Everything You Need to Know About Brisbane Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club, or the Broncos as they’re commonly known, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Queensland’s capital city of Brisbane.

The Broncos play in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and have earned their place as one of the league’s most popular and successful teams in only a few short decades. They’ve maintained a consistently exceptional record since their inception and have built a huge fan base throughout Australia.

The Broncos is one of the biggest names in the NRL and continue to grow from strength to strength but success has not come easy, it has taken a lot of hard work, persistence and dedication – values that the club lives by. They’ve had some iconic rivalries and historical games over the decades, growing to become one of the dominant forces in the league.

Founded

The Broncos was founded in April 1988 during the Winfield Cup national expansion and became one of the first two teams from Queensland to participate in the New South Wales Rugby League Premiership, alongside the Gold Coast Tweed Giants. The Broncos first played a significant role in the Super League War back in the 1990’s before becoming successful competitors in the National Rugby League competition. A women’s club was started to in 2018 to take part in the newly founded NRLW competition, as an offset of the Brisbane Broncos club. The NRLW was established shortly after the 2017 Women’s league rugby world cup.

Notable Achievements

The Brisbane Broncos have by all accounts been one of the most successful teams in the rugby leagues history. Prior to 2015, the Broncos had never been defeated in a grand final and have only failed to qualify for the final twice since 1991. The Broncos have won six premierships including two NSWRL titles, a Super League premiership and three NRL premierships. They’ve all won four minor premierships in multiple different competitions, which mean they are the most successful team in the NRL. They have won 62.5% of their games since they began in 1988, coming in second only to Melbourne Storm, who have won 65.2% of games. Since the Broncos club began, they have never received the wooden spoon. The newly founded Brisbane Broncos women’s team won the premiership in 2018.

Club Earnings

Brisbane Broncos - NRL — Brisbane Broncos Training. Photo: Michelle Cop, Bigstock

The Brisbane Broncos is one of the most valuable clubs in Australia, valued at over $42 million. They also have the distinction of being the only publicly listed sporting club listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, trading as the Brisbane Broncos Limited. In the NRL, the club recorded the highest annual revenue of all the National Rugby League clubs; they recorded $50.48 million for the 2018 financial year. In recent years the Broncos have been posting some of the biggest profits in the league’s history.

Home Ground

The Brisbane Broncos headquarters are in the Brisbane suburb of Red Hill, which is where their training club, the Clive Berghofer Centre and leagues club are located, but all of their home games are played at Milton’s Lang Park. The Clive Berghofer Centre is located on 81 Fulcher Road in Red Hill – the administration and team store is located in the same building. It is a purpose built facility across the road from the Broncos Leagues Club. The facilities are open to the public, there is a café open during weekdays and visitors can view the premiership trophies and sneak a peek into the gym from the foyer. Some spaces are not open to the public, like the gym and function spaces, although certain areas are able to accommodate community groups. The club encourages education and learning, and welcomes groups whose program agendas align to these objectives. The Clive Berghofer centre opening hours are from 8.30am-5pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays. The team store inside the centre is open from 9am-5pm weekdays and 9am-2pm on Saturdays.

Coach

The current head coach of the Broncos club is Anthony Seibold, who was the former coach of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Anthony Seibold formerly played for the Brisbane Broncos amongst other teams. Back in 2018 Anthony Seibold went head to head Wayne Bennett before being announced as the new Bronco’s coach for 2019. 2019 has been a bad year for the Bronco’s, starting off with the clubs worst beginning since their founding in 1988. Anthony Seibold was the coach at the time of the Brisbane Bronco’s worst ever defeat and the biggest loss in finals history, when they lost 58-0 to Parramatta.

Emblem and Colours

The traditional Broncos colours are maroon, white and gold which are all colours that have been linked to the history of rugby league in Queensland. The colours are symbolic for sunshine, perfect for the sunshine state! Initially it was suggested that the colours be blue and gold but it was decided that the colours had historically negative connotations for Queenslanders, who had been booing teams wearing those colours for decades.

The original logo was first featured in 1988 and used more gold in its colour scheme which aligned with the predominant colour on the jerseys at the time. The club emblem is a horse design that mainly features moroon and gold. Early plans for the logo revolved around using a kangaroo and a ‘Q’, but this plan was abandoned because of the conflict with the National Rugby League team, the Kangaroos. Alternatives like the state flower (The Cooktown Orchid) and the Poinsettia were also suggested, before eventually being discarded. Other Australian animals were also considered, notably the Kookaburra which appeared on the Brisbane Kookaburra Queen paddleships. The brumby, possum and galah were also possibilities.

The name was chosen due to Barry Maranta’s love of the Denver Broncos and because of the desire to use alliteration in the team name, similar to the Brisbane Bullets.

The club jersey has been through many different iterations since the inaugural 1988 season. In the beginning the jersey featured a gold design with alternating white and gold hoops and a moroon bottom. The jersey was revised several times in the 90’s, and at one point during 1997 to 1998, it was predominantly white. In 2001, blue was added to the jersey before being dropped for a jersey that was mainly moroon. New coulours were introduced in the early noughties and a few changes were made between 2000 and 2003. Recently International Sport Clothing has replaced Nike as the suppliers of the teams kit.

Mascot

The teams current mascot is Buck the Bronco.

Supporters

The Brisbane Broncos have an impressively large fan base and many high profile supporters. The Broncos have previously been voted one of the country’s most popular and regularly watched football teams. Their fan base is actually the largest of any of the NRL teams. The Broncos have one of the highest average attendance rates of any rugby league clubs in the world – that’s some impressively dedicated fans! The average attendance in 2018 was 31, 394.

Unsurprisingly most of the Broncos support base is located in the Sunshine state, four-fifths of their fans hail from Queensland. The demographic of their supporters tend to be males aged 35-49 years of age which families. Many Broncos fans attend their local RSL club or leagues club. The Brisbane Broncos also have community outreach programs and a team in the mini-league to get the younger interested and involved.

Some notable supporters include Carl Barron, the Australian comedian, Bernard Fanning the lead singer of Powderfinger, Steve Irwin, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Rudd and Carl Stefanovic just to name a few. The Brisbane Broncos feature regularly on the news and radio and are well known throughout Australia.

History

The Broncos were formed following the success of Queensland in the 1980s State of Origin series. The club made their debut in the 1988 Winfield cup premiership, against the then reigning premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles – they defeated them 44-10. They failed to make the finals that year, but in their second season they succeeded, winning the 1989 Panasonic Cup. Their first premiership win was in 1992. They won again in 1993. In 1995, the Broncos reluctantly sign onto the new league when the Super league war broke out. They were one of the last teams to sign.

The year 1999 was not a good year for the Broncos, who did not have a good beginning of the season, losing 8 out of 10 games. They turned it around in mid-season with an 11-game winning streak, but it wasn’t enough for a third premiership. They rebounded the following year with another premiership, after defeating the Sydney Roosters.

The year 2002 was the beginning of the clubs ‘post-Origin’ slump, which lasted for the following years. Many of the players were involved in the State of Origin series, and the additional workload had an impact on the game. The team struggled between 2002-2006. A few years later in 2009 they also did not perform well due to the post-Origin slump. The 2010 season was not very memorable and team injuries meant that they missed the finals.

2012 saw the Broncos finished the lowest they had ever, after getting knocked out of the finals in the first week.

The 2015 Grand Finals game between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Brisbane Broncos is considered to be one of the best games in recent history, seeing the teams go into the Golden Point overtime.

The Broncos finished in sixth place in 2018 and were eliminated from the finals by St George Illawarraside. In the same year the Broncos coach Wayne Bennett was replaced with Anthony Seibold. The coach swap was originally planned for 2020, but it took place immediately in 2018.

The 2019 NRL season was not a good year for the Brisbane Broncos after the worst start to the year that the team had ever experienced.

Trainings

Brisbane Broncos Training. Photo: Michelle Cop, Bigstock

The Broncos have open training sessions that their fans can attend; these are held at the Broncos headquarters, the Clive Beghofer centre. Patient fans can get items signed and pictures taken with the players following trainings, although it’s not guaranteed that players will always be available.

Broncos recruitment

Recruitment into the Broncos usually requires players to be involved in a school, junior or senior rugby league. The Broncos have an extensive scout network for finding the best talent. The Broncos do not hold selection trials.

Community interaction

The Broncos are active participants in the community and support a number of community iniatives, including the Brisbane Broncos Charities fund and indigenous programs. The Broncos also run a mini-league program.

Purchasing tickets

Tickettek is the authorised ticket seller for Brisbane Broncos home games – fans should avoid buying from unauthorised sellers. Purchased of scalped tickets can be fined and denied entry to the event. There are also different levels of ticketed membership programs that fans can take part in.