All the talk was about Brisbane Lions versus Sydney or South Melbourne Swans in the 2024 Australian Football League grand final, but nowhere was it reported that Ipswich actually played South Melbourne in a match between colonial champions way in 1890. I told a version of this story live on West Bremer Radio.

If you think that Brisbane Lions was the first Queensland team to play South Melbourne Swans for an Australian football title, you would be wrong.

Back in 1890, South Melbourne were the undefeated colonial champions of Victoria. The team boasted the likes of captain Sonny Elms said to be the best fullback in the game, Peter Burns who was probably the best Australian Rules footballer of the 19th century, and Edgar Barrett who was the leading goal-kicker in Victoria that year.

The day before the South Melbourne team departed for their Queensland tour, they smashed Geelong by 9 goals, so their Queensland opponents Ipswich were expected to have little chance against the southern champions.

While South Melbourne were the colonial champions of Victoria, Ipswich were the champions of Queensland. The match was the most hyped football match in the history of the colony, bringing together the two champion teams.

Two days before the clash, South Melbourne warmed up by playing Brisbane at the Breakfast Creek sports ground which is where the Albion Park paceway is today. Brisbane was led by former Ipswich and South Melbourne star Jack Gibson, but South Melbourne comfortably beat them by 11 goals.

The big Ipswich versus South Melbourne game was set down for Monday the 23rd of June 1890 at the North Ipswich reserve to start at 3.30pm sharp.

The South Melbourne team was formally welcomed to Ipswich by the president of the Ipswich Football Club and member of Queensland Parliament for Ipswich, Mr.  Andrew Barlow, whose sister-in-law today haunts the Hamilton and Alexandra College in country Victoria.

There was also the Mayor of Ipswich Peter Brown, who named Browns Park after himself, and all the other members of Parliament living in Ipswich. In fact, everyone who was anyone was at the game.

The Fassifern and Esk trains were delayed for an hour to allow the large number of country spectators to see the whole match. Ipswich’s Excelsior band was there playing popular tunes, and the day was even declared a public holiday. It was a red-letter day in the annals of the Ipswich football.

The champion Ipswich “Blue and Blacks” were led by the popular captain Steve Welch who also captained Queensland and whose father-in-law today haunts the Metropole Hotel in Ipswich. His grandson would win a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics.

Welch’s team believed they had the talent to seriously challenge the Victorian champions. Three thousand people paid to get into the game, and many more were watching from free vantage points in trees and on hills around the ground. Ipswich surprised the visitors with their enthusiasm and skill and trailed by just 2 goals at half time.

South Melbourne were forced put the foot down in the championship third quarter to open up a big lead. Ipswich came back in the final quarter and went down by just 5 goals.

The South Melbourne champions congratulated Ipswich for an outstanding game. The best for Ipswich was Adolph Hasenkamp who later became a Mackay alderman and for a while was acting mayor.

A couple of days later, South Melbourne faced a Queensland representative team led by the Ipswich captain Welch, but the main game of the tour had already been played.

So even though the Brisbane Lions played Sydney or South Melbourne in the AFL grand final last weekend, the first champion team from Queensland to play South Melbourne in an intercolonial grand final of sorts was the Ipswich Football Club in 1890, one hundred and thirty-four years earlier.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
AFL Grand Final, 2024, Melbourne Cricket Ground – Harold Peacock IMG_20240928_165627.
Peter Burns – Almanac Footy History Peter the Great Burns the first 300 game player by Bob Gartland 2016.
Jack Gibson, Queensland team, 1888 – State Library of Queensland.
Andrew Henry Barlow, 1889 – State Library of Queensland.
Steve Welch Jnr, captain, Queensland team 1888 – State Library of Queensland.
Mackay City Council alderman Adolph Hasenkamp Junior, 1918 – Mackay Regional Council Libraries.