UQ formalises partnership with Brisbane Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos have an official university partner, The University of Queensland, under an arrangement announced today.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj and Brisbane Broncos CEO Paul White said the partnership recognised existing linkages in teaching and research activities and a desire to strengthen those links. 

“The Broncos are synonymous with success – both on the football field and in the business world,” Professor Høj said.

“They have fans right across the state’s regional and rural centres, plus plenty of loyal followers interstate.

“UQ is proud to be associated with the Broncos and we look forward to building a strong partnership that benefits both organisations.”

Mr White said UQ and the Broncos shared many values.

“The Brisbane Broncos are delighted to be extending our long-running educational partnership with an iconic Queensland organisation The University of Queensland into a more formal agreement,” he said.

“We share many values with UQ and look forward to working with them to tell their wonderful story across the state through our fans, our match days and our events across Queensland.”

The Broncos have remained one of the most successful NRL clubs since their inception in 1988, winning five NRL premierships (1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2006) and a Super League premiership (1997).

The team has the largest fan base of any football club in Australia, with more than 1.1 million fans nationally, including almost 390,000 females – the largest female fan base in the NRL.

They are regularly the most watched NRL team in the regular season with 18.79 million TV viewers in 2014 and 618,000 supporters attending matches last season.

On top of their sporting success, the Broncos have well-established corporate partnerships, including existing links with UQ.

UQ has been working with the Brisbane Broncos on a number of programs, including providing internships for PhD and honours students, practicum placements for undergraduate students, and joint research activities.

In a current project, UQ researchers are investigating the sleep patterns of elite rugby league players.  The results will be used to inform ways to improve player sleep habits and sleep quality during the season.

Another project involves the development of a “match difficulty index” for games, to see if researchers can predict the difficulty of a regular season game. The results of the research could be used to inform the design of tactical and technical training plans for games.

Professor Høj said the Broncos have consistently achieved at the highest level, mostly guided by master coach Wayne Bennett.

“This partnership will help UQ and the Broncos to continue to foster our existing relationship, based on our mutual strengths and areas of interest,” Professor Høj said.

“As one of the world’s top universities and one of Australia’s outstanding sports clubs, both organisations aim to achieve at the elite level, without being elitist.”

Media: University of Queensland, communications@uq.edu.au, +617 3365 1120. NRMA Insurance Broncos, Trad McLean +61 (0)412 809 106.