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Brisbane Broncos

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Brisbane Broncos
File:Brisbane 2000.jpg
Club information
Full nameBrisbane Broncos
Rugby League
Football Club Limited
Nickname(s)Broncos
Founded1988
Current details
Ground(s)
CEOBruno Cullen
CoachWayne Bennett
CompetitionNational Rugby League
2006National Rugby League, 1st

The Brisbane Broncos are a professional rugby league football team based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Broncos play in the Australian first-grade competition, National Rugby League and are the most successful club in the history of the game, having won six premierships in the nineteen seasons they have competed in.

The club was founded in 1988 and, together with the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants, was one of the first clubs from the state of Queensland to participate in the New South Wales Rugby League competition. The Broncos played a significant role in the following Super League War before continuing to compete successfully in the National Rugby League competition today.

The Broncos are the only publicly listed sporting club on the Australian Stock Exchange, trading as Brisbane Broncos Limited (ASX: BBL). The parent of the Brisbane Broncos is Nationwide News Pty Ltd which, as of 27 February 2007, owns 68.83% of Broncos shares.[1]

History

Broncos History

Main article: Brisbane Broncos History

Queensland’s success in the 1980s State of Origin in addition to the inclusion of a Brisbane team in the mid-week competition convinced the New South Wales Rugby League to invite a Queensland-based team into the competition.[2] After tough competition between the various syndicates for the Brisbane license, the Queensland Rugby League chose the bid that belonged to former Brisbane Rugby League players, Barry Maranta and Paul "Porky" Morgan.[2]

The Broncos secured the services of Wayne Bennett, who remains the clubs coach 20 years later.[2]The Broncos made their first grade debut in 1988 against reigning NSWRL premiers Manly-Warringah, defeating them 44-10. Although they made a promising start to their maiden season, they failed to make the finals. Despite missing out again in 1989, they won the Panasonic Cup, the midweek knockout competition. They first tasted premiership success in 1992, and again in 1993, both times against the St. George Dragons.

In 1995, the Super League War broke out. The Brisbane Broncos were one of the first clubs to sign with the new league and all players followed suit. This was perceived by many as an orchestration by the club as the result of the Broncos CEO John Ribot moving to take over the running of the Super League.[2][3] However they won the inaugural and only Super League premiership in 1997, before winning the first National Rugby League trophy in 1998. 1999 was a disappointing year for the club, with a terrible start to the season meaning that they were never premiership contenders. Club legend Allan Langer retired mid-season but the club made a turnaround mid-season winning 11 consecutive games in a row to qualify for the finals in eighth position but were easily disposed of 42-20 by the Cronulla Sharks in week one of the finals series.

The Broncos' fifth premiership came in 2000, when the club defeated the Sydney Roosters in the last day-time NRL Grand Final, and it also saw the retirement of Kevin Walters and stalwart Michael Hancock.

2002 saw the return of Allan Langer for a one year stint, before retiring for the final time. It was also the beginning of Brisbane's recurring "post origin slump", which haunted the club for the next five years. This is perhaps due to the many players who represent the Queensland Maroons in the State of Origin series which with the extra workload may cause a loss of form. The Brisbane Broncos averages about 7 players out for every Origin game which impacts on their form.[4] This "post origin slump" is seen in 2003, when the Broncos, coming first on the ladder after 17 rounds, go onto lose 10 of their last 11 games to just make the finals. The 2004 and 2005 seasons faired better, ending up 3rd on the ladder but losing games at the wrong end of the season saw the Broncos bow out of the premierships.

But in 2006, the Broncos' luck changed. After strong performance through most of the season they again entered the post-Origin slump, losing 5 games straight. However the Broncos appeared to turn things around and entered the finals, winning 6 of their last 7 games including the grand final against The Melbourne Storm and to win 15-8 to keep their perfect record in Grand Finals intact. Their premiership defence is not going well, losing four of their first six matches.

History By Season

P=Premiers, R=Runner-Ups, M=Minor Premierships, F=Finals Appearance, W=Wooden Spoons
(Brackets Represent Finals Games)
Competition
Playing In		 Games
Played		 Games
Won		 Games
Drawn		 Games
Lost		 Ladder
Position		 P R M F W Coach
of Team		 Captain
of Team		 Main Article
1988 NSWRL Season 22 14 0 8 7 / 16 Wayne Bennett Wally Lewis Brisbane Broncos 1988
1989 NSWRL Season 22 (1) 14 (0) 0 (0) 8 (1) 5 / 16 Brisbane Broncos 1989
1990 NSWRL Season 22 (3) 16 (1) 1 (0) 5 (2) 2 / 16 X Gene Miles Brisbane Broncos 1990
1991 NSWRL Season 22 13 0 9 7 / 16 Brisbane Broncos 1991
1992 NSWRL Season 22 (2) 18 (4) 0 (0) 4 (0) 1 / 16 X X X Allan Langer Brisbane Broncos 1992
1993 NSWRL Season 22 (4) 16 (4) 0 (0) 6 (0) 5 / 16 X X Brisbane Broncos 1993
1994 NSWRL Season 22 (2) 13 (1) 1 (0) 8 (1) 5 / 16 X Brisbane Broncos 1994
1995 ARL Season 22 (2) 17 (0) 0 (0) 5 (2) 3 / 20 X Brisbane Broncos 1995
1996 ARL Season 21 (2) 17 (0) 0 (0) 4 (2) 2 / 20 X Brisbane Broncos 1996
1997 SL Season 18 (2) 14 (2) 1 (0) 3 (0) 1 / 10 X X X Brisbane Broncos 1997
1998 NRL Season 24 (4) 18 (3) 1 (0) 5 (1) 1 / 20 X X X Brisbane Broncos 1998
1999 NRL Season 24 (1) 13 (0) 2 (0) 9 (1) 8 / 17 X Brisbane Broncos 1999
Kevin Walters
2000 NRL Season 26 (3) 18 (3) 2 (0) 6 (0) 1 / 14 X X X Brisbane Broncos 2000
2001 NRL Season 26 (3) 14 (1) 1 (0) 11 (2) 5 / 14 X Gorden Tallis Brisbane Broncos 2001
2002 NRL Season 24 (2) 16 (1) 1 (0) 7 (1) 3 / 15 X Brisbane Broncos 2002
2003 NRL Season 24 (1) 12 (0) 0 (0) 12 (1) 8 / 15 X Brisbane Broncos 2003
2004 NRL Season 24 (2) 16 (0) 1 (0) 7 (2) 3 / 15 X Brisbane Broncos 2004
2005 NRL Season 24 (2) 15 (0) 0 (0) 9 (2) 3 / 15 X Darren Lockyer Brisbane Broncos 2005
2006 NRL Season 24 (4) 14 (3) 0 (0) 10 (1) 3 / 15 X X Brisbane Broncos 2006
2007 NRL Season 6 2 0 4 12* / 16 Brisbane Broncos 2007

Crest

File:Brisbane 1988.jpg
The original Broncos logo (1988-1999).

Initially, the logo for the Brisbane team was to be a kangaroo, as it, along with a stylised Q, had featured as the logo for the Queensland Rugby League for many years. However, as the Australian test rugby league team was also called the Kangaroos, this was deemed inappropriate. The Cooktown Orchid, long used by Brisbane sides in the Bulimba Cup was also ruled out, as were other Australian animals like brumby, possum, galah and kookaburra (after Brisbane's Kookaburra Queen paddleships).[5] Wanting to continue the alliterary trend started by the Brisbane Bullets and Brisbane Bears, the club's directors eventually went with the nickname Broncos.[2]

The original club logo, featured left, was adopted in 1988 and used until 1999. In 2000, the club adopted the current logo which coincided with the club's fifth premiership, and is still being used today.

Colours

Traditionally the colours of the Brisbane Broncos are maroon, white and gold, which have long been linked to the history of rugby league in Queensland. Initially the founders of the Brisbane Broncos favoured blue and gold - the official colours of Brisbane. However, Sydney advertiser John Singleton advised the board that "Queenslanders had been booing players wearing blue for more than three-quarters of a century".[5] As a result, maroon and white, the traditional colours of Brisbane Bulimba Cup sides, were, along with gold (symbolising the Queensland sunshine,[5] adopted as the Broncos colours. In 2001 blue was added to the jersey as a minor colour to show the aforementioned historical link with the colours of Brisbane. The blue was dropped in 2006 in favour of a mainly maroon jersey with gold trim. Traditionally, maroon has been the dominant colour of the jersey, although in 1997-98 the jersey was predominantly white.

File:Brisbane colours.png

The 1995 Sevens tournament saw the introduction of a new set of Broncos colours - mauve, aqua and white. Then Marketing Manager Shane Edwards stated that it "will become our [Broncos] Sevens strip ... but we will never change the Broncos' colours".[6] In 2001, following the release of a predominantly navy-blue and maroon away jersey which clashed with the home jerseys of the Penrith Panthers, Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Warriors, the club was ordered by the National Rugby League to have a third, "clash" jersey. An aqua strip, of the same design as the 1999-2001 jerseys, was worn, and much derided by the local media. However after two years of public pressure the club dropped the jersey in favour of the design worn against Newcastle in 2003 for the first match back at the refurbished Suncorp Stadium.

Stadium

Main article: Brisbane Broncos Stadiums
File:Last broncos game at anz.jpg
The Brisbane Broncos, at the then-ANZ Stadium (1993-2003).

The Brisbane Broncos inaugural home ground was Lang Park, however they moved to ANZ Stadium in 1993 following ongoing conflict with the Queensland Rugby League and the Lang Park Trust.[3] This saw the Broncos' home attendence raise from an average 21,000, double to 43,000 at the new stadium.[7] However crowds declined, over the following years, but the Broncos' stayed at ANZ Stadium. But when the Queensland Government's $280,000,000 redevelopment of Lang[8](the spiritual home of Queensland rugby league), the Broncos returned to Lang Park, now named Suncorp Stadium in mid-2003. This saw the Broncos' get crowds not seen since the 1995 season.[7] Following the Broncos' winning of the 2006 Premiership and home matches scheduled against high-attendance rivals North Queensland, Gold Coast and Melbourne Storm among others for 2007, it is expected that average attendance per game will increase for the sixth consecutive year. As of 2006, the Broncos have the highest weekly attendances on average in the NRL at 31,208. This is close to 10,000 more than their nearest rival, Newcastle (21,848).[7]

View of the current Brisbane Broncos home ground, Suncorp Stadium.

The record crowd for a Broncos game at Suncorp Stadium is 50,416, for the opening game of 2007 against rivals The Cowboys,[7]while the record crowd at ANZ Stadium is 58,912, for the 1997 Super League Grand Final, against Cronulla.[7]

Highlights

Records

For a full list of records see Brisbane Broncos Records.

Michael Hancock has the most first-grade games next to his name with 279 games, but this may be beaten by current captain Darren Lockyer who has three seasons left with the Broncos and has 265 games next to his name.

Darren Lockyer holds the record of the most points for the club with 1,111 points and most points in the season with 272 points in the season of 1998. Darren Lockyer also has the record of most goals in a game with 9, but this is shared by Michael De Vere. De Vere also was the Broncos highest point scorer until 2006 where Lockyer took over him.[9]The most tries in a match is Steve Renouf who achieved 4 tries in a match 5 times between 1991 and 1998. This record was later matched by Wendell Sailor, Karmichael Hunt and Justin Hodges. [9]

The Broncos' biggest win was against the North Queensland Cowboys and North Sydney Bears both in 1998 where they won by 54 points with results 58-4 and 60-6 respectively. Their biggest loss was against the Melbourne Storm in 2005 where they lost by 46 points when they lost 50-4.[9]

The Broncos hold a success rate of 100% in grand finals where they have won 6 from 6. They have also won two World Club Challenge's after these. They have been in the finals for 15 seasons in a row and winning 6 premierships from 19 seasons.

The Broncos Win percentage is the highest in the history of rugby league, winning about 65% of games which is about 5% better than the next team.[10]

Honours

Main article: Brisbane Broncos Honours

Players

Main article: Brisbane Broncos Players

Current Players

The Brisbane Broncos have 26 players signed for them through the 2007 season.[11]

No. Position Player

Shaun Berrigan – HK Darius Boyd – WG Dane Carlaw – SR Tonie Carroll – LK Petero Civoniceva – PR Greg Eastwood – LK Michael Ennis – HK Ben Hannant – PR Justin Hodges – CE Karmichael Hunt – FB Nick Kenny – PR Ian Lacey – HK Darren Lockyer – FE (c)

No. Position Player

Andrew Lomu – PR Brent McConnell – HB Stephen Michaels – WG Joel Moon – FE Corey Parker – PR Shane Perry – HB David Stagg – SR Brent Tate – CE Dave Taylor – PR John Te Reo – HK Sam Thaiday – SR Brad Thorn – SR Tame Tupou – WG

Notable players

For a full list of Broncos representatives, see Brisbane Broncos Representatives

The representative playing list of the Brisbane Broncos is extensive due to the club's premiership success, its not having missed a finals series in over a decade, and its being the dominant Queensland team in the competition for the majority of its participation. The latter, in particular, has resulted in a large number of Queensland Maroons in the team. Listed below is the club's "Team of All Time"[12] and features many of the club's greatest players who have all gone on to represent state or national teams.

No. Position Player

1 Darren Lockyer (c) – FB 2 Lote Tuqiri – WG 3 Steve Renouf – CE 4 Gene Miles – CE 5 Michael Hancock – WG 6 Wally Lewis (c) – FE 7 Allan Langer – HB 8 Shane Webcke – PR 9 Kerrod Walters – HK

No. Position Player

10 Glenn Lazarus – PR 11 Gorden Tallis – SR 12 Trevor Gillmeister – SR 13 Darren Smith – LK 14 Kevin Walters – positions 15 Mark Hohn – positions 16 Greg Dowling – positions 17 Petero Civoniceva – positions Wayne Bennett – positions (coach)

References

  1. ^ "Brisbane Broncos 2006 Annual Report (Page 25)" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  2. ^ a b c d e Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2004). The History of Rugby League Clubs. New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-74110-075-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b "Brisbane Broncos History RL1908". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  4. ^ "Brisbane Broncos - Representative Players". Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  5. ^ a b c Gallaway, Jack (2001). The Brisbane Broncos: The Team To Beat. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-3275-0. Cite error: The named reference "broncsteamtobeat" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ Bronco! Magazine Issue 1, 1995
  7. ^ a b c d e "Rugby League Tables / Attendances Brisbane". Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  8. ^ "Suncopr Stadium Land Park Redevelopment". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  9. ^ a b c 2006 Official Rugby League Annual. Edited by David Middleton, Published by News Magazines, Surrey Hills, Sydney
  10. ^ "Rugby League Tables / Win-Loss Records / All Teams". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  11. ^ "Brisbane Broncos Players". Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  12. ^ Webcke, Shane with Heads, Ian (2006). Warhorse: Life, Football and Other Battles. Pan Macmillan Australia Press. ISBN 1-4050-3752-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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