Queensland Football Association (1880–1890)

The Queensland Football Association (QFA) was the first club-independent governing body for football in the Colony of Queensland founded on 30 April 1880. Its role was primarily to facilitate club and representative matches primarily in Australian rules football but also in Rugby union and occasionally soccer.

It primarily provided governance for Australian rules football in Queensland (the code was first introduced to the colony in 1866 by the Brisbane Football Club), however did not govern outright and as per its affiliation to the Victorian Football Association (which had begun with its member clubs in 1877). All decisions on the game's rules were referred to this body as a result, the clubs were known as Victorian Association clubs, and would play under Victorian Association or "Association Football" rules. 900 Queensland Victorian association footballers were members in 1884. The QFA was the second club competition formed in Queensland (after the Toowoomba Association which formed in 1876) and fifth in Australia (after the South Australian Football Association, Victorian Football Association and the Tasmanian Football Association with the New South Wales Football Association formed in August of the same year).

The QFA governed representative matches against New South Wales, the premier Australian Rules and Rugby Union competitions, and the Brisbane school's competition. However, a growing number of clubs outside of Brisbane became increasingly resentful at the Brisbane-centric organisation (representative sides were selected from member clubs and not the whole colony and rules were governed from Melbourne) and the lack of any colony-wide governing body which led to clubs increasingly switching to rugby (which was introduced to the colony in 1876).

Rugby at the time of the QFA's founding was in disarray, with Rangers Football Club (1876–1878) and Bonnet Rouge Football Club (1876–1878) folding two seasons earlier, however many of Brisbane and Wallaroos best players preferred to play both codes so rugby matches were facilitated during the season on a Saturday every 4 weeks. 80 rugby footballers broke away in 1883 to form the Northern Rugby Union (NRU) to facilitate regular representative matches against New South Wales.

While some clubs occasionally played association football, the QFA did not recognise Anglo/British football matches, which were becoming increasingly popular, generally speaking these players refused to play either Victorian Association or Rugby rules, leading to the formation of the Anglo-Queensland Football Association in Brisbane, in 1884.

The Queensland Football Association folded after just a decade of operation, primarily due to the growing schism between the football clubs.