The history of the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club stretches back from their inception in the mid-1980s to the present day. They were introduced to the NSWRL's Winfield Cup premiership in 1988, taking the competition by storm in winning their first six games. The Broncos participated in 18 consecutive finals series from 1992–2009, winning premierships seven times, including the 1992 and 1993 NSWRL premierships, the Superleague premiership in 1997 and then the 1998, 2000, 2006 and 2025 NRL premiership, having ended their longest Premiership drought of 19 years.
1980s Whilst Brisbane had had its own rugby league club competition since 1909, Brisbane teams had been assembled occasionally, usually referred to as Combined Brisbane for Bulimba Cup tournaments and representative matches against Sydney-based sides and touring international teams. By the 1980s, the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership decided they wanted to expand outside their traditional Sydney base. This began in 1982 with the introduction of the Canberra Raiders and the Illawarra Steelers.
Brisbane made its first official bid for an NSWRL license in 1986, however the NSWRL was in favour of awarding a license to Newcastle, which it did in October 1986. The NSWRL was primarily concerned with the enormous cost of airfares to and from Brisbane that its clubs would have to bear (the league's furthest travel distance at the time was Canberra, a roadtrip of under 300 kilometres and the Newcastle bid had the benefit of significantly less travel).
A proposal was made to the Queensland Rugby League to enter a Brisbane team in 1987, but it was voted down.
The threat posed by the VFL's (now AFL) expansion team the Brisbane Bears which was granted a license in 1986 for entry in the 1987 season however stirred both the QRL and NSWRL into action. Soon after the granting of the license, QRL officials mobilised, seeking a NSWRL franchise and rich backers. The aim of QRL general manager Ross Livermore was specifically to stifle the VFL's publicity and promotions in the state. The NSWRL, responding to the VFL's national expansion by ramping up its own national expansion plans, included the admission of a Brisbane team among three new teams from outside Sydney: the Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. A clause was introduced into Brisbane's licence, only one team (the Broncos) could play in South-East Queensland, forcing the new Gold Coast club to set up base in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, effectively making the Broncos the first and only Queensland based club in the competition.
The QRL's bid was bolstered by Queensland's success in the 1980s, the early years of the State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales, in addition to the inclusion of a combined Brisbane Rugby League team in the mid-week competition, convinced the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) to invite a Queensland-based team into the competition. After tough competition between the various syndicates for the Brisbane licence, the QRL chose the bid of former Brisbane Rugby League (BRL) players, Barry Maranta and Paul "Porky" Morgan. At the first meeting with the NSWRL hierarchy, the newly formed Brisbane Broncos were asked to pay a $500,000 fee.
After deliberating over such names as Bulls, Brumbies, Bombers and Kookaburras, the club eventually decided on the name Broncos. Former Australian representative Brisbane Rugby League player John Ribot was appointed the club's first chief executive officer.
As the people of Brisbane got more and more behind the club, interest in the NSWRL competition increased and the Bronco took up some of the best players from the Brisbane Rugby League competition, and the BRL soon entered a phase of decline. The Broncos' first year of 1988 was the first time no player from the BRL was chosen to represent Queensland in the State of Origin.
+ FIRST EVER TEAM(those in bold had previously represented both Australia and Queensland)Player PositionColin ScottFullbackJoe KilroyWingChris JohnsCentreGene MilesCentreMichael Hancock WingWally Lewis (C)Five-eighthAllan LangerHalfbackTerry MattersonLockBrett Le ManSecond RowKeith Gee Second RowGreg DowlingPropGreg ConescuHookerBryan NieblingPropMark HohnInterchangeBilly NokeInterchangeCraig GraufInterchangeWayne BennettCOACHThe Brisbane Broncos debuted in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in the 1988 Winfield Cup competition. The team boasted then current Australian Kangaroos captain and Queensland State of Origin legend Wally Lewis, who was the first player to sign on with the new club, and was the inaugural Broncos captain. All but four players from this team played State of Origin during their careers, a feat which can be attributed to the development skills of the incumbent Maroons coach Wayne Bennett was the inaugural coach for the Broncos, and remained for the following twenty-one years. In 1988 Bennett was the reigning Dally M Coach of the Year having jointly won the award with his Canberra Raiders co-coach Don Furner in 1987.
On 6 March 1988, at Lang Park in Brisbane, the brand-new Broncos defeated the 1987 Winfield Cup Premiers Manly-Warringah 44–10 in their first premiership game. Although the Broncos won the first six games in their inaugural season, a mid-season slump cost the club a debut finals appearance, finishing the season in seventh position.
The Broncos' second season saw them claim their first piece of silverware by winning the mid-week knockout Panasonic Cup competition after defeating the Illawarra Steelers 22–20 in a hard-fought final at Sydney's Parramatta Stadium. In the 1989 season the club improved on the previous year, finishing the season in sixth position, only just missing out on a finals berth after losing a play-off for fifth place 38–14 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Parramatta Stadium.
1990s In 1990, in order to increase the Broncos' success in the Winfield Cup, Wayne Bennett controversially sacked Wally Lewis as club captain and gave the role to centre Gene Miles. Miles had retired from representative football, and Bennett hoped he could remove the team's reliance on Lewis, who was said not to be a strong club man or a good trainer for the Broncos.
The Balmain Tigers were the last team the Broncos had failed to beat, until their victory in Round 18 of the 1990 season. Brisbane finished the regular season in second position, qualifying for their first finals campaign. In the Preliminary Final against the Canberra Raiders, the Broncos were knocked out 30–2, so finished the regular season in third place. Canberra then went on to win the competition. At the end of the season, Wally Lewis parted company with the Broncos, moving to the Gold Coast Seagulls.
In their fourth season, the Broncos won the pre-season 1991 Panasonic Cup competition. In round 16 of NSWRL season 1991, they were kept scoreless for the first time ever by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Steve Renouf became the first Bronco to score four tries in a match in round 20. The club finished the season in seventh place, missing the finals, despite winning their last five games consecutively.
After the retirement of Gene Miles, the captaincy role fell onto half-back Allan Langer for the 1992 season. The Broncos were at the top of the ladder for most of 1992's competition, losing just four matches to gain their first minor premiership with a six-point buffer over second-placed St George Dragons. Newly appointed captain Langer also won the Rothmans Medal. In their first Grand Final appearance, the Broncos were favourites and comprehensively defeated the St. George Dragons 28–8 at the Sydney Football Stadium and finally the Winfield Cup was transported to Queensland for the first time. A month later, the Broncos played in the 1992 World Club Challenge match against dominant British champions Wigan. No Australian club had yet gone to England and won, and many expected the Broncos to follow that trend. They did not, smashing the cherry pickers in emphatic fashion 22–8.
After years of dispute with the Lang Park Trust over brewery advertising, Fourex had pouring rights for Lang Park while Powers Brewing was major sponsor of the Broncos. For the 1993 season the Broncos moved to the Council-owned ANZ Stadium, in suburban Nathan. Signs of a hangover existed with the club losing two of its first three matches, including their debut at the new home ground against the struggling Parramatta Eels. But the Broncos bounced back, beating the Balmain Tigers 50 nil, (the highest winning margin for the club at the time) to establish themselves solidly in the upper echelons of the competition. A last round lapse against St George relegated the Broncos to fifth spot, meaning they had to win four straight elimination games to defend their title. They went on to demolish the Manly Sea Eagles' defence in a 36–10 romp. Canberra dropped dead with the loss of Ricky Stuart and the Broncos ran roughshod over them with a 30–12 win. Against the Canterbury Bulldogs in the preliminary final, Brisbane were trailing 16–10 at half time, but Allan Langer scored immediately in the second half to level, then potted a field goal to break the dead lock late in the game. In the grand final, again against the Dragons, the Broncos were victorious once more, this time 14–6. This win was significant because it was the only time a team which had finished 5th in the minor premiership had gone on to win the competition. It was Glenn Lazarus' fifth consecutive grand final appearance, having already played in the previous year's for Brisbane and the three years' before that for Canberra.
The move from the 33,000 capacity Lang Park to the 60,000 seat ANZ Stadium also proved to be good for attendance figures. The Broncos average home attendance jumped from 21,687 in 1992 to 43,200 in 1993, a total increase of 99.19% (as of 2015 this remains not only Brisbane's highest average attendance in a season, but the highest for any club in the history of rugby league in Australia dating back to 1908). Their highest home attendance for the year was 58,593 for the late season game against St George while their smallest home attendance was 28,126 against Illawarra in Round 8 (that season low attendance against the Steelers was actually larger than any other teams highest home attendance in 1993).1993 Brisbane Broncos at Rugby League Project
In the English spring of 1994 it was announced that the Brisbane Broncos club was buying the London Crusaders, who were renamed 'London Broncos'. The 1994 season started in fine fashion for Brisbane. They cruised through to the final of the Tooheys Challenge Cup for the fifth time, but amazingly were pipped by the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the decider. That started a shocking opening to the 1994 competition that saw them win just one game in the first month of the competition and leave them languishing near oblivion. They were flat out winning two games in a row for much of the season. Behind the scenes, Broncos chief executive John Ribot sent his first report on the Super League concept to News Ltd chief executive Ken Cowley.