The first public game of football played by women in Australia took place at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, The Gabba, on 24 September 1921. 10,000 people attended the match.

The following year in 1922, the British Association Interstate Conference in Melbourne elected to follow their EFA counterparts and ban women from playing football on their grounds. During this time, women were reluctant to play as a result of their fear of public opinion. However, some matches appeared to continue.

Women’s football re-established itself in the 1960s and by the 1970s Brisbane and Ipswich had a thriving community of footballers. In 1974, the South Queensland Women’s Soccer Association was formed and 16 teams were registered as playing competition football that year.

During the late 1970s, Leonie Young (nee Yow Yeh) became the first Indigenous woman to play football for Queensland. Her Mum Iris, a great fan of the game then went on to establish Brisbane’s, and possibly Australia’s, first ever First Nations women’s football team, Tiwiwarrin.

In 1988, our Australian women’s team was invited to play at the most prestigious women’s football events in the world at the time (the Women’s World Invitational Tournament in Taiwan), the team featured a number of Queensanders. 

In 1991, WSQ formed, bringing together football organisation from across the State. Many women’s teams were successful during this time and at the end of the decade, the National Team toured Malaysia. 

In 2008/09, the Brisbane Roar had their first season. During this season they achieved ‘the double’ – becoming the first W-League Premiers and then beating Canberra United (2-0) in the 2009 W-League Grand Final. Currently, some of these Roar players are also part of the Matildas, a team which ranked number 4 in the FIFA world rankings in 2017.

Read a more in depth history of the region below.