Brisbane Rugby League (Barry Cup) 1914 season
League table
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valleys | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 134 | 44 | 90 | 15 |
| South Brisbane | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 101 | 80 | 21 | 12 |
| Toowong | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 118 | 80 | 38 | 12 |
| West End | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 91 | 92 | -1 | 11 |
| Wynnum | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 70 | 115 | -45 | 8 |
| North Brisbane | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 35 | 138 | -103 | 2 |
Rounds
Finals
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-final | 12 September 1914 | Valleys vs Toowong | Details |
| Semi-final | 12 September 1914 | West End vs South Brisbane | Details |
| Final | 19 September 1914 | Valleys vs West End | Details |
Endings and beginnings
Just before the 1914 season commenced, league officials and club delegates convened at Café Majestic in the City to establish the coming season. One of the items on the agenda was “electorate football”, essentially a proposal to formally align club catchment areas with state electoral districts.
The proposal was not revolutionary – the founding four were at least loosely aligned with electoral districts (Fortitude Valley, South Brisbane, Brisbane North and Toombul), while many of the clubs who came and went also were (Kurilpa, Woolloongabba in 1912, Toowong, Wynnum and Bulimba).
While the item was eventually passed after much argument, it didn’t quite establish ‘electorate football’. Ironically, the attempt to formalise it seems to have led to its demise, though World War I had quite a bit to do with it as well.
The ‘electorate’ teams of Fortitude Valley, Toowong and Wynnum were clear enough. ‘North Brisbane’ seems to refer to the electorate of Paddington which had absorbed much of Brisbane North in a previous redistribution.
South Brisbane was – and still is – an electorate, but it included – and still includes – West End. It seems the meeting formalised West End, the defending premiers, as a carve-out, including part of South Brisbane, the parts of Woolloongabba which had been absorbed into South Brisbane through electoral redistribution, and whatever was left of Kurilpa. It was not to last long.
Paddington (aka North Brisbane) would merge with Toowong to form Wests in 1915. Foundation South Brisbane finished at the end of the season and were partly absorbed into West End. Woolloongabba came back outside the proposed district framework in 1915 and absorbed the other part of South Brisbane, before eventually becoming Coorparoo/Easts.
Valleys re-emerged from its year riding the rails sans its Toombul half. It’s not clear where the essence of Toombul resided at this point, though it seems what was left eventually became a small part of Grammars/Norths.
That meeting at the Majestic in early 1914 did lay the ground work for the BRL that emerged in the early 1920s, though none present could possibly have imagined how it would play out.
Wynnum (version 1) showed some promise in their first, brief incarnation, while Toowong, featuring former Toombul forward Charlie Holzberger and point-scoring whiz Dobbin Hickey, formerly of Natives, played well and hit the top of the table around mid-season.
But Valleys, with experienced forwards McComb and Mackay and emerging stars Fredericks and Woods, were too strong. It was the beginning of Valleys establishing themselves as the force in Brisbane rugby league.
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