Football Queensland Darling Downs

Football Queensland Darling Downs is a Football Queensland administrative zone encompassing the Darling Downs region and parts of South West Queensland. The zone administers major regional areas including Toowoomba, Dalby, Roma, Charleville, St George, Goondiwindi and Stanthorpe. The premier men's soccer competition is the Football [Queensland Premier League 3 − Darling Downs] and the premier women's soccer competition is the Football Queensland Women's Premier League 3 − Darling Downs. Football Queensland Darling Downs also has a numerous variety of lower divisions for both men and women, as well as academy and junior competitions to develop soccer and fitness within the region.
The administrative zone traces its history to the Toowoomba British Football Association formed early in the 20th century with games played as early as 1906. The earliest mention of a regional association zone was in 1912 when the secretary of the association sought permission to erect post and mark out a field within Albert Park. The region has since been represented by of a variety of administrative councils representing sections of the contemporary zone. In 2021 as part of Football Queensland Future of Football 2020+ reforms, the region's councils were collated and renamed Football Queensland Darling Downs.

Governance

The earliest reference to a governing body is to the Toowoomba British Football Association in 1912. Presumably this association was affiliated with the Queensland governing body.
In 2021 Football Queensland Darling Downs was created as an office and under the control of Football Queensland. Before 2021 local administration and decision-making was decentralised to regional associations including Football Toowoomba, Football Chinchilla, Football Stanthorpe and the South Burnett Soccer Federation.

Football Toowoomba

The first game of British Association football was played in 1906, and the first club was Newtown. The same article suggests that by 1908 there were up to 5 teams in existence. During 1906, Newtown played a series of games under British Association rules at the Polo Grounds. Opponents included Rangers Rugby Football Club and the Young Rangers. The game against Rangers Rugby Union team ended in a draw.
In 1906, the newly-formed Newtown club invited Brisbane club Milton to Toowoomba. Milton "won somewhat easily" but in the return game in Brisbane Newtown won 4 – 2.
In 1907, the newly-formed City or Cities teams played Newtown at the Polo Grounds.
By 1909, there were 5 clubs and a 6-team competition – Newtown Hotspurs, Toowoomba City, Western Suburbs, Kleinton Rovers, Kleinton Rangers and Oakey.
An early reference to British Association Football was in March 1912, when Mr. Henry Smith, the Secretary of the Toowooomba British Football Association approached the Gowrie Shire Council seeking permission to erect posts and mark out a field within Albert Park. The annual meeting of the Toowoomba British Football Association was also advertised in March 1912.
In June 1920, a Toowoomba representative side played the touring New South Wales side at the Athletic Grounds, Toowoomba. The local side put in a "creditable performance" losing 2 – 0.
In August 1920, a game was played at the Athletic Grounds, Toowoomba between a Toowoomba representative side and sailors from HMS Renown. At the time, there were 4 teams in the Toowoomba competition – Diggers, Norths, Western Suburbs and Wanderers. Two Digger's players selected for this game played for Queensland. Percy Martin had represented Queensland before World War One, while Dugald French was a current Queensland squad member.
A preview of the 1924 season indicated that definitely 4 and up to 6 clubs would participate in senior football. The confirmed clubs were Diggers, Caledonians, Rangers and Toowoomba Athletic, with Waratahs and Willowburn Asylum also contemplating senior football. Toowoomba Athletic and Waratahs were junior clubs stepping up to senior level. Toowoomba Athletic played junior football as Scouts and it's possible they had some connection to the scouting movement. Junior football was in existence and 2 clubs mentioned were Starlights and Tech Old Boys. In addition, 7 schools were playing football.
In June 1925, the touring English FA side defeated a Toowoomba representative side 6 − 0 at the Toowoomba showgrounds in front of a crowd of 4,000. In July 1925, after the English FA tour soccer was introduced to Warwick.

By 1938 there were 9 teams – Willowburn, Gowrie-Little Plains, Gomoran, Oakey, Sugarloaf, Southern Cross, Greenwood, Kingsthorpe and Rovers.
In September 1938 the touring Indian national team defeated Queensland 5–2 at Athletic Oval in Toowoomba.
In July 1939, Palestine defeated a "weak" Queensland team 13–3 in Toowoomba.

After World War II

Position	Club	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against	Points
Premiers	Valley	12	7	2	3	36	24	16
2nd	Cawdor Rangers	12	6	2	4	44	24	14
3rd	Blue Stars	12	6	2	4	37	32	14
4th	Willowburn	12	2	0	10	20	57	4
	Totals	48	21	6	21	137	137	48

Football in the Toowoomba region went into remission during World War 2. It re-commenced in 1946 with the re-formation of the Acland & District Soccer Association which included a Toowoomba club as one of its 6 affiliated clubs.
The Toowoomba Soccer Association was re-formed in 1949 and had 4 affiliated senior clubs; Blue Stars, Cawdor Rangers, Valley and Willowburn. In 1949 Valley won the first post World War premiership and Willowburn won the Knock-Out Cup defeating Valley 2 - 0 in the final.
In 1975 the Men's representative team of the Toowoomba & District Soccer Federation was given direct entry into the 1976 Ampol Cup. The Ampol Cup became a State-wide competition having previously being limited to First Division clubs from Brisbane and Ipswich.
In May 2024 Willowburn celebrated the 75th anniversary of their formation with a gala dinner.

Women's Football

Toowoomba was a pioneer of Women's football in Queensland and Australia. In June 1921 at about the same time that Women's football was commencing in Brisbane, clubs were also being formed in Toowoomba. The first clubs were Toowoomba Rovers and Toowoomba Cities.
In July 1921, interest was growing in sending a Toowoomba ladies representative team to play in Brisbane, with the Toowoomba players training at the Showgrounds.
A number of female footballers from Toowoomba have played for the Matildas, including Lana Harch and Karla Reuter.

Winstanley Memorial Shield (Men)

The Winstanley Memorial Shield is a senior Men's pre-season competition held in memory of Ian David Winstanley, a talented Toowoomba footballer who died on 16 July 1961, aged 18, from injuries suffered in a car accident. Winstanley played seniors at age 16, captained the Toowoomba Under 18 representative side and at age 18 captained the Toowoomba Under 21 representative side. In 1960, Winstanley won Willowburn's best and fairest player award.

Winstanley Memorial Shield winners

1962 – Willowburn
1963 – Willowburn - defeated Tatersalls Rovers 4-3
1964 – Tattersalls Rovers
1965 – Willowburn - defeated Rangers 4-2
1966 – Willowburn - Willowburn 4 defeated Rangers 1
1967 – Willowburn
1968 – Willowburn
1969 – Willowburn – defeated Rockville Rovers 1–0
1970 – Queensland Agricultural College A
1971 – Rockville Rovers
1972 – Willowburn – defeated St Albans
1973 – Rockville Rovers – defeated Rangers 2–1
1974 – Rockville Rovers – defeated Aviation 2–1
1975 – Rangers - defeated Aviation 6-1
1976 – Rangers
1977 – Willowburn
1978 – Wanderers
1979 – Rangers
1980 – Wanderers
1981 – Wanderers
1982 – Wanderers
1983 – Wanderers
1984 – St Albans
1985 – Wanderers
1986 – DDIAE
1987 – St Albans
1988 – Willowburn – defeated Wanderers 3–2
1989 – Wanderers
1990 – Wanderers
1991 – Rockville Rovers
1992 – Willowburn
1993 – Dalby
1994 – Not contested
1995 – Not contested
1996 – Not contested
1997 – USQ
1998 – USQ
1999 – Not contested
2000 – Not contested
2001 – Not contested
2002 – Not contested
2003 – Not contested
2004 – Not contested
2005 – Not contested
2006 – South Toowoomba
2007 – West Wanderers
2008 – Not contested
2009 – South Toowoomba
2010 – Not contested
2011 – Willowburn
2012 – Willowburn – defeated USQ 5–1
2013 – South Toowoomba
2014 – Willowburn – defeated Willowburn 7–0
2015 – Gatton – defeated Willowburn 5–4 after extra time. It was 4-all at full time.
2016 – West Wanderers & Willowburn
2017 – Willowburn
2018 – Willowburn – defeated Rockville Rovers 2–1
2019 – Rockville Rovers – defeated Willowburn 2–1
2020 – Gatton – defeated USQ 4–1 on penalties after it was 2-all after extra time.
2021 – Rockville Rovers
2022 – Gatton
2023 – Willowburn

Tom McVeigh Trophy (Women)

Tom McVeigh Trophy winners

Year	Winners	Opposition	Score	Goalscorers
1981	St Albans
1982	Willowburn
1983	West Wanderers
1984	Willowburn
1985	Willowburn	St Albans	4–1	Willowburn – Michelle Schneider, Chris Wollf, Robyn Fellowes, Own goal St Albans – Ros Nugent
1988	St Albans	DDIAE	2–0	St Albans – Ann-Louise Edwards, Pat Fraser
1989	Willowburn	Example	Example	Example
1990	Willowburn	Example	Example	Example
1991	St Albans
2012	Gatton	Willowburn	4–1
2013	Gatton
2014	Highfields	Willowburn	3–1
2015	Rockville Rovers	Highfields	3–1
2016	Willowburn
2018	Willowburn	Rockville Rovers	8–2	Willowburn – Rockville Rovers – Penny Dukes, Samantha Stubbs
2019				Willowburn played Highfields
2020	Rockville Rovers	USQ	4–0	Rockville Rovers – Sarah Sheridan, Miranda Griffiths
2021	Willowburn	USQ	4–1	Willowburn – Courtney Morris, Sophie Fuller, Nina Grant USQ – Unknown

Clubs and competitions

The Premier competitions in the region are the NPL Queensland Men's, NPL Queensland Women's, FQPL 3 Darling Downs Men's and FQPL 3 Darling Downs Women's, all of which form part of the Central Conference in the Football Queensland pyramid.

Club	Home Ground	Location	Established
Chinchilla Bears	Chinchilla Showgrounds	Chinchilla	Mid-1970's
Garden City Raiders	Middle Ridge Park
Gatton Redbacks			1991
Highfields FC	Highfields Sport and Recreation Park	Highfields	1999
Kingaroy FC
Oakey Soccer Club	Federal Sporting Grounds
Pittsworth Vikings	Pittsworth Soccer Club	Pittsworth	1979
Rockville Rovers	Captain Cook Recreation Reserve	Rockville, Toowoomba	1969
St Albans	Middle Ridge Park	Middle Ridge, Toowoomba	1961
South Toowoomba Hawks	Harristown Park	Harristown, Toowoomba	1995
Stanthorpe Carlton United	CF White Oval	Stanthorpe
Stanthorpe International	International Club Oval	Stanthorpe
Stanthorpe United Redbacks	CF White Oval	Stanthorpe
SWQ Thunder	Clive Berghofer Stadium	Toowoomba
TAS United	Toowoomba Anglican School	Toowoomba
Toowoomba Grammar School FC	Toowoomba Grammar School	Toowoomba
USQ FC	Toara Park	Toowoomba	1977
Warwick Wolves	Queens Park	Warwick
West Wanderers FC	Nell E Robinson Park	Toowoomba	In February 1953 as Wanderers, 2010 renamed West Wanderers
Willowburn FC	Commonwealth Oval	Toowoomba	1949
Withcott FC	Withcott Sports Complex	Parkridge Drive, Withcott

Former clubs

Balgowan

Senior Premiers and Grand Final winners

Football Stanthorpe

The first recorded game of football in Stanthorpe was played in September 1894 between Dalveen and Amosfield. The game ended in a 2-all draw.
The Stanthorpe District Soccer Association was formed in 1926 with three clubs – Amiens, The Summit and Stanthorpe.
The touring Chinese national team was scheduled to play Stanthorpe in August 1927, on their way to Brisbane to play Brisbane and Queensland, however the game was abandoned when part of the Chinese team refused to continue the tour.
In August 1930, the New South Wales team defeated a Stanthorpe representative side 7–0 in Stanthorpe on their way to Brisbane to play Queensland.
The Ballandean club was formed and affiliated with the SDSA in 1935, winning the premiership and Bishop Cup in their first season.
In July 1951, a Stanthorpe representative side played a Toowoomba representative side at the Brisbane Cricket Ground as a curtain-raiser to the third test between Australia and England. Toowoomba defeated Stanthorpe 3–1.
In 1952, Stanthorpe regained the Perkins Cup from Toowoomba. The Perkins Cup was donated by Mr Perkins for competition between Ipswich, Toowoomba, Warwick and Stanthorpe. At this time the SDSA had 5 affiliated clubs – Amiens, The Summit, Glen Aplin, Ballandean and Stanthorpe.
In October 2021, Stanthorpe International celebrated the 60th anniversary of its formation in 1961 by Italian farm workers with a re-union dinner.

Former clubs

Allora
Amiens
Glen Aplin
Olympia
Pozieres
Severnlea
Souths
The Summit
Thulimbah
Wallangarra
Warwick

Football South Burnett

Murmurings around creating the South Burnett Soccer Federation were growing in July 1928 with three clubs in existence and interest in forming clubs in other towns and localities. In April 1930, the third annual meeting of the SBSA was held at the Home Creek Hotel, Tingoora.
This suggests the SBSA was formed in 1927 or 1928, then changed names to the Proston & District Soccer Association at the beginning of the 1935 season.
One of the earliest references to "soccer" is from July 1928, when 2 teams from the Kingaroy Town Soccer Club visited Murgon for games.
By 1931, teams from eight towns were expected to affiliate for the season – Murgon, Byee, Proston, Hivesville, Stalworth, Memerambi, Haly Creek and Kingaroy.
In October 2021, the Nanango Soccer Club celebrated the 40th anniversary of their formation in 1980 at a COVID-postponed event at the Taras Hall in Nanango.

Former clubs

Abbeywood
Hivesville
Proston
Stalworth

Associations

Football Toowoomba Clubs

Football Stanthorpe Clubs

Football South Burnett Clubs

Category:Football Queensland
Category:Soccer leagues in Queensland
Category:Sports leagues established in 2021
Category:2021 establishments in Australia
Category:Darling Downs