NicCarBel
Club Legend
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- Oct 17, 2024
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- #21
Queensland is where the exercise starts behaving quite differently from NSW and Victoria.
If football had won the code war from the beginning, Queensland would probably be a major football state. In the 1880s Queensland already had competing football codes and dozens of clubs; AFL Queensland's historical work records more than 40 Australian-rules clubs around Queensland by 1884, alongside the emerging rugby and association codes.
And rugby league later gives us extremely strong evidence about which Queensland communities could sustain serious clubs: Brisbane's inner suburbs, Ipswich, Redcliffe, Wynnum, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg.
So I'd build Queensland around several distinct football heartlands, not Brisbane plus a collection of regional franchises.
A football pyramid therefore wouldn't have one club representing those 1.37 million people.
It would have lots.
I think a central Brisbane club almost certainly emerges.
But this is not the current Brisbane City simply transplanted into our universe. The real club's modern lineage and Italian community connections belong to actual Australian soccer history.
Instead I'd envisage an old civic club:
But crucially, not Brisbane's only big club.
This is one of my strongest Queensland calls.
Fortitude Valley/Valleys developed an extraordinary independent sporting identity. The rugby-league club dates from 1909 and became one of the dominant institutions of Brisbane sport; Valleys and Wests were already establishing a major rivalry in the 1910s.
That's excellent evidence that the Valley could sustain a club regardless of which football code won.
I'd therefore have something like:
Valley FC
or possibly
Fortitude Valley FC
founded around the turn of the century.
This could be the classic inner-north working-class Brisbane giant.
And I'd lean toward Valley FC becoming the colloquial name over time.
Toowong is interesting because QRL records show a Toowong football club existing before its 1915 amalgamation with North Brisbane to form Western Suburbs.
In our universe that merger doesn't necessarily happen.
So I prefer:
Potentially another.
The real Wests became strongly associated with Paddington, but again, rather than copying "Western Suburbs", I'd allow the older suburb identities to survive.
That potentially gives us a fantastic old rivalry:
Valley v Paddington
with Toowong another western Brisbane power.
Another very strong geographic candidate.
Northern Suburbs became the famous "Nundah Wonders" in rugby league and made the finals every year from 1934–47.
That tells me Nundah itself is the useful identity.
So rather than generic "North Brisbane FC":
AFL Queensland's historical record specifically identifies the Mayne–Windsor rivalry of the 1920s and 1930s as one of the defining early rivalries of Queensland Australian rules.
That is exactly the sort of lower-level code history we wanted to capture.
So I'd give both places football clubs.
Perhaps neither remains a permanent top-flight giant in 2026, but both are famous old Brisbane institutions.
Think of them as Queensland's equivalent of some of those old London clubs that have spent generations bouncing around divisions.
Very strong candidate.
Coorparoo was established as a major rugby-league identity by 1917, while the suburb subsequently had a strong Australian-rules identity as well. QRL records it among Brisbane's established clubs by the early 1920s.
That's cross-code validation.
So geographic Coorparoo FC almost certainly exists.
Another old Brisbane institution.
QRL's Wests history records Bulimba already being a seasoned club by 1915.
In a football-first universe:
I'd definitely have a major club here.
Real rugby league's Wynnum-Manly has been one of Queensland's enduring major district identities, and it remained among the leading state-level clubs into the modern era.
I'd probably simplify the football identity to:
Potentially one of Brisbane's biggest clubs outside the inner city.
Likely very old.
But I'd also want:
and possibly
rather than treating the entire southern half of Brisbane as one sporting district.
Moreton Bay population: 532,445.
This one should be big.
Rugby league gives overwhelming evidence for Redcliffe's independent sporting identity. In the modern Queensland Cup, Redcliffe became the competition's winningest club, while the Dolphins ultimately became capable of supporting entry into the national NRL.
In our universe:
I'd make Redcliffe one of Queensland's traditional football strongholds.
And Moreton Bay's modern growth only makes it stronger.
I'd therefore have:
and perhaps:
North Lakes is particularly useful as an example of a new football institution.
It doesn't need to have existed in 1900.
Maybe founded 1980s/90s as development moves north, spends decades climbing local divisions and is now knocking around Tier 3.
That's organic.
Growth: 3.5%
Ipswich deserves enormous weight.
It had organised football culture extremely early. AFL Queensland records Ipswich FC playing Brisbane in the nineteenth century and notes the Brisbane–Ipswich–Toowoomba corridor as a major centre of early football activity.
Later rugby league made Ipswich an extraordinary sporting nursery. In the 1930s Ipswich won the Bulimba Cup six times in seven years.
So this is one where population understates historical importance.
I'd make:
Not always successful, but enormous historical weight.
The region should have more than Ipswich FC.
Goodna becomes particularly interesting as Brisbane and Ipswich gradually merge into one urban corridor.
This is another place where we must avoid creating Logan United FC simply because the modern LGA exists.
I'd expect several clubs.
Old independent town, eventually absorbed into the metropolitan corridor.
This is probably the historic major club of Logan.
Potential later civic institution.
The latter could become particularly significant because of migration and working-class football culture.
So by 2026:
I'd probably use Cleveland rather than "Redlands United".
Cleveland is the older geographic centre.
Real Capalaba's football presence gives this credibility too.
So:
Cleveland v Capalaba
becomes the local Redlands rivalry.
Population: 691,230.
And I emphatically wouldn't create Gold Coast United.
Nor would I assume one club represents the Gold Coast.
The Gold Coast is a collection of old settlements whose population exploded.
This is the obvious historic giant.
Southport has extraordinarily strong independent sporting identity. AFL Queensland specifically highlights Southport–Morningside as one of the major rivalries of modern Queensland Australian rules.
Therefore:
Its story might resemble a small-town club that suddenly found itself sitting in the middle of a metropolitan region of nearly 700,000.
Another very strong one.
Burleigh became one of the most successful clubs of the modern Queensland rugby-league structure; QRL had it third for all-time Queensland Cup wins through 2018.
That validates an independent Burleigh sporting identity.
Old southern Gold Coast institution.
Potentially historic rivalry with Tweed Heads across the border.
Likely a younger club than Southport.
Perhaps founded during the inter-war/post-war development of the coastal strip.
Could become wealthy and prominent but lack Southport's historical prestige.
Important hinterland club.
That's precisely the kind of current ethnic-club lineage that doesn't transplant directly.
Croatian migration instead strengthens Southport, Burleigh, Nerang etc.
Again:
No Sunshine Coast FC franchise.
Instead several towns.
Probably the major central club.
This could actually be the historically strongest Sunshine Coast club because Nambour was important before the coastal population boom.
That gives us an excellent historical transition:
Independent and likely reasonably affluent.
This is much richer than "Sunshine Coast United".
Very strong.
AFL Queensland's history identifies Toowoomba as one of the earliest centres of organised football in Queensland; Toowoomba FC was already playing other Queensland clubs in the 1880s.
Rugby league subsequently demonstrates that the region could compete at a high level too — Toowoomba was included in the statewide competition structure alongside Brisbane clubs.
So:
I'd also expect secondary clubs such as:
Newtown FC
Harristown FC
and possibly others identified through the local sporting-history pass.
This should be a significant national club.
But Townsville has enough sporting depth that I'd also expect:
Townsville had organised football-code competition remarkably early: a Townsville Football Association existed by 1886.
That's useful evidence that its sporting culture isn't simply a Cowboys-era creation.
So Townsville City could plausibly have a 100+ year history.
Another substantial northern club.
I'd probably add:
and potentially a northern beaches club later.
Cairns has demonstrated the capacity to sustain state-level football institutions across codes; it was one of the original "country" entries proposed for Queensland's statewide rugby-league competition.
This feels like a strong Tier 2–4 institution historically.
Potentially punches above its population due to regional isolation and identity.
Mackay was likewise part of Queensland's statewide rugby-league structure.
I'd expect several local feeder/rival clubs underneath it rather than another citywide professional franchise.
I'd weight Rocky slightly above what its current population suggests.
It's an old regional centre with enormous sporting identity.
could plausibly survive separately.
And this is another place where rugby league strongly supports the regional catchment: Central Queensland/Rockhampton was part of the statewide structure.
Classic industrial regional club.
Probably mostly Tier 3/4, with several famous Tier 2 spells.
Could potentially have had a particularly strong period during industrial expansion.
Another club I'd rate above generic regional status.
Bundaberg was also considered sufficiently important to be included among the original country sides in Queensland's statewide rugby-league competition.
I'd expect a deep local football ecosystem beneath it.
But don't create "Fraser Coast FC".
Instead:
This produces another excellent old-versus-new story.
AFL Queensland records football activity involving Maryborough as early as the 1880s.
So Maryborough gets substantially more historical weight than its modern population alone warrants.
Hervey Bay then becomes the modern growth club.
By 2026, Hervey Bay might actually be playing above Maryborough — but Maryborough owns most of the trophies from 1890–1970.
That's exactly the texture we want.
Another place whose early sporting history gives it extra weight: Gympie was already involved in Queensland football activity in the nineteenth century.
So this might be a very old club that now plays surprisingly low.
Think:
And Mareeba is one I'd flag for our later targeted football-history pass.
Population alone is going to badly underestimate some north Queensland communities with strong football traditions.
We don't erase their contribution. We redirect it.
Real clubs such as Brisbane Lions/Hollandia, Brisbane City/Azzurri, Olympic, Gold Coast Knights and various Greek, Dutch, Italian and Croatian institutions tell us where football infrastructure, players and supporters actually developed.
But in our alternate timeline, much of that energy enters pre-existing geographic institutions.
So, for example:
Valley
Redcliffe
Ipswich
Southport
Toowoomba
And I'd put Wynnum and Townsville right on the ★★★★★ boundary.
Paddington
Nundah
Coorparoo
Wynnum
Beenleigh
Cleveland
Burleigh
Maroochydore
Townsville City
Cairns City
Rockhampton City
Mayne
Bulimba
South Brisbane
West End
Pine Rivers
Goodna
Woodridge
Logan City
Capalaba
Coolangatta
Surfers Paradise
Nambour
Caloundra
Noosa
Mackay City
Bundaberg City
Maryborough
Mareeba
Brisbane would be a genuinely multi-club city: Brisbane City, Valley, Toowong, Paddington, Nundah, Windsor, Mayne, Coorparoo, Bulimba, Wynnum, South Brisbane etc. There is no Brisbane Roar, because there was never a need to manufacture a single Brisbane identity.
Ipswich–Toowoomba becomes a huge historic football corridor. Both cities had genuine nineteenth-century football activity, so in our universe they could be two of Australia's oldest football strongholds.
The Gold Coast develops organically around Southport, with Burleigh, Coolangatta, Nerang and later Surfers Paradise rather than repeatedly creating and killing Gold Coast franchises.
And regional Queensland is much stronger than in our timeline. Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Maryborough and potentially Mareeba aren't remote places hoping somebody gives them a licence. They sit at the top of enormous regional pyramids and can simply win promotion.
One consequence I particularly like is that Queensland probably wouldn't be historically weaker than Victoria and NSW in this universe to anything like the degree it has been in real Australian soccer. The historical evidence suggests Queensland already had a remarkably extensive football-club culture before rugby/rugby league eventually won the state's code battle. In 1884 there were reportedly more than 40 Australian-rules clubs across Queensland while association football and rugby were competing for their own footholds.
If association football wins that battle instead, all that latent Brisbane + Ipswich + Darling Downs + regional Queensland club culture has 140 years to become soccer culture.
That could plausibly make Queensland the third great powerhouse of Australian football alongside NSW and Victoria, rather than a distant third.
If football had won the code war from the beginning, Queensland would probably be a major football state. In the 1880s Queensland already had competing football codes and dozens of clubs; AFL Queensland's historical work records more than 40 Australian-rules clubs around Queensland by 1884, alongside the emerging rugby and association codes.
And rugby league later gives us extremely strong evidence about which Queensland communities could sustain serious clubs: Brisbane's inner suburbs, Ipswich, Redcliffe, Wynnum, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg.
So I'd build Queensland around several distinct football heartlands, not Brisbane plus a collection of regional franchises.
Queensland — hypothetical football catchment
1. Inner Brisbane
Brisbane LGA's enormous 1,375,301 population is misleading for our purposes. Unlike Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane City Council swallowed most of the metropolitan area.A football pyramid therefore wouldn't have one club representing those 1.37 million people.
It would have lots.
Brisbane City FC
Status: ★★★★★ Australian giant candidateI think a central Brisbane club almost certainly emerges.
But this is not the current Brisbane City simply transplanted into our universe. The real club's modern lineage and Italian community connections belong to actual Australian soccer history.
Instead I'd envisage an old civic club:
One of Australia's traditional major institutions.
But crucially, not Brisbane's only big club.
2. Fortitude Valley
Valley FC
Status: ★★★★★ Major historic clubThis is one of my strongest Queensland calls.
Fortitude Valley/Valleys developed an extraordinary independent sporting identity. The rugby-league club dates from 1909 and became one of the dominant institutions of Brisbane sport; Valleys and Wests were already establishing a major rivalry in the 1910s.
That's excellent evidence that the Valley could sustain a club regardless of which football code won.
I'd therefore have something like:
Valley FC
or possibly
Fortitude Valley FC
founded around the turn of the century.
This could be the classic inner-north working-class Brisbane giant.
And I'd lean toward Valley FC becoming the colloquial name over time.
3. Western Brisbane
Toowong FC
Status: ★★★★½ Major traditional clubToowong is interesting because QRL records show a Toowong football club existing before its 1915 amalgamation with North Brisbane to form Western Suburbs.
In our universe that merger doesn't necessarily happen.
So I prefer:
as an old geographic football institution.
Paddington FC
Status: ★★★★½Potentially another.
The real Wests became strongly associated with Paddington, but again, rather than copying "Western Suburbs", I'd allow the older suburb identities to survive.
That potentially gives us a fantastic old rivalry:
Valley v Paddington
with Toowong another western Brisbane power.
4. Northern Brisbane
This deserves several clubs.Nundah FC
Status: ★★★★½Another very strong geographic candidate.
Northern Suburbs became the famous "Nundah Wonders" in rugby league and made the finals every year from 1934–47.
That tells me Nundah itself is the useful identity.
So rather than generic "North Brisbane FC":
becomes one of Brisbane's traditional clubs.
Windsor FC
Status: ★★★★AFL Queensland's historical record specifically identifies the Mayne–Windsor rivalry of the 1920s and 1930s as one of the defining early rivalries of Queensland Australian rules.
That is exactly the sort of lower-level code history we wanted to capture.
So I'd give both places football clubs.
Windsor FC
andMayne FC
Status: ★★★★ each historically.Perhaps neither remains a permanent top-flight giant in 2026, but both are famous old Brisbane institutions.
Think of them as Queensland's equivalent of some of those old London clubs that have spent generations bouncing around divisions.
5. Eastern Brisbane
Coorparoo FC
Status: ★★★★½Very strong candidate.
Coorparoo was established as a major rugby-league identity by 1917, while the suburb subsequently had a strong Australian-rules identity as well. QRL records it among Brisbane's established clubs by the early 1920s.
That's cross-code validation.
So geographic Coorparoo FC almost certainly exists.
Bulimba FC
Status: ★★★★Another old Brisbane institution.
QRL's Wests history records Bulimba already being a seasoned club by 1915.
In a football-first universe:
6. Wynnum / Manly
Wynnum FC
Status: ★★★★½ / ★★★★★I'd definitely have a major club here.
Real rugby league's Wynnum-Manly has been one of Queensland's enduring major district identities, and it remained among the leading state-level clubs into the modern era.
I'd probably simplify the football identity to:
with Manly forming part of its natural catchment.
Potentially one of Brisbane's biggest clubs outside the inner city.
7. Southern Brisbane
South Brisbane FC
Status: ★★★★½Likely very old.
But I'd also want:
West End FC
Status: ★★★★and possibly
Yeronga FC
Status: ★★★½rather than treating the entire southern half of Brisbane as one sporting district.
8. Redcliffe
Now we leave Brisbane proper.Moreton Bay population: 532,445.
Redcliffe FC
Status: ★★★★★ Australian giant candidateThis one should be big.
Rugby league gives overwhelming evidence for Redcliffe's independent sporting identity. In the modern Queensland Cup, Redcliffe became the competition's winningest club, while the Dolphins ultimately became capable of supporting entry into the national NRL.
In our universe:
Instead Redcliffe FC has probably existed for more than a century and earned whatever position it occupies.
I'd make Redcliffe one of Queensland's traditional football strongholds.
And Moreton Bay's modern growth only makes it stronger.
9. Pine Rivers / northern growth corridor
Moreton Bay is too large for Redcliffe alone.I'd therefore have:
Pine Rivers FC
Status: ★★★★ modern-growth cluband perhaps:
Caboolture FC
Status: ★★★½–★★★★North Lakes FC
Status: ★★★ modern/newer clubNorth Lakes is particularly useful as an example of a new football institution.
It doesn't need to have existed in 1900.
Maybe founded 1980s/90s as development moves north, spends decades climbing local divisions and is now knocking around Tier 3.
That's organic.
10. Ipswich
Population: 268,272Growth: 3.5%
Ipswich FC
Status: ★★★★★ Historic Australian giant candidateIpswich deserves enormous weight.
It had organised football culture extremely early. AFL Queensland records Ipswich FC playing Brisbane in the nineteenth century and notes the Brisbane–Ipswich–Toowoomba corridor as a major centre of early football activity.
Later rugby league made Ipswich an extraordinary sporting nursery. In the 1930s Ipswich won the Bulimba Cup six times in seven years.
So this is one where population understates historical importance.
I'd make:
Potentially Queensland's equivalent of Newcastle.
Not always successful, but enormous historical weight.
Booval FC
Status: ★★★½North Ipswich FC
Status: ★★★½Goodna FC
Status: ★★★★ and growingThe region should have more than Ipswich FC.
Goodna becomes particularly interesting as Brisbane and Ipswich gradually merge into one urban corridor.
11. Logan
Population: 403,515This is another place where we must avoid creating Logan United FC simply because the modern LGA exists.
I'd expect several clubs.
Beenleigh FC
Status: ★★★★½Old independent town, eventually absorbed into the metropolitan corridor.
This is probably the historic major club of Logan.
Logan City FC
Status: ★★★★Potential later civic institution.
Springwood FC
Status: ★★★½–★★★★Woodridge FC
Status: ★★★★The latter could become particularly significant because of migration and working-class football culture.
So by 2026:
That feels much more believable.
12. Redlands
Population: 172,831Cleveland FC
Status: ★★★★I'd probably use Cleveland rather than "Redlands United".
Cleveland is the older geographic centre.
Capalaba FC
Status: ★★★★Real Capalaba's football presence gives this credibility too.
So:
Cleveland v Capalaba
becomes the local Redlands rivalry.
13. Gold Coast
This is where things get very interesting.Population: 691,230.
And I emphatically wouldn't create Gold Coast United.
Nor would I assume one club represents the Gold Coast.
The Gold Coast is a collection of old settlements whose population exploded.
Southport FC
Status: ★★★★★ Major Australian clubThis is the obvious historic giant.
Southport has extraordinarily strong independent sporting identity. AFL Queensland specifically highlights Southport–Morningside as one of the major rivalries of modern Queensland Australian rules.
Therefore:
Founded long before the Gold Coast became a huge city.
Its story might resemble a small-town club that suddenly found itself sitting in the middle of a metropolitan region of nearly 700,000.
Burleigh FC
Status: ★★★★½Another very strong one.
Burleigh became one of the most successful clubs of the modern Queensland rugby-league structure; QRL had it third for all-time Queensland Cup wins through 2018.
That validates an independent Burleigh sporting identity.
Coolangatta FC
Status: ★★★★Old southern Gold Coast institution.
Potentially historic rivalry with Tweed Heads across the border.
Coolangatta v Tweed Heads
could be a fantastic cross-border derby.Surfers Paradise FC
Status: ★★★★Likely a younger club than Southport.
Perhaps founded during the inter-war/post-war development of the coastal strip.
Could become wealthy and prominent but lack Southport's historical prestige.
Nerang FC
Status: ★★★½–★★★★Important hinterland club.
Gold Coast Knights?
No.That's precisely the kind of current ethnic-club lineage that doesn't transplant directly.
Croatian migration instead strengthens Southport, Burleigh, Nerang etc.
14. Sunshine Coast
Population: 381,957, plus Noosa 59,551.Again:
No Sunshine Coast FC franchise.
Instead several towns.
Maroochydore FC
Status: ★★★★½Probably the major central club.
Caloundra FC
Status: ★★★★Nambour FC
Status: ★★★★This could actually be the historically strongest Sunshine Coast club because Nambour was important before the coastal population boom.
That gives us an excellent historical transition:
Noosa FC
Status: ★★★★Independent and likely reasonably affluent.
This is much richer than "Sunshine Coast United".
15. Toowoomba
Population: 186,276Toowoomba FC
Status: ★★★★★ Major historic provincial clubVery strong.
AFL Queensland's history identifies Toowoomba as one of the earliest centres of organised football in Queensland; Toowoomba FC was already playing other Queensland clubs in the 1880s.
Rugby league subsequently demonstrates that the region could compete at a high level too — Toowoomba was included in the statewide competition structure alongside Brisbane clubs.
So:
Maybe not permanently Tier 1, but something like Ipswich–Toowoomba becomes one of Queensland football's classic regional rivalries.
I'd also expect secondary clubs such as:
Newtown FC
Harristown FC
and possibly others identified through the local sporting-history pass.
16. Townsville
Population: 206,260Townsville City
Status: ★★★★½ / ★★★★★This should be a significant national club.
But Townsville has enough sporting depth that I'd also expect:
North Townsville
South Townsville
or suburb-based historical clubs underneath it.Townsville had organised football-code competition remarkably early: a Townsville Football Association existed by 1886.
That's useful evidence that its sporting culture isn't simply a Cowboys-era creation.
So Townsville City could plausibly have a 100+ year history.
17. Cairns
Population: 179,334Cairns City
Status: ★★★★½Another substantial northern club.
I'd probably add:
South Cairns
Status: ★★★½and potentially a northern beaches club later.
Cairns has demonstrated the capacity to sustain state-level football institutions across codes; it was one of the original "country" entries proposed for Queensland's statewide rugby-league competition.
18. Mackay
Population: 129,253Mackay City
Status: ★★★★This feels like a strong Tier 2–4 institution historically.
Potentially punches above its population due to regional isolation and identity.
Mackay was likewise part of Queensland's statewide rugby-league structure.
I'd expect several local feeder/rival clubs underneath it rather than another citywide professional franchise.
19. Rockhampton
Population: 85,794, although its effective regional catchment is larger once Livingstone is considered.Rockhampton City
Status: ★★★★½I'd weight Rocky slightly above what its current population suggests.
It's an old regional centre with enormous sporting identity.
North Rockhampton
Status: ★★★½–★★★★could plausibly survive separately.
And this is another place where rugby league strongly supports the regional catchment: Central Queensland/Rockhampton was part of the statewide structure.
20. Gladstone
Population: 69,046Gladstone FC
Status: ★★★½Classic industrial regional club.
Probably mostly Tier 3/4, with several famous Tier 2 spells.
Could potentially have had a particularly strong period during industrial expansion.
21. Bundaberg
Population: 107,297Bundaberg City
Status: ★★★★Another club I'd rate above generic regional status.
Bundaberg was also considered sufficiently important to be included among the original country sides in Queensland's statewide rugby-league competition.
I'd expect a deep local football ecosystem beneath it.
22. Fraser Coast
Population: 122,924But don't create "Fraser Coast FC".
Instead:
Maryborough FC
Status: ★★★★ Historic clubHervey Bay FC
Status: ★★★½ → ★★★★This produces another excellent old-versus-new story.
AFL Queensland records football activity involving Maryborough as early as the 1880s.
So Maryborough gets substantially more historical weight than its modern population alone warrants.
Hervey Bay then becomes the modern growth club.
By 2026, Hervey Bay might actually be playing above Maryborough — but Maryborough owns most of the trophies from 1890–1970.
That's exactly the texture we want.
23. Gympie
Population: 58,487Gympie FC
Status: ★★★½–★★★★Another place whose early sporting history gives it extra weight: Gympie was already involved in Queensland football activity in the nineteenth century.
So this might be a very old club that now plays surprisingly low.
Think:
Perfect pyramid club.
24. Other regional Queensland clubs
These shouldn't all be national-league regulars, but a century-old pyramid should contain them.| Catchment | Likely club | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Isa | Mount Isa FC | ★★★ |
| Warwick/Southern Downs | Warwick FC | ★★★½ |
| Dalby/Western Downs | Dalby FC | ★★★ |
| Emerald/Central Highlands | Emerald FC | ★★★ |
| Whitsunday | Proserpine FC / Airlie Beach FC | ★★★ |
| Bowen | Bowen FC | ★★★ |
| Innisfail | Innisfail FC | ★★★½ |
| Mareeba | Mareeba FC | ★★★★ |
| Charters Towers | Charters Towers FC | ★★★ |
| Roma | Roma FC | ★★★ |
| Kingaroy | Kingaroy FC | ★★★ |
Population alone is going to badly underestimate some north Queensland communities with strong football traditions.
The ethnic-club question in Queensland
Same principle as Victoria.We don't erase their contribution. We redirect it.
Real clubs such as Brisbane Lions/Hollandia, Brisbane City/Azzurri, Olympic, Gold Coast Knights and various Greek, Dutch, Italian and Croatian institutions tell us where football infrastructure, players and supporters actually developed.
But in our alternate timeline, much of that energy enters pre-existing geographic institutions.
So, for example:
The migration story remains central to Queensland football; it simply doesn't create the same parallel ethnic-club structure.
Preliminary Queensland hierarchy
At this point I'd have:★★★★★ — plausible historic/national giants
Brisbane CityValley
Redcliffe
Ipswich
Southport
Toowoomba
And I'd put Wynnum and Townsville right on the ★★★★★ boundary.
★★★★½ — major traditional clubs
ToowongPaddington
Nundah
Coorparoo
Wynnum
Beenleigh
Cleveland
Burleigh
Maroochydore
Townsville City
Cairns City
Rockhampton City
★★★★ — substantial clubs
WindsorMayne
Bulimba
South Brisbane
West End
Pine Rivers
Goodna
Woodridge
Logan City
Capalaba
Coolangatta
Surfers Paradise
Nambour
Caloundra
Noosa
Mackay City
Bundaberg City
Maryborough
Mareeba
The really interesting Queensland football geography
I think we're beginning to get four distinct historic centres.Brisbane would be a genuinely multi-club city: Brisbane City, Valley, Toowong, Paddington, Nundah, Windsor, Mayne, Coorparoo, Bulimba, Wynnum, South Brisbane etc. There is no Brisbane Roar, because there was never a need to manufacture a single Brisbane identity.
Ipswich–Toowoomba becomes a huge historic football corridor. Both cities had genuine nineteenth-century football activity, so in our universe they could be two of Australia's oldest football strongholds.
The Gold Coast develops organically around Southport, with Burleigh, Coolangatta, Nerang and later Surfers Paradise rather than repeatedly creating and killing Gold Coast franchises.
And regional Queensland is much stronger than in our timeline. Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Maryborough and potentially Mareeba aren't remote places hoping somebody gives them a licence. They sit at the top of enormous regional pyramids and can simply win promotion.
One consequence I particularly like is that Queensland probably wouldn't be historically weaker than Victoria and NSW in this universe to anything like the degree it has been in real Australian soccer. The historical evidence suggests Queensland already had a remarkably extensive football-club culture before rugby/rugby league eventually won the state's code battle. In 1884 there were reportedly more than 40 Australian-rules clubs across Queensland while association football and rugby were competing for their own footholds.
If association football wins that battle instead, all that latent Brisbane + Ipswich + Darling Downs + regional Queensland club culture has 140 years to become soccer culture.
That could plausibly make Queensland the third great powerhouse of Australian football alongside NSW and Victoria, rather than a distant third.
.
