Ipswich Soccer in 1886

Key Events:

January 1: Joseph Hodgson, later a publican at the Race Horse Hotel, and would donate the Hodgson Cup for the 1895 Ipswich and West Moreton season, arrives in Moreton Bay en route to Ipswich.  The Race Horse Hotel adjoined the soccer ground at the Bundanba Racecourse. 

January 11: William Bailey, original Bush Rat, arrives in Brisbane en-route to Ipswich from Bracken Hill, Yorkshire.

May 10: A meeting is held which results in the formation of Bundanba Rovers, Ipswich's first known soccer club. 

May 22: Bundanba Rovers 0 - 7 St Andrews at Bundanba Reserve (assumed)

June 1: William Routledge, a player for Dinmore, Bush Rats and Bundanba Rangers arrives in Australia. He goes onto to live and work in Dinmore then Bundanba. 


June 8: A meeting is held which results in the formation of Ipswich second club, Queenslanders.

June 26: Queenslanders 2 v 2 Bundanba Rovers at North Ipswich Reserve (also see here)

July 3: Queenslanders 1 - 11 St Andrews (also see here)

July 17 Bundanba Rovers 1 v 1 Swifts

July 24: Fowler's team 3 v 3 Cairns’ team at North Ipswich Reserve. This was an exhibition game featuring players from St Andrews, Queens Park, Rangers, Bundanba Rovers and Queenslanders. 

July 31: Bundanba Rovers 3 v 1 Queenslanders

August 14: Rangers 2 v 1 Bundanba Rovers (but see Notes below)

General Happenings:

John Routledge, future captain of Bush Rats, arrives in Australia aged 11, living at initially at Riverview. He may or not be related to William above. 

Notes:

It seems two one games are is missing from the above list of key dates.

The third annual meeting of the Anglo-Queensland Football Association in 1887 gave a breakdown of the games played by each club n the 1886 season. 

Bundanba Rovers played 6 games, with 1 win, 2 draws and a loss (goals for 7, against 19), while Queenslanders played 3 losing them all (goals for 4, against 16),. 

The above list only mentions 5 games for Rovers, and two for Queenslanders. 

If the report is correct, Rovers must have had a 6 to nil defeat, while Queenslanders suffered an 11 to 1 shellacking.

However, this mathematics presupposes the position of the Rangers v Bundanba Rovers match was for competition points. 

Soccer Mad states this game was a social match, and the Ipswich team actually made up of a combined Rovers/Queenslanders team. 

Soccer Mad's position comes from the match report of Queenslanders versus Rovers, which previews the game as a combined team playing Rangers. 

However, all known contemporary reports of the Rangers game state the club playing is Bundanba Rovers.

This report of the first Rovers n St Andrews game did hint that Queens Park would be the next opponent. 

If Soccer Man is right, there is another competitive match missing from Bundanba Rovers listings.

It should be noted the Association thanked the Observer during their meeting. That newspaper, originally from Ipswich, is not digitised on Trove, so more information may exist on microfiche, which may give the missing results, and confirms the Rangers/Rovers clash one way or another.  

Key Clubs: 

Bundanba Rovers (only season, possibly)
Players included: Waugh (capt), Glasgow, Sneddon, Dobbie, Denham, Gordon, Parker, Matthewson, J Lindsay, W Lindsay

Queenslanders (only season) - called the Blues
Players included : Thomas Hastie (capt), Ben Stephens, Jack Stephens, George Stephens, Robert Stephens, T. Tunstall, Hudson. W. H. Bemi (gk), Petiigrew, J Griffith, Lebeter, Weatherhogg

Notable People: 

James Glasgow - secretary and captain of Bundana Rovers
Hastie, possible many and various - see here.
J & W Lindsay - Rovers' players, later of various Ipswich clubs in the 1890s.
McMurtrie (Rangers) and Inglis (St Andrews) - players who later play in Ipswich.

Historical Notes: 

Regardless of the later status of Goodna as suburb of Ipswich, known recorded soccer in Ipswich started when thirteen men got together, under the auspices of Mr W. Hastie and James Glasgow, to form a club called Bundanba Rovers. Reports of the birth of Bundanba Rovers was reprinted in many of the major Brisbane newspapers. 

Twelve days played their first game against Brisbane side St Andrews. 

Only three clubs existed in Brisbane at the time, St Andrews, Rangers and Queens Park, the latter dissolving by the end of the year. 

A month later, a local rival was formed in Queenslanders, with the first Ipswich derby played in June 26, 1886. 

At this point it should be noted the start date of Ipswich soccer became slightly garbled over the decades. 

In 1912, Tom 'Old Sport' Barker hails Ipswich as the home of football in Queensland, stating the Queenlanders v Bundanba Rovers match as the introduction of the game in the now city. 

Barker was born in Ipswich, and was splendidly parochial, but was not living in his hometown in 1886, instead working in newspapers up north for much of the decade. 

But his local knowledge is still valuable. From the same article he lists some of the players, including Queenslanders captain Thos. Hastie (proving he is distinct from any W. Hastie), J. Hodgson, W. H. Bemi,. J. Griffith and finally the four brothers Stephens, listed at the time, but thanks to Barker we now know were blacksmiths. 

By 1951, the first Queenslanders v Rovers game still being regarded as the first game played in Ipswich. Writer T.G.N. quoted directly from the contemporary Queensland Times report (the second link with the game above). 

T.G.N. partly trips himself up by playing up to his pun that Bundanba Rovers as a combination of the later clubs Blackstone Rovers and Bundanba Rangers (which were long part of an argument, with Bush Rats, as to which was older). Playing to the joke ignored the existence of Queenslanders as an Ipswich club, therefore equal first by the writer's own definition. But T.G.N. was also tripped up by a changing sense of geography over the decades. 

Back in 1886, Bundanda and Ipswich were seen as distinct places, though joined in a wider, nebulous Ipswich-centred West Moreton region. When the QT of 1886 said the game was the first in Ipswich, it meant literally the town, which didn't stray far from each side of the Bremer River where North Ipswich Reserve still exists. As we can see above, a game was played in Bundanba in May. At the time, Bundanba was not seen as Ipswich unlike in T.G.N's day. 

Regardless, Ipswich now had two teams, but trouble was soon on the horizon. 

The first hints came in July, when members of the three Brisbane clubs played an exhibition match at North Ipswich to attempt to grow the game in the town. A few members of Queenslanders and Rovers made up the numbers. The game was played to whip up enthusiasm for soccer in Ipswich.

Things did not go well. The goals, put up but one of the Hasties, were ripped up out of the North Ipswich turf before the game. The number of spectators were "meagre" with more interest in the neighbouring Australian rules game. This made Hastie's closing remarks on hoping for another Ipswich club to form seem rather optimistic. 

But the numbers were against the sport in SE Queensland, not just in Ipswich. 

On July 31, Queenslanders and Rovers played a rematch, but both team were weakened as Rover's Waugh, plus three members of Queenslanders were away in Brisbane playing for Rangers, who themselves were missing players. 

(It seemed as long as soccer existed in Ipswich, Brisbane clubs poached Ipswich players.)

If Rangers looked to Ipswich to prop up their numbers, Queens Park had already succumbed, folding in early July. In one game against St Andrews, they turned up with only 7 players leading to "Goalkeeper" to opine in the Courier:

"I think the time has arrived when tho Queen's Park Football Club should at once disband, and commence afresh if need be, with bona fide British Association players, who will take an interest in its affairs and always feel it their duty to support then club and not play one game to day and another style of game tomorrow. As the club is now constituted it will never prosper, but if composed of some British Association players it may have a chance. It maybe as well to state that the club in question has lost the valuable services of Mr. Inglis, their full back, who got completely disheartened at players not turning up. He adhered well to the club through its many reverses, and dsserved to be better supported."
Brisbane Courier, July 5, 1886

Replacement club Swifts struggled through to the end of the season, but were not seen again. 

On August 14, Rangers beat Bundanba Rovers 2-1. As stated in the notes to the time line above, this  was preemptively called social match, played by a combined Bundanba Rovers and Queenslanders.

It is true that Tunstall was listed as playing Rovers, despite turning out for Queenslanders earlier of the season. 

This could have meant Queenslanders had folded, with the remaining players turning out for Rovers. 

But Farquar also played for Rovers that day, despite being a Rangers player. It was not unknown for teams to borrow opposition players to make up numbers.

Also missing from the report is captain James Glasgow, with Waugh taking the armband after filling in at Rangers.

So it seems Rover themselves were struggling for players and support in Ipswich.

In the Queensland Times match report of the Rangers game, Tunstall,  is quoted as there was very little support for soccer in Ipswich.

The lengthy report in the Courier states: 

"Mr Hastie, in responding, said that the Rovers would be shortly strengthened by additions from the Old Country, and he had every hope the club next season would be a strong one."

Brisbane Courier, August 16, 1886

One interpretation for Hastie's comment could be Rovers were struggling for playing numbers, not just quality. 

In the same report, Forbes, of the departed Queens Park team, also gave his opinion of the state of soccer: 

"Messrs D. G Forbes and Tunstall also gave short speeches on behalf ot tho game, the former stating that if tho Anglo Queensland game was going to be a success in this colony, those playing it must not go meddling with other rules of football, but stick closo to their own game."

Brisbane Courier, August 16, 1886

It seems across Brisbane and Ipswich, clubs were losing players to other codes.

This would play out in the 1887 season with a reduction of clubs, but that is another story. 

In summary, not much is known about Bundanba Rovers and Queenslanders. Some names lingered, especially the Lindsays, others disappeared after 1886. The backgrounds of many the players are hard to find, unlike those who came in the 1890s. Exactly which Hastie started Bundanba Rovers is open to question, James Glasgow leaves no trace. 

Why soccer chose to start in Ipswich in 1886 is currently still a mystery, as is the background of who was behind it. 

By contrast, 1887 would be a quiet year, though intriguingly not empty.