. I wonder whether perhaps it should be renamed AFL in Brisbane. I'm led to believe that Cairns is an AFL enclave where AFL is more popular than league or union, yet the article doesn't mention this at all. In fact there have been a few first grade AFL games played at Barlow Park in Cairns in the last few years. The article could talk about the history of how that came to be the case and describe the local competition etc. Otherwise I suggest renaming it to AFL in B'bane -- Adz 05:43, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

As someone who lives in FNQ (in Atherton to be precise) I can confirm that AFL is popular in Cairns, but not yet more popular than AFL. Nonetheless, it would be great to get some info on the sport outside on Brisbane on here. Do you have anything that we could use?--dan, dan and dan 06:40, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Not at the moment, but I'm heading up that way for christmas so I'll see if I can dig anything up. -- Adz 06:42, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

Cheers. :-) --dan, dan and dan 06:44, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

To quote from Wikipedia:Citing sources:

Remember though: the most important thing is to enter comprehensive reference information — that is, enough information so that a reader can find the original source with relative ease.

Quoting whole decades (up to forty or so years) worth of newspapers as a source does not fulfil this requirement, thus defeating the whole purpose of referencing. I will remove these references until more specific ones are given.--dan, dan and dan 06:46, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Intro

I've reworded the intro a bit to reflect the fact that the game is a major sport in the southern states but that it has lacked popularity in Queensland. This wasn't clear in the intro and would not have been apparent to anybody who was not from Australia. It may have appeared that AFL in Queensland was a fledgling sprt which has finally begun to gain popularity after many years. I felt it was important to make this clear in the introduction. I'm sure it can be improved even further so feel free to play with it. I've inserted the old version below. -- Adz|talk 08:40, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Australian Rules football is a rapidly growing team and popular spectator sport played in the Australian state of Queensland.

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The sport has a long history in the state but currently its popularity lags behind rugby league. However, it is growing in popularity in South East Queensland, partly due to the success of the Brisbane Lions.

I've rewritten it again in line with the Manual of Style, in particular the ones relating to placing the name of the article in bold, preferably in the first sentence of the par, and not putting links in the name of the article. --The Brain of Morbius 02:47, 26 July 2006 (UTC)