Battlefields: QAFL Grand Final Venues Over the Years

By Greg Parker

In 1904, three teams – Norths, Souths and Wests – were established so that a premiership competition could commence under the governance of the newly-formed Queensland Football League. It had been well over a decade since the Australian game of football had enjoyed any sort of meaningful presence in Brisbane.

120 years ago this week, on 10^th September 1904, the final game of that first QFL season was played. Of course, in later years the state’s premier club competition would take on other names including the QAFL and State League, and operate under several different governing bodies.

By virtue of the small number of teams, a first-past-the-post system was used in 1904. No finals and indeed no Grand Final were played that year. What’s more, each team played just six games for the whole season. Souths’ four-point victory over Norths at the Exhibition Ground in that final game of 1904 left the three teams level on the ladder, each with three wins and three losses. And so with percentages not used at that early stage, Norths, Souths and Wests shared the inaugural QFL premiership.

Every premiership season since, with the exception of 1930 – which we’ll talk about shortly – has concluded with a Grand Final match.

There was no premiership held from 1915 to 1918 owing to World War I, and in 1919 the global influenza epidemic put paid to hopes of a restart that year.

What all this means is that, since the competition began in 1904, there have been 113 Grand Finals played. There have been no draws and so no replays have been needed.

With the Grand Final to be played this year at Brighton Homes Arena at Springfield for the first time, let’s take a look back at the scenes of battle of past Grand Finals over the competition’s long history.

Worth noting is that up to 1930, as was the case in the VFL, the minor premiers held a double-chance by having the right to challenge if beaten before or in the Final. The Final could only be termed the ‘Grand Final’ in retrospect, if the minor premiers were victorious.

The first Grand Final in the competition’s history was played in 1905 at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, even then known as the ‘Gabba’. The ground, which had first hosted cricket in 1896, provided the stage for City in black-and-white vertical stripes to easily account for Valley in dark blue.

In fact, five out of the first six Grand Finals were held at the Gabba. In that pre-World War I era, the Exhibition Ground staged two deciders while smaller venues the Pineapple Ground at Kangaroo Point (Raymond Park), Queen’s Park (Brisbane Botanic Gardens) and Wynnum Sports Ground (Kitchener Park) were used once each.

South Brisbane won three flags in that time with City, Locomotives and Valley each winning two. Wynnum in 1909 won the other.

Perry Park, these days known as a soccer venue, became the long-term home of the League in the 1920s. From the first Grand Final there in 1920 when Wynnum beat Valley by two points, to the last in 1958 when Mayne defeated Kedron by 33, a total of 27 Grand Finals were played at the venue.

The Brisbane team which entered the competition in 1921 included many returned soldiers. The side dominated the first half of the ’20s, winning four of the five Grand Finals from 1922, all played at Perry Park.

After Brisbane’s period of dominance, Windsor and Mayne became the fiercest of rivals. After playing in three consecutive deciders at Perry Park (with Mayne winning two), the two should have played yet another in 1930. However, the late finish to the QANFL season and the start of the Valley Cricket Club’s season rendered Perry Park unavailable. Despite many options being discussed, the League ultimately failed to secure a ground on which the game could be played.

Here’s an excerpt from the QANFL Annual Report for the 1930 season:

In the final Mayne defeated Windsor by 15 points: the scores being Mayne, 10 goals, 5 behinds (65 points); Windsor 7 goals, 8 behinds (50 points).

Windsor being the Minor Premiers, and holding the right to challenge, exercised same against Mayne to a Grand Final but owing to it being impossible to secure a ground on which to stage the match, the League had no other alternative but to cancel the fixture. It was agreed to engrave a suitable record on “The Old Court Whisky Shield.” … The League has since taken the necessary action to see that in future a recurrence of affairs such as these shall not happen.

As a result, Windsor and Mayne are credited with sharing the 1930 flag, although everyone agreed it was a most unsatisfactory end to the season.

In 1931, as in the VFL, the new Page-McIntyre system of finals was introduced. With it, the right of the minor premiers to challenge in the event of not winning the Final was discontinued. The League no doubt lamented the fact that this hadn’t happened a year earlier.

From 1936 Windsor won five consecutive flags – to this day a record – all at Perry Park. For much of this period, Mayne did not compete in the premiership, the club having withdrawn all its teams from the various grades in 1937 in protest at the appointment of umpire H. ‘Sid’ Barnes to its games.

With the advent of World War II, sporting bodies were generally of the view that it was in the country’s best interests to continue playing sport as much as was reasonably possible. And although the premiership continued throughout the war years, Perry Park was needed by the United States Navy for supply depot facilities. And so Victoria Park, situated near the Exhibition showgrounds, staged the Grand Finals from 1942 to ’45.

Mayne won in 1942, Kedron in ’43 and ’44, while Army wartime team Workshops, consisting mostly of Victorians, won in 1945. Workshops’ only defeat for the season was a one-point loss to Windsor after the soldiers had led by 48 points at quarter-time.

The League didn’t reacquire Perry Park until after the Windsor Park No. 1 oval had staged the 1946 and ’47 deciders. Kedron beat Windsor by eight points in 1946. Then at the end of the ’47 decider, the scoreboard had Kedron ahead and apparently premiers before the goal umpires made a fateful correction. Windsor actually won by four points with Kedron kicking 6.24 (60) in the howling wind!

The Windsor team of 1949 to 1951 staked a strong claim as the best-ever QAFL team. Three straight Grand Final victories at Perry Park, with ’49 and ’51 both undefeated seasons at a time when the number of teams in the competition had grown strongly.

Despite terrible weather plaguing the 1950 Interstate Carnival held at the Exhibition Ground, the staging of games at night had proven popular. This sentiment led to the League holding the Grand Finals from 1952 to 1955 under lights at the Exhibition Ground. Mayne won the first of these before Western Districts secured their first two flags in ’53 and ’54. Wilston-Grange completed a rags-to-riches story, coming from wooden-spooners in 1954 to take their first premiership in ’55 with a 28-point victory over Kedron.

Sandgate won its first two flags with close-fought wins over Windsor in 1956 and Coorparoo in ’57, both at Perry Park.

In 1959, the Grand Final returned to the Gabba for the first time since 1910. That year Kedron prevailed over Wilston-Grange by four points in arguably the most controversial finish to a decider that the game in Brisbane has seen.

All the Grand Finals of the 1960s were played at the Gabba. It was an era dominated by two teams, Mayne and Coorparoo, who established another of the code’s great rivalries. Morningside also popped up to take their first flag.

After the 1971 Grand Final in which Sandgate defeated Kedron by 27 points, the Gabba was reconfigured to include a greyhound track and the League was forced to look elsewhere.

Western Districts’ home ground at Chelmer played host to the 1972 Grand Final. The game saw Wilston-Grange win their third flag with an 84-point win over Sandgate, the biggest margin in a decider to that point.

Mayne secured long-term tenure over the Windsor Park No. 2 ground in the early 1970s and immediately made significant improvements to the venue. From 1973 to 1988, eleven Grand Finals were played at the ground which became known as ‘Keith Beavis Oval’ in honour of Mayne’s club President of the 1960s. One last decider was played there in 1997 before the club regrettably was forced to move.

In 1975 and ’76, Windsor-Zillmere won its first two flags as a merged entity at the ground, adding one more there in 1988. In all Southport won four deciders there (including three in its first five seasons in the QAFL), Mayne two, Coorparoo two and Sandgate one.

Southport and Morningside dominated a run of eight Grand Finals at the Gabba from 1989 to 1996, winning three flags each. North Brisbane (a merger of Sandgate and Windsor-Zillmere) and West Brisbane (a merger of Sherwood and Western Districts) won one each. It was a difficult time for the code as the arrival of the Brisbane Bears took a lot of the attention and sponsorship money away from the local premiership.

During this period the redevelopment of the Gabba commenced. The greyhound track was removed in 1993 and the playing field was made bigger and more suitable for football. During the greyhound track days, the ground was small and quite pear-shaped. The redevelopment work continued until 2005 by which time the seating capacity of the ground had increased considerably.

In 1998, Giffin Park hosted the first of seven consecutive Grand Finals. Southport won its fourth straight flag in 2000 before falling twelve points short of the Brisbane Lions in 2001, ensuring Windsor’s record of five-in-a-row remained intact. Mt Gravatt won its first flag at the top level in 2002 before Morningside won back-to-back titles.

The League took the 2005 Grand Final back to the Gabba to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the first Grand Final at the ground. A special Football Record was printed to commemorate the occasion. Southport celebrated by beating their bitter rivals Morningside by 61 points.

Carrara Stadium then hosted three in a row, with Southport victorious in 2006 and ’08, and Mt Gravatt claiming their second title in 2007. Two years back at Giffin Park saw Morningside win in 2009 and ’10.

2011 was the first year of the now-defunct NEAFL and the QAFL competition became known as the ‘NEAFL Northern Conference’. It was the third year of the NT Thunder competing in the premiership, and they made it a year to remember with a thumping 98-point win over Morningside in the Grand Final at Ern & Alma Dowling Sports Ground at Victoria Point, the only decider at that venue to date. The margin also remains the biggest in a Grand Final to date.

Leyshon Park at Yeronga hosted the next five Grand Finals with the Brisbane Lions winning in 2012 and ’13 before Morningside were victorious in 2014. Labrador won their first premiership in the top flight in 2015 before going back-to-back a year later.

Over the next five seasons, Fankhauser Reserve hosted two deciders, Leyshon Park two and Carrara one. In that period, Palm Beach Currumbin (2017 and ’18), Surfers Paradise (2019) and Broadbeach (2021) all won their first flags in the top-flight competition while Morningside claimed their tenth title in 2020.

Aspley have won the last two Grand Finals, both at Giffin Park, to claim their first flags at QAFL level. It should be remembered the Hornets had already won a NEAFL title in 2014.

For the record, the grounds with the most Grand Finals to date are the Gabba (32), Perry Park (27), Keith Beavis Oval (12), Giffin Park (11), the Exhibition Ground (7) and Leyshon Park (7).

As Springfield takes centre stage in 2024, let’s hope for another memorable Grand Final to continue a wonderful tradition which has given us so much over 120 years.

Grand Final Results and Venues