Once again, the spooky month of October has reared its head and with another year in sports starting to close, even more oddities have occurred. One that has been raising eyebrows over the last couple of months has been surrounding the proud Queensland capital of Brisbane and how no matter how many grand finals the city has made this year, they have lost every single one.
Here, we will delve into Brisbane’s sporting legacy and what on earth has happened in 2023 to cause all these bridesmaids’ stories for the city. And even ask if there is potentially an active curse plaguing them.
Is there potentially an active curse plaguing them?
Brisbane: A Previous City of Champions
To understand the craziness of this situation, it should be addressed how successful Brisbane has been in sports on the national scale. The Brisbane Broncos in the NRL is pound-for-pound the most successful franchise in the competition. Winning six premierships since entering the competition in 1988.
The Brisbane Lions in the AFL were controversial as the previous Fitzroy Lions moved out of Melbourne to Queensland in 1996. But it didn’t take long for success as from 2001 to 2003, the Lions would dominate the AFL and claim a three-peat of titles, with an addition of the 2021 AFLW title.
For a period in A-League history, the Brisbane Roar were the best team in Australia. Under the coaching of Ange Postecoglou, who is now the coach of Tottenham Hotspur in England, the team would win three premierships in four seasons and set records on their undefeated streak with 36 games. Earning the nickname of “Roarcelona”.
With this pedigree, it shows that the city is capable of winning titles in the big games, but something happened in 2023 where everything that could’ve gone wrong did.
What Happened in 2023?
This “curse” started unknowingly in the Big Bash League cricket final in early February as the Brisbane Heat went over to Perth to play against the Perth Scorchers. The Brisbane Heat were on a fairytale run, beating everyone in their path until they had to face the most successful team in the competition’s history.
It went down for the final over with Perth needing 10 runs off the last 6 balls. But Perth pulled it off to continue their dominance and start the unknowing curse for Brisbane.
Then we advance into the weekend of the 30th of September which features three Brisbane teams playing for national titles. Starting on Saturday with the AFL Grand Final, the Brisbane Lions being one of the best teams in the season and one who would dominate the finals into the leadup for the Grand Final to face the Collingwood Magpies. After a close game for the entire match, the Magpies would hang on and claim their first title in 13 years and stop Brisbane from winning a second national title.
The next day in the rugby league grand finals, two Brisbane teams would battle for titles. First, is the NRL State Championship between the Brisbane Tigers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. It wouldn’t be close, with Souths dominating from start to finish with a 20-point win with a squad full of first graders.
Then came the most shocking, the NRL Grand Final. After the close first half, the Brisbane Broncos would galvanise and dominate the second half leading by 16 points with 20 minutes to go and stopping the Penrith Panthers dynasty. But this dream became a nightmare, as Penrith mounted a comeback and would take the lead with 2 minutes to go and secured the best comeback in grand final history.
Shockingly, no team had ever been in front by that many points and gone on to lose however, on this day, it happened to Brisbane.
And finally, all the hope that was left was for the Brisbane Roar and the Australia Cup Final. They would be drawn to play Sydney FC at Sydney’s home ground after the draw gave Sydney hosting rights. Even though Brisbane did take the lead in the first half. Sydney would dominate the second half and seal their second cup 3-1.
It should also be stated that every team that has hosted the final over the last ten years has won the cup. It almost seems like faith.
Curse Verdict
Is this a curse or a coincidence? Who really knows, but it does make a very good storyline.
Hi, my name is Jessie Dennett, and I write about the weird and wonderful world of sports. When I’m not studying for my Bachelor of Communications, I like to create and watch sports content, play video games of varying genres and vibe to Britpop and Eurodance music when alone.
