The Queensland Country Rugby Union administers the competitions at Senior (open age) and Colts (under 19) levels.

Eleven country sub-unions are grouped into three regional divisions in Northern, Central, and Southern Queensland for the championships.

[2] For the 1903 tournament, additional visiting teams were added from Mount Morgan, Rockhampton, Charters Towers, Townsville, and Ravenswood.

The QRU was not re-established until 1928–29,[5] after the game had lost a lot of ground and was no longer played much in the country parts of Queensland.

In 1983, the country carnivals were replaced by a four-team regional State Championship which involved representative sides from Northern, Central, and Southern Queensland, as well as Brisbane competing for the XXXX Cup.

[7] The trophy itself had been introduced in 1978 but was previously contested by Brisbane clubs and teams from individual Queensland Country sub-unions including Gold Coast, Darling Downs and Rockhampton.

[8] Under the new format, the four teams played in a round-robin with the top two sides advancing to the final but this was revised after three wins in a row to Brisbane.

[9] In the Senior competition, Brisbane proved too strong for the other regions in the XXXX Cup, so the format was revised again after the 1987 season.