Greater Brisbane League

Greater Brisbane League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event Greater Brisbane League 2011-12
Sport Baseball
Founded 1946
Founder Baseball Queensland
No. of teams 15
Country  Australia
Most recent
champion(s)		 Surfers Paradise
Related
competitions		 Claxton Shield
Official website http://www.qld.baseball.com.au

The Greater Brisbane League or formerly the Greater Brisbane Baseball Board league (GB3) is the largest baseball league in the Australian state of Queensland and covers all teams from Brisbane North, South, West, Metro as well as two Gold Coast teams. These are from age groups Little League (U12) through to seniors. It is run by the governing body of Baseball Queensland.[1]

To participate in the Greater Brisbane Major League, clubs must meet certain criteria set by Baseball Queensland. Generally the hardest criteria for clubs to meet is to field a team in the junior age levels U14's, U16's and U20's. When this criterion is not met, senior teams may only compete in the South Queensland Baseball League or Pacific League competition.

The GBL consists of six senior division teams from Major/Pacific League A and B through to South Queensland League A-C and a separate Masters competition. Juniors consist of an U20 competition, division one and two U16 and a division one and two U14 competitions. U8, U10 and U12 competitions are run by their respective regions and are non-divisional.[2]

History

The Greater Brisbane League was originally known as the Queensland Baseball Association fixtures, which began in 1946 when six teams entered the competition playing primarily at New Farm Park, Kalinga Park, Langlands Park, Perry Park and the Brisbane Exhibition Ground. Uniforms were made out of surplus army uniforms and teams made up of many American ex-pat soldiers from World War II and A-Grade cricketers to keep game fit during the off-season.[3]

Format

Level

League(s)/Division(s)

1

Queensland Major Baseball League
6 clubs

Pacific Baseball League
7 clubs

2

Queensland Major Baseball League B Grade
6 clubs

Pacific Baseball League B Grade
7 clubs

3

South Queensland Baseball League A Grade
12 clubs

4

South Queensland Baseball League B Grade
7 clubs

5

South Queensland Baseball League C Grade
8 clubs

Over 35

GBL Masters
5 clubs

Teams

Clubs currently in the Greater Brisbane League are:

Division Team Based Field
Southside
Gold Coast Robina Braves* Robina Robina Common [4]
Surfers Paradise Benowa Sir Bruce Small Park [5]
Brisbane South Mt Gravatt Eagles Mackenzie Weedon Street [6]
Beenleigh Hawks Beenleigh T E Costigan Field [7]
Runcorn Indians Runcorn Dew Street [8]
Redlands Sheldon John Murray Field [9]
Brisbane West Ipswich Musketeers Tivoli Church Street [10]
Western Districts Bulldogs Darra Atthows Park [11]
Toowoomba Rangers Toowoomba Commonwealth Oval [12]
Southern Stars Browns Plains Regency Park -
Northside
Brisbane North Narangba Demons Narangba Narangba Sport & Recreation Complex [13]
Redcliffe Padres Redcliffe Talobilla Park [14]
Pine Rivers Rapids Bray Park Les Hughes Sporting Complex -
Brisbane Metro All Stars Hendra Bannister Park [15]
Carina Redsox Carina Foley Field [16]
Pine Hills Lightning Bunya James Drysdale Reserve [17]
Windsor Royals Newmarket Holloway Field [18]

*Robina Braves field only junior teams in the GBL.

Below is a map indicating the locations of all eighteen teams competing in the Greater Brisbane League competition. The Brisbane CBD is represented by the black square. Also note Toowoomba is located off the map to the west:

All Stars
Carina Redsox
Toowoomba Rangers
Mt Gravatt Eagles
Redlands
Logan Sharks
Southern Stars
Beenleigh Hawks
Mudgeeraba Redsox

Commissioners Cup

The Commissioners Cup or Commissioners Shield is an annual, end of year event that usually coincides with the Christmas break of the season. It is a one off game in Major A, B and C grades between the current Greater Brisbane League leaders of the Northside and the Southside.

Major A standings are on win percentage, whereas Major B and C-Grade standings are on points.

Major League Criteria

The basics to qualifying for Major League criteria, clubs must have a minimum of:

Champions

See: List of Greater Brisbane League seasons#Greater Brisbane League

Competitions

See: Greater Brisbane League 2008-09

Media coverage

The Greater Brisbane League is covered across many media sources from Quest Community Newspapers including the Redcliffe and Bayside Herald,[19] Caboolture Shire Herald,[20] Albert and Logan News,[21] Pine Rivers Press,[22] Northern Times,[23] and the Logan West Leader,[24] as well as many other regional newspapers such as the Hinterland Grapevine,[25] The Sunshine Coast Daily,[26] Gold Coast Bulletin,[27] Benowa Garden News,[28] and the Mudgee Guardian.[29]

Major League results are also covered by the television network 7 and more in depth results are covered by The Sunday Mail and the The Courier Mail.[30]

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/16/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.