1.
Newtown Jets
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The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydneys inner west. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season, the Jets home ground is Henson Park, and their team colours are blue and white. Established in 1908, Newtown were one of the members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. They competed continuously in the NSWRFL premiership until their departure in 1983, over this period they won the competition three times. This made Newtown the second rugby league club in Australia. The second club, Glebe, was formed on 9 January 1908, when the Dirty Reds were controversially excluded from the NSWRL Premiership in 1929, Newtown became the oldest Australian club. There is some argument however over whether or not Newtown was actually the first Rugby league club in Australia, the clubs website stands by this claim, however other sources, most notably Terry Williams book Out of the Blue, The History of Newtown RLFC, dispute this claim. Rugby league historian Sean Fagan similarly holds that the date of 14 January 1908 is the foundation day. The minutes of the meeting held by Newtowns Board shows the date as 8 January. Newtown played in the NSWRFL Premiership from 1908–83 and they won the 1910 NSWRFL Premiership after drawing the final was enough to see them win due to being minor premiers. A Newtown winger, Jack Scott, was the first to score a try in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Known as the Newtown Bluebags for most of its lifetime, the club adopted the Jets nickname in 1973, or perhaps due to the close proximity of the clubs home ground, Henson Park, to the major east/west flight path for the airport. The club won premierships in 1910,1933 and 1943, and finished second in 1913,1914,1929,1944, Jack Gibson took over as Newtown coach in 1973. Gibson picked his team solely on form, irrespective of seniority, the Wills Cup Final was played under floodlights at the old Sydney Sports Ground on St Patricks day before a crowd of 13,180. At half time St George were up 15-2 and looked certain to win, the 1981 Newtown team, which played in the clubs last NSWRL premiership grand final, included the legends of game Tommy Raudonikis and Phil Gould. It was coached by Warren Ryan, financial pressures forced the team out of the NSWRL Premiership at the end of 1983. The club continued to seek readmission, pursuing various different alternatives and this plan involved a name change for the club, to the Newtown-Campbelltown Jets. The proposal, including a new logo with the new name on the royal blue jersey, was approved by the football club directors
2.
Arthur McCabe
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Arthur John Michael Mackker McCabe was a pioneer Australian rugby union and rugby league player. He represented for Australian in rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics, a brilliant fly-half, Mackker McCabe was a member of the Australian rugby union team which won the gold medal with McCabe scoring two tries in the gold medal victory. While he toured the US and England with the Wallabies in the tour prior to the Olympics his gold medal match was his sole Australian representative appearance. On his return to Australia he joined the code of rugby league along with 13 of his Olympic teammates. He played for five seasons with the South Sydney Rabbitohs finishing his career with a win in 1914. Despite representing for New South Wales in rugby league in 1910 he was unsuccessful in his bid to become a rugby international. For the season 1910, he was the NSW Rugby Football Leagues top try scorer and he was so highly praised by the press, they dubbed him The Will-O-The-Wisp, a phrase that became synonymous with McCabe. Arthur McCabe died suddenly of an attack at his home in Morehead Street, Redfern on 30 July 1924. A large funeral was held for Mackker McCabe and was attended by many ex Wallaby players and he was buried at Rookwood Cemetery on 31 July 1924. Andrews, Malcolm The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney profile
3.
Dally Messenger
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Herbert Henry Dally Messenger was one of Australasias first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. Messenger, or The Master as he was dubbed, represented his country in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. Messenger had a build, and while standing only about 172 cm in height, he was a powerful runner of the ball. He was a teetotaller and non-smoker during his career and other than breakfast, Messenger was born in the Sydney waterfront suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, and grew up in another of Sydneys waterfront suburbs, Double Bay, where his father owned a boat shed. He also spent some time living with an aunt in South Melbourne, Victoria, in Sydney, Messenger attended Double Bay Public School in the citys eastern suburbs. It was here that he honed his rugby skills, while also playing cricket and indulging in his other great sporting love. Messenger worked, too, at his fathers boat shed, by this juncture, he had gained the nickname of Dally. Fortunately, little Herbert Henry shed his pot belly as he grew older, together with the e from the spelling of his nickname, Messenger first took up competitive rugby in 1900, playing for a local rugby union club called the Warrigals in a semi-social club competition. In 1905 he finally began playing for Easts in the clubs second-grade team, in that same season, he also purportedly played Australian rules football club in a number of first-grade matches in the Sydney competition. Messenger began the 1906 season in first grade with Easts as a standoff and he swiftly won a following amongst the clubs supporters due to his mesmeric ball skills, cheeky tricks, blistering acceleration and accurate short- and long-kicking game off either foot. Messenger moved to what would become his customary position of following his selection there for the New South Wales team in 1906. By the time of his Wallaby debut in 1907, he had made that position his own, in the book Viewless Winds, the 1906 representative footballer Paddy Moran wrote that Messengers play was full of surprises, unorthodox, flash and directed largely by the unconscious mind. He said that Messenger never became a slave to copybook practices because his instinct enabled him to see, Moran compared him to Bradman in terms of their mutual ability to instantaneously co-ordinate their bodies into the right position in apparently ample time before the ball would arrive. When talk of a rugby competition, or a Rugby League, was being aired. He was approached by a consortium that included Test cricketer, Victor Trumper with friend J. J. Giltinan and he signed on with the new professional code in 1907. As the premier rugby footballer of the time, Messengers signing is considered the moment in the substantiation of rugby league. After he became a league player, Messengers rugby games were struck from the record books of the New South Wales Rugby Union. Messenger played in the series against a professional New Zealand team, the All Golds as they were referred to
4.
Sydney Roosters
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The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Only the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St. George Dragons have won more premierships, the club holds the record for having the most wins and the second greatest margin of victory in a match in Australian rugby league history. The Eastern Suburbs DRLFC is the club to have played in each and every season at the elite level. Coached by Trent Robinson along with captains Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend, as such, much of the clubs merchandise and paraphernalia, especially those marketed directly to long-serving and dedicated members, includes the insignia ESDRLFC. Indeed, the suburb of Sydney, postcode 2000, falls entirely within the boundaries of the ESDRLFC. Unofficially nicknamed the Tricolours due to their red, white and blue playing strip, Eastern Suburbs won its first match, however, the club rapidly declined and failed to win the premiership for the next nine seasons. Eastern Suburbs missed the finals once from 1926 to 1942, and in time won four titles. During this period, Dave Brown set several point-scoring records that still stand, in 1935, the team lost just one game, and recorded the highest winning margin in their history, an 87–7 victory over Canterbury. In 1936, Eastern Suburbs became one of five teams in history to remain undefeated for an entire season. They are the club to remain unbeaten for two consecutive seasons. Despite claiming the premiership in 1945, Eastern Suburbs failed to make the finals for the seven seasons. A runners-up finish in 1960 was the closest the club came to claiming the premiership during this era, Eastern Suburbs were soundly defeated 31–6 in the grand final that year, by the famous record-beating St George outfit. In 1966, the fell to new depths and was winless for the first time in its history. It was also the last occasion in which the Roosters won the wooden spoon until claiming it again in the 2009 season. It ended a run for Eastern Suburbs, from 1963 to 1966, they won 8 of 72 matches, finishing second to last in 1964. The club underwent a renaissance in 1967 after appointing Jack Gibson as coach, and introducing a new emblem on the playing jerseys, from 1972 to 1982, the Roosters won four minor premierships and played in four grand finals, winning two consecutively. Gibson, now dubbed as Super Coach, returned to lead the team from 1974 to 1976, in 1974 and 1975, the team won 39 of 44 matches, both minor premierships, and both grand finals and set a premiership record of 19 consecutive wins. Between 1984 and 1995, the Roosters reached the semi-finals once, the club came close to reaching the premiership in 1987 under coach and favourite son Arthur Beetson, being defeated by eventual premiers Manly in a bruising major semi-final, 10–6
5.
1909 NSWRFL season
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The 1909 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the second season of Sydneys top-level rugby league football competition, Australias first. Eight teams contested during the season for the premiership and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield, seven teams from Sydney and one team from Newcastle, New South Wales. At the begninning of the season, the nearly broke NSWRFL had met and kicked out its founders Henry Hoyle, Victor Trumper, part-way through the season, Edward Larkin was appointed full-time secretary of the NSWRFL. Also in 1909 north of the border, the Queensland Rugby Football League got its club competition started for the rebel football code of rugby league. The teams that made up the 1909 premiership season were the same as the 1908 season with the exception of Cumberland who were dissolved, being unable to field a competitive team. Seven of Cumberlands players ended up going to Western Suburbs the following year, Glebe included Peter Moko, the first player of Polynesian background to play in the premiership. Newcastle exited the League at the end of the season, during the season the New Zealand national side toured in June–July, followed by the second New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia. Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the finished the round inside the top 4. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round, numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round In 1909 semi-finals were played amongst the four highest placed teams. Top two finishers South Sydney and Balmain were able to win their respective semi-finals, but unknown to Balmain, South Sydney turned up ready to play. The final was deemed to be a forfeit as a result, requests from Balmain for the match to be played at a later date were refused by the League. Conflict over whether there was an agreement between the two not to play a final caused a deep seated resentment towards Souths by Balmain which lasted many years. It was the most dramatic action ever taken by a league club – the 1909 Balmain team forfeited the premiership Final. The seeds of the events of 1909 lay in the years before rugby league was formed, back when Balmain. In 1900 the Metropolitan Rugby Union replaced the clubs of the 1800s with district clubs. This was done to more evenly distribute the talent between clubs, and to build upon the support for suburban based clubs. Between 1900 and 1906, Souths and Balmain had met 14 times, while most clubs trained indoors at night or on fields under moonlight, Souths and Easts had exclusive use of the lights of the Sports Ground. Understandably, other clubs, particularly Balmain and Norths felt that Souths, the newspapers and opposing fans had come to call the Balmain club “the Balmainiacs”
6.
1911 NSWRFL season
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The 1911 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fourth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the premiership, the League’s turnover for the 1911 season was £15,889, up £2,477 on the previous year. For the first time in its history, the premiership consisted of the same teams for two consecutive seasons in a row. The same eight teams from the 1910 season played in 1911, however, because both Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney finished on equal premiership points in second place, a playoff was used to decide who would play minor premiers Glebe in the final. Eastern Suburbs ended up beating local rivals South Sydney 23-10 at the Sports Ground in front of 14,000 people on September 2,1911, the following week, Eastern Suburbs beat Glebe in front of 16,000 at the Agricultural Ground 22-9. Glebe immediately exercised their right for a rematch the week for a match to be held at the Agricultural Ground on September 16,1911. After Glebe won the toss, Dally Messenger kicked off at 3, Glebe winger Cubitt scored early and Easts were only able to post a penalty goal in the first half and trailed 5–2 at the break. The referee was Tom McMahon who in the first half sent off Glebe’s Sid Pert and Rooster Larry OMalley, early in the second half, Cubitt scored again for Glebe to take an 8–4 lead. However, in the ten minutes, Eastern Suburbs were able to score a try after a high kick was misjudged by the Glebe fullback. Eastern Suburbs 11 defeated Glebe 8 On June 22, the first game of league was played on the Sydney Cricket Ground. NSW defeated New Zealand in the match, 35–10. com. au
7.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
8.
Rugby league
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Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the aim of producing a faster, in rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing teams goal line, this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals, after each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time. Rugby league is a sport in Northern England, the states of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, New Zealand. The European Super League and Australasian National Rugby League are the club competitions. Rugby league is played internationally, predominantly by European, Australasian and Pacific Island countries, the first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954, the current holders are Australia. The first of these, the Northern Rugby Football Union, was established in 1895 as a faction of Englands Rugby Football Union. Similar breakaway factions split from RFU-affiliated unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, renaming themselves rugby football leagues, in 1922, the Northern Union also changed its name to the Rugby Football League and thus over time the sport itself became known as rugby league football. In 1895, a schism in Rugby football resulted in the formation of the Northern Rugby Football Union, within fifteen years of that first meeting in Huddersfield, more than 200 RFU clubs had left to join the rugby revolution. In 1897, the line-out was abolished and in 1898 professionalism introduced, in 1906, the Northern Union changed its rules, reducing teams from 15 to 13 a side and replacing the ruck formed after every tackle with the play the ball. A similar schism to that which occurred in England took place in Sydney, There, on 8 August 1907 the New South Wales Rugby Football League was founded at Batemans Hotel in George Street. Rugby league then went on to rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales. On 5 May 1954 over 100,000 spectators watched the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England, also in 1954 the Rugby League World Cup, the first for either code of rugby, was formed at the instigation of the French. In 1966, the International Board introduced a rule that a team in possession was allowed three play-the-balls and on the tackle a scrum was to be formed. This was increased to six tackles in 1972 and in 1983 the scrum was replaced by a handover,1967 saw the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league played
9.
Sydney Showground (Moore Park)
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In 1811, Governor Macquarie proclaimed Sydney’s second common, an area of 1,000 acres. The period from 1902 to 1919 saw the expansion of the showgrounds to the south, from 1920–1937, the grounds were further expanded to the north, with the addition of new squares and judging rings. The dominant visual elements of the complex by this time were the walls, the Members’ Grandstand clock tower. The country’s sesqui-centenary celebrations of 1938 led to a building program at the showground, including the Government Pavilion. Aside from the Royal Easter Show and rugby matches, the venue was used for World Series Cricket games in the late 1970s when the Sydney Cricket Ground was unavailable. At its peak, the old showground could hold over 90,000 people. The Main Arena at the Sydney Showground was also used as one of two Sydney Harness racing venues, the other being the Harold Park Paceway, located only 4 km from Moore Park in the suburb of Glebe. Claimed to be the fastest speedway in the world in 1937, although solo motorcycles were first to race at the Showgrounds they were soon joined by sidecars, speedcars and later Super Modifieds. In the 1950s stock cars began to appear joined much later by demolition derbies, since the departure of the Royal Easter Show to the new showground, the old showground has been redeveloped as Fox Studios, a commercial venture designed at supporting Australias film industry. It is in proximity with some of Sydneys largest public venues, namely the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Football Stadium, and the Hordern Pavilion. Played by a New South Wales team against New Zealands rebel 1907 tourists, after that the Agricultural Ground hosted the first ever interstate matches between New South Wales and Queensland. Sydneys Royal Agricultural Showground was then venue for the first Ashes test on Australian soil, the showground also became the venue for the NSWRFLs grand finals until the late 1920s, and eventually hosted 183 first grade rugby league games. The venue hosted concerts by famous artists, including Led Zeppelin, ABBA, David Bowie, AC/DC, The Police and KISS. English rock band Led Zeppelin played to over 25,000 fans at the Sydney Showground in February 1972 as part of their 1972 Australasian Tour, footage from the show is featured on disc two of the Led Zeppelin DVD released some thirty years after the event. The Sydney Showgrounds was also the venue for the annual Sydney Big Day Out music festival held in January between 1992 and 1997. The 1997 event was titled Six and Out - Big Day out then indicating the final Big Day Out Festival before its new beginning at the new Sydney Showground Homebush in 1999. The former Sydney Showground is featured in the Rage Against the Machine video clip for Bulls on Parade, from when they performed live at the Big Day Out Festival on 25 January 1996
10.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
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The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league team based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital, the club was formed in 1908 as one of the founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, making them one of Australias oldest rugby league teams. They are one of two foundation clubs still present in the NRL, the other being the Sydney Roosters. The Rabbitohs traditional heartland covers the once typically working-class suburbs of inner-south Sydney now generally occupied by factories, the club is based in Redfern, where the clubs administration and training facilities are located, however they have long held a wide supporter base spread all over New South Wales. The teams home ground is currently Stadium Australia in Sydney Olympic Park, the club played in the first round of the newly formed New South Wales Rugby League, defeating North Sydney 11–7 at Birchgrove Oval on 20 April 1908. The team went on to win the inaugural premiership then successfully defended their title in the 1909 season, during these early years Arthur Hennessy was considered the founding father of the South Sydney rugby league club. A hooker and prop forward, Hennessy was Souths first captain and he was also New South Wales first captain and Australias first test captain in 1908. After further premiership success in 1914 and 1918, South Sydney won seven of the eight premierships from 1925–1932, the 1925 side went through the season undefeated and is only one of six Australian premiership sides in history to have achieved this feat. Such was Souths dominance in the years of the rugby league competition that the Rabbitohs were labelled The Pride of the League. South Sydney struggled through most of the 1940s, only making the semifinals on two occasions, South Sydneys longest losing streak of 22 games was during the period 1945–1947. In the 1945 season they managed to win one game while in 1946 they were unable to win a single game. In the 1950s South Sydney again had success, winning five of the six premierships from 1950–1955. Players that were involved in these years included Denis Donoghue, Jack Rayner, Les Chicka Cowie, Johnny Graves, Ian Moir, Greg Hawick, Ernie Hammerton, Bernie Purcell and Clive Churchill. Churchill, nicknamed the Little Master for his brilliant attacking play, is universally regarded as one of the greatest ever Australian rugby league players. In the late 1950s Souths began a run of form failing to make the finals from 1958–1964. However, in 1965 a talented young side made the Grand Final against St. George who were aiming to secure their 10th straight premiership. The young Rabbitohs werent overawed by the Dragons formidable experience and in front of a crowd of 78,056 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Financial problems started to hit Souths in the early 1970s, forcing players to go to other clubs
11.
Western Suburbs Magpies
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The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia. The club, as an entity, departed the top-flight competition in 1999 after forming a 50–50 joint venture with Balmain Tigers to form the Wests Tigers. The club currently fields sides in the Ron Massey Cup, Sydney Shield, S. G. Ball Cup, Campbelltown Stadium, which has a capacity of 20,000, is their home stadium. The club was one of the members of the Sydney rugby football league competition in 1908. Founded at a meeting on 4 February 1908 at Ashfield Town Hall, though they spent long periods of time as also-rans they did taste premiership success four times in the mid 20th century. They won their first premiership in 1930, beating St George 27–2, four years later they defeated Eastern Suburbs to win their second title. For the 1944 NSWRFL season Queensland 1910s representative player Henry Bolewski became coach the Western Suburbs club, replacing Alf Blair, Wests improved slightly on the previous season, finishing 5th, but failing to make the finals, and Bolewski was replaced by club great, Frank McMillan. Wests won a pair of premierships, beating Balmain in 1948. Both times they defeated a club hunting its third title in a row, apart from these occasions, the club was famous for three successive grand final matches in 1961,1962 and 1963 against the St George Dragons in the midst of their 11-premiership run. The club boasted footballers such as halfback Arthur Summons, Harry Bomber Wells, Kel OShea, Noel Kelly, the 1963 grand final was immortalised in a photograph which became known as The Gladiators after St. George captain Norm Provan and Summons trudged off the field together. A final period of glory beckoned in the late 1970s where they spent a few years at the top or near-top of the table, however attractive offers from other clubs and then doubts about the clubs viability led to years of exodus of talent. Wests did manage to win the 1977 Amco Cup, John Ribot, a winger for Wests, was the top try-scorer for the 1980 season. In 1983 the NSWRFL attempted to expel Wests from the competition, eventually, Wests relocated to Campbelltown in 1987. Ironically, this was where Newtown had unsuccessfully tried to move to four years earlier, Wests begun a rebuilding process in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Laurie Freier started the 1988 Winfield Cup season as the coach but was replaced during the season by John Bailey. The club made the finals in 1991 and 1992 under coach Warren Ryan. They were also NSWRL Club Champions in 1991 when all three made the semi-finals
12.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
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The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions, the club was admitted to the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, predecessor of the current NRL competition, in 1935. In 2012 the Bulldogs won the premiership, but lost to the Melbourne Storm 14–4 in the Grand Final. In 2014 they were in the Grand Finals against Rabbitohs but lost 30-6 and it took the new club, nicknamed Country Bumpkins because of their rural recruiting and CB emblem, four years to win their first premiership in 1938. The grand final-winning effort was repeated in 1942 before a 38-year premiership drought, in 1967, having ended the 11-year premiership reign of St. George by defeating them in the final, The Berries lost to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the Grand Final. In 1978 Canterbury became known as The Bulldogs, nicknames such as Cantabs CBs and Berries were seen to be soft and the club wanted something to signify determination and grit. In the mid-1990s’ Super League war, the Bulldogs aligned themselves with the Super League competition, in 1998 the Bulldogs came close to adding another premiership trophy after qualifying for the Grand Final where they met the Brisbane Broncos and lost 38–12. On the way to the 1998 Grand Final, the Bulldogs had two come-from-behind wins. The first was against the Newcastle Knights in the week of the finals – behind 16–0 in the second half, they fought back to 16-all at full-time. A week later they trailed Parramatta in the final by 16 points with 9 minutes remaining. Three tries and a conversion in the final minutes got them back level at 18-all, and this resulted in the club falling from first to last place on the ladder, and at the end of the season the Bulldogs received their first wooden spoon since 1964. The Bulldogs returned to contention in 2003, however they fell one step short of yet another Grand Final after losing to the Roosters 28–18 in the Preliminary Final. The club went through some off-field dramas in 2004, the most serious of which included rape allegations during a match in Coffs Harbour. The team managed to focus on football and triumphed when they out the Sydney Roosters 16–13 with a try-saving tackle by Andrew Ryan in the dying seconds of the 2004 Grand Final. The game was to be the last for departing captain Steve Price,2005 saw the Bulldogs unable to mount a serious defence of their premiership title as injuries and contract negotiations saw the year start and finish on a sour note for the club. Due to the extent of injuries suffered, the team was under-strength for most of the year and this took its toll in the final six weeks of the season, with the club suffering successive heavy losses and missing the finals series. Inconsistency and a finish to the 2007 season meant the Bulldogs were knocked out of the finals in week two. In 2008, having already lost Mark OMeley to the Sydney Roosters, further into the off-season the Bulldogs also lost halfback Brent Sherwin, and prospects for the 2008 season began to look dim
13.
Annandale (rugby league team)
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Annandale were an Australian rugby league football club which played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1910 to 1920. Based in Annandale, New South Wales and nicknamed The Dales, the club was never able to finish higher than fifth in their eleven-year history and managed to win just one match in their final three seasons. This, combined with the industrialisation of the led to their omission from the competition for further seasons at the end of 1920. All these events are attributed to the fact that fewer players were eligible to play under the residency rules in place at the time. Annandale began their first season with a poor start, losing their first four games straight which as it turned out sent them immediately out of the race for the premiership. They did, however, recover well and managed to finish with five wins, one draw, the first of these wins came in round 5 against a Western Suburbs side that had won just 3 out of 23 matches in their three-year history. At the end of the season, Annandale finished sixth out of the eight teams, the 1911 season was arguably Annandales most successful, managing to win five of their fourteen games, equalling their performance in the previous year. However, they were able to one place higher on the ladder. In 1912 the club were able to claim an 8–5 win against Balmain in the round of the season. In equal last position with Western Suburbs heading into the round of the season. Despite having lost to Western Suburbs in round seven, Annandale won the match 15–6, as it turned out, the scenario for Annandale in the final rounds of the 1913 season were similar to those they experienced in 1912. They were again in equal last position with Western Suburbs with two rounds to play and up against one another in a match which would most likely decide who would finish last, replicating their win from the previous season, Annandale took out the match 18–0. The club managed to claim just one draw from their first eleven games of the 1914 season, leaving them in last position, the two teams travelled to Goulburn, with Annandale needing to win to avoid receiving their first wooden spoon. In this match, however, Western Suburbs won 6–4, ensuring Annandale were to finish last. In 1915 the club managed to get three wins, including one against Western Suburbs in the final match of the season. In 1916 they began the season poorly, winning just one of their first ten games and they were then able to win three games in a row and ended up finishing seventh. The 1917 season was more of the same for the club, in a match against equal last North Sydney in the second last round of the season, Annandale prevailed in a close match 3–2 meaning they were again able to narrowly avoid the wooden spoon. Annandale were unable to win a game in 1918, scoring ten points or more just twice whilst conceding ten points or less on just two occasions
14.
Cumberland (rugby league team)
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Cumberland, officially known as Central Cumberland, were a rugby league team in 1908 based in the region of Cumberland Plain in western Sydney. They were one of the nine teams in the first New South Wales Rugby League season. They are the shortest lived team in the history of rugby league in Australia after disbanding late that year. Statistically, they are the club with the poorest all-time record, only lasting eight games in their inaugural, the Cumberland area was dominated by rugby union, another form of the game, as the main winter sport. The local Kings School took part in a competition of rugby union with other clubs Aallaroo, Calder House, Civil, Lyndhurst, Military, Newington, North Shore. These teams in the area by 1900, were put under the banner of Western Suburbs Rugby Union. The club was formed on the night of 21 April 1908 at Horse and Jockey Hotel, Homebush, on that morning, Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph advertised a meeting for that night to discuss the formation of rugby league club in the Cumberland area. The meeting was attended by annoyed members of the Western Suburbs Rugby Union Club who were asked to form a league club under the name Central Cumberland. When the Western Suburbs formed their club, most of their players had come from Ashfield Rugby Union Club, all but two of the first grade team of Western Suburbs Rugby Union Club rejected offers from Western Suburbs. However, when Cumberland were looking for players,23 of the 27 players present at the signed with the club. The NSWRL were reluctant to admit a ninth team into the premiership, however, the clubs involved declined so the NSWRL agreed to allowing the Cumberland team to a trial match against Eastern Suburbs. While Eastern Suburbs won the match 18–4, the NSWRL was convinced of that they could be competitive, as the NSWRL premiership had already begun, the NSWRL had to reformat the draw to include Cumberland, which meant increasing the number of teams from eight to nine. Cumberland did not have a ground, like some of the other teams. The first match played was against Souths on 9 May 1908 and despite the loss. Though the game, which Cumberland lost 23–2 was played as a curtain-raiser to a match between Australia and New Zealand. Abercrombie scored another penalty goal to make it 9–6, after which Bloomfield intercepted a pass, kicked the ball, Cumberland won its only game in the premiership season and ever. In what turned out to be their final game, Cumberland were only able to field eleven out of the required thirteen players. The club ended up borrowing two players from the opposing team North Sydney to play for them, who were Paddy Boland and they lost this game 45–0 and were awarded the wooden spoon for finishing on the bottom of the competition ladder
15.
1908 NSWRFL season
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The season culminated in the first premiership final, for the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield, which was contested by Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney. Early in the 20th century in Sydney, the game of football was contested in competitions that were affiliated with the Rugby Football Union based in England. In 1895 the breakaway Northern Rugby Football Union was formed and its own version of football started to evolve. The reasons for this split were ultimately based around the fact that clubs had wanted to compensate their players for time away from due to injuries. When crowd numbers started to rise, clubs were able to afford to pay players benefits as a result of increased gate takings. In 1906 in Sydney, crowd numbers for football began to increase significantly following the emergence of a special player, Dally Messenger. It was around this time that the discontent of players with their clubs for continually failing to shift away from the culture of the Rugby Football Union was starting to show. Even though bigger crowds had brought increased revenue to the game, on 8 August 1907 a group of leading players and supporters met at Batemans Hotel, George Street, Sydney and resolved to form the New South Wales Rugby Football League. It would turn out to be Messengers popularity that would ensure the success of the new competition, the popularity amongst players in support of the new competition was overwhelming, with only some players deciding to continue playing in the traditional amateur Rugby Football Union competition. The Rugby Football League clubs that were formed were essentially breakaway clubs, a key aspect of the new code was that players would be paid for playing the game. Adopting the playing rules of the rebel Northern Union of England, the 1907–08 All Golds arrived back in Australia on 9 April. They spread themselves around the eight clubs that were preparing for the season, the team watched the first round of the competition before heading to Newcastle and playing the first game of rugby league in that city. They then played matches against New South Wales and Australia before heading north to Queensland, the final test was held on 6 June and Australia defeated New Zealand 14–9 for their first test win. A New Zealand Māori side had arrived in Sydney in the first week of June and they played four matches in New South Wales before also heading north to Queensland. On their return they played three matches, including one against Australia, before financial and legal disputes ended the tour. Eight teams contested the first round of the season, seven teams from Sydney, another Sydney team, Cumberland, joined the competition in the second round, making it nine teams in total, however the club exited the League at the end of the season. All four games of the opening round were played on 20 April 1908. Two games were held at Wentworth Park and the two at Birchgrove Oval
16.
Newcastle, New South Wales
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Located 162 kilometres north-northeast of Sydney, at the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the part of the Sydney basin. Newcastle and the lower Hunter Region were traditionally occupied by the Awabakal and Worimi Aboriginal People, in September 1797 Lieutenant John Shortland became the first European settler to explore the area. His discovery of the area was largely accidental, as he had sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized HMS Cumberland as she was sailing from Sydney Cove. While returning, Lt. Shortland entered what he described as a very fine river. He returned with reports of the port and the areas abundant coal. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colonys first export, Newcastle gained a reputation as a hellhole as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes. By the start of the 19th century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by groups of men, including coal diggers, timber-cutters. Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales from 1800, in 1801, a convict camp called Kings Town was established to mine coal and cut timber. In the same year, the first shipment of coal was dispatched to Sydney and this settlement closed less than a year later. A settlement was attempted in 1804, as a place of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The settlement was named Coal River, also Kingstown and then renamed Newcastle, the new settlement, comprising convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on 27 March 1804 in three ships, HMS Lady Nelson, the Resource and the James. The convicts were rebels from the 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion, Morpeth, New South Wales is a similar distance north of Newcastle as Morpeth, Northumberland is north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Under Captain James Wallis, commandant from 1815 to 1818, the conditions improved. The quality of these first buildings was poor, and only breakwater survives, during this period, in 1816, the oldest public school in Australia was built in East Newcastle. Newcastle remained a settlement until 1822, when the settlement was opened up to farming. As a penal colony, the rule was harsh, especially at Limeburners Bay
17.
Newcastle Rebels
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Newcastle were a rugby league team who played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1908–1909, one of the nine foundation clubs. After the formation of clubs in January 1908, members of the NSWRFL came to Newcastle to hold talks with the local footballing community at a meeting on 8 February 1908. However, at meeting the motion to have a public meeting was lost. The local rugby union fraternity threatened sanctions and further recruitment occurred in secret, finally a band of Rebel Pioneers assembled and signed up on 10 April, just days before the start of the competition. Sometimes called the Rebels, Newcastle played in a strip of red and they boasted the likes of dual-code international Pat Walsh in their side. Their moment of glory came in the weeks of 1909 when they beat league leaders South Sydney 7-6 on 7 August in front of 3,000 spectators at the Newcastle Showground. It was Souths only loss for the season and this had come three days after beating a New Zealand Maori team. Newcastle finished fourth and made the semis but were beaten by Souths 20-0, the following year, the team left the NSWRL as a local Newcastle Rugby League competition was established and many players joined the four Newcastle foundation clubs. They were replaced by Annandale in the NSWRL, in 1988, a new team, the Newcastle Knights again represented the Newcastle district in the NSWRL and its successors. In 2008 the Newcastle Knights wore a special red and white hooped jersey to celebrate the regions rugby league heritage for the NRLs heritage round. Stan Carpenter was the captain of the club who played their first match against Glebe. This was then followed by a bye in the round of the premiership. A win against Western Suburbs was followed by a loss against North Sydney in round five, arguably the most significant event of the season for the club was in round six when they were scheduled to play against Newtown in the only match of the weekend. This fact meant that a crowd of 14,000, the second largest in the season, in this match Newcastle were able to win 17–8. The club had a draw at the end of the season. All three of the losses were against the eventual finalists - two against the eventual premiers South Sydney and the other against the runners-up, Eastern Suburbs, Pat Walsh Pat Walsh Power, Bob. The Rebels of Rugby, The Story of Newcastle Rugby League Pioneers The Bolsheviks vs
18.
Annandale, New South Wales
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Annandale is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Annandale is located within 5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the government area of the Inner West Council. Annandales northern end lies on Rozelle Bay, which is on Sydney Harbour, glebe lies to its east, Lilyfield and Leichhardt to its west and Stanmore to its south. Major George Johnston arrived on the First Fleet ship Lady Penrhyn and he was granted 100 acres of land in the area around Annandale and Stanmore, which became known as Johnstons Bush. He later renamed it Annandale after his birthplace Annan in Scotland and his name is remembered in Johnston Street, Johnston Lane, Johnstons Creek and Johnstons Bay. Johnston and his wife Esther Abrahams, one of the convicts on the Lady Penrhyn and they built a fine residence called Annandale House in 1799, some distance back from Parramatta Road. It was demolished in 1905, although the gates were preserved. Georges son Robert inherited the estate, but in 1877 sold it to John Young, Young began turning the Johnston estate into an attractive suburb by building a number of picturesque houses. One of those houses was Kenilworth, with a witchs cap style of roof common to that period of architecture, Kenilworth was sold for $3.35 million in 2007. Other houses in the group were The Abbey, Oybin, Rozelle, Greba, Hockingdon, Highroyd, some of the houses are popularly known as witches houses because their towers resemble witches hats. Highroyd was given a restoration which took twenty years and was completed in 2009. Of the various houses in this group, The Abbey is the most notable, built by John Young, The Abbey has been described as a stone Gothic Revival mansion, modelled on Scottish manors. Young gave his imagination a free rein and the house incorporates gables, arches, gargoyles, lions, quatrefoils, chimneys, turrets, a cloister, Young was the highest ranking Mason in Australia and The Abbey incorporates Masonic themes. It is possible that the building may have used by Young as a Masonic Lodge. After Youngs death, The Abbey was occupied by a series of tenants, a new owner acquired the house in 1959 and restored it. It is now on the Register of the National Estate, the house itself was sold for A$4.86 million on 7 November 2009, setting a record residential price for the Annandale area. The selling agent had been hoping for a price of A$5 million, the auction itself took nearly an hour to complete, as one bidder regularly engaged in disputes with the auctioneer over the conduct of the auction. Another home in the area was Kentville, which was built as John Youngs home, the land was bought by Young in 1877, and included a cottage built by Robert Johnston
19.
Concord Oval
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Concord Oval is a rugby stadium in Concord, Australia, in the inner west of Sydney. It is currently used mostly for rugby matches, and it was used for eight matches during the 1987 Rugby World Cup. The stadium is able to hold 20,000 people and was opened in 1985 and it is the home ground of West Harbour RFC in the Shute Shield rugby union competition, and the Western Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship. It is also the training and administration base for the Wests Tigers rugby league club, Football club Inter Lions SC also play games at the ground. The stadium has two opposing grandstands, the eastern stand hosts the tennis box-style seats, television gantry and the change rooms. The stand runs approximately from try-line to try-line, the western stand contains a gym and some boxes. This stand runs approximately from dead-ball line to dead ball line, in front of the western stand are two rows of seats, while a concrete path runs around the field. At each end there is a hill, and at the southern or Parramatta Road end, there is a wooden. The stadium is bordered by Gipps Street to the north, Parramatta Road to the south, Loftus Street to the west, st Lukes Park, which was the home ground of Sydneys Western Suburbs rugby league club in 1910 and 1911 was where Concord Oval is now located. From 1920 Wests resumed playing at Pratten Park, the stadium also hosted four first grade rugby league matches, three of them in 1994 as Canterburys second home ground during that season. As far as high-profile events go, the stadium currently lies dormant, with the completion of the Sydney Football Stadium, and later Stadium Australia, the New South Wales Waratahs and Australian Wallabies have not played at the stadium in many years. A return is unlikely, especially considering how expansion is almost impossible due to housing to the west, roads to the north and south, other issues are that the stadium does not have floodlights, a video screen, parking or modern spectator amenities. In the early 2010s the City of Canada Bay Council prepared a masterplan to bring these events back to an expanded and rejuvenated Concord Oval. Mention is made in the masterplan of attempting to lure Asian Football Confederation games to the renovated ground, for the mean time, most events in the area prefer grounds such as Parramatta Stadium, or the Olympic Park and Moore Park venues. Concord Oval at Austadiums Rleague. com - Concord Oval
20.
Wentworth Park
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Wentworth Park is a multi-purpose sporting facility in the suburb of Glebe in New South Wales, Australia. That is used for sports including rugby union, rugby league, soccer, greyhound racing. Wentworth Park is located 2 kilometres from the Sydney central business district, currently greyhound racing is conducted there on Friday and Saturday nights as well as some Public Holidays. Races are conducted over 520m and 720m, the track is a loam surface having been converted from grass in the 1990s. Hurdle racing was a feature of Wentworth Park until the early 1980s and it fell away and annual events were held in December for a number of years until the mid-1990s. The nearby University of Technology, Sydney regularly holds student examinations within two levels of the grandstand, where the bar, betting and lounge areas are located. Wentworth Park was originally a rugby league park in the Glebe area, Greyhound racing is held each Friday and Saturday night. Wentworth Park was not always a football oval and it commenced its life as a creek and swamp, known from the 1830s as Blackwattle Cove Swamp. Between the 1830s and 1860s various noxious industries were established along the shore, including, in particular, abattoirs, infilling of the creek and head of the swamp commenced in 1876 and continued until 1880. Silt dredged from the harbour was used to out the process and numerous sea walls. When the area was filled Trustees were appointed to manage the new park, during the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand an Australasian team defeated Great Britain at the ground before approximately 18,000. The commencement of hostilities for World War I led to a downturn in patronage of the Parks amenities although community functions, such as stretcher drills and polling were carried out here. The main effect of World War I was the introduction of a number of timber sheds used to store wool for the war effort. These sheds lingered on at the park for a number of years after the war, from 1928 until 1936, Wentworth Park was also used as a speedway and was known as Wentworth Speedway. The first racing took place on 21 April 1928 and continued until 28 November 1936, motorcycle speedway was the first category to use the venue, with competitors including future Speedway World Champions Lionel Van Praag and Bluey Wilkinson. Wentworth Park was the site of Sydneys first ever Speedcar race on 5 October 1935, the final speedway meeting was to have taken place on 5 December 1936, but track damage and noise complaints saw the meeting cancelled. The Greyhound Owners Breeders and Trainers Association is the tenant of Wentworth Park and has been since the 1980s. Greyhound racing is held at the venue every Friday and Saturday night from 7. 30pm, the biggest event of the year at Wentworth Park is the Group 1 Golden Easter Egg which provides prizemoney of one million dollars across the Easter carnival
21.
Balmain Tigers
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The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership. In 1999 they formed a joint venture club with the neighbouring Western Suburbs Magpies club to form the Wests Tigers for competition in the National Rugby League and they no longer field any senior teams in the lower divisions. At the time of the joint venture only South Sydney Rabbitohs, the clubs home grounds are at present Leichhardt Oval, in Lilyfield, and T. G Milner Sportsground, in Marsfield. The distinctive black and gold colours of their 1908 thin striped jerseys lead their fans to nickname them THE TIGERS. Though it is claimed they were known as The Watersiders in the early days. It seemed to be used to not only to most Balmain sporting teams. The following boxing quote is an example, taken from Sydney Sportsman 11 Dec,1901. On Xmas Eve, Cam Brookes and Ike Stewart, heavyweights, meet at the Golden Gate, Brookes is another Balmain boy, as late as the 1930s some journalists were still using both Tigers and Watersiders in the same article. One of the earliest newspaper references to Balmain & Tigers appears in The Arrow 12 August 1911, the journalist Gulliver in his Football Notes column reports, W. G. B. Writes, Who said Balmain werent rough and he is very wild, but not so wild as the Balmain footballers. In 1908 Australias first season of rugby league began in Sydney, one of the clubs founders was future Premier of New South Wales, John Storey. Their home ground was Birchgrove Park, Wallabies game at Souths home ground. Souths were officially awarded the Premiership when they kicked off to an empty half of the field, Tigers dominance continued winning the 1919 and 1920 seasons comfortably. When they won the 1924 premiership this would be the last success for Balmain for over a decade to come and it would not be until 1939 the Tigers won back the Premiership smashing Souths 33-4. The weekend of the Final will also be remembered for the invasion of Poland by Germany which led to England, post-World War II marked a golden era for Balmain with the Tigers reaching five consecutive Grand Finals winning three of them. In the 1944 Grand Final the Tigers beat the strong favourites Newtown 19-16, Balmain reached the Grand Final again in 1945 but fell at the last hurdle against Easts 22-18. The loss was not long remembered as the Tigers went on to take out the two seasons, beating St George 14-12 in 1946, and Canterbury 13-9 in 1947
22.
Robert Graves (rugby)
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Robert Henderson Graves was a pioneer Australian rugby league and rugby union player and one of his countrys first dual-code internationals. He was a forward for the Australia national team. He played in 6 Tests between 1908 and 1909, as captain on 1 occasion, Graves grew up in inner city Balmain in Sydney. He played rugby union at Fort Street School and later represented for his senior school Hawkesbury Agricultural College, from there he was graded to play rugby union with the West Sydney Juniors - an inner city club. He played with the Grosvenor Club until 1902 and he then joined the Gipps Club in the Balmain area with whom he won the Sydney rugby union premiership in 1904. He joined the Balmain club in the rugby competition in 1905. He continued in a role for the Grosvenor club even while himself playing rugby for those other sides from 1903 to 1907. Graves was one of the New South Wales rugby union players who matched up against the first professional New Zealand team, Albert Baskivilles All Golds in three matches in Sydney in August 1907. He played in all three matches and along with the other Australian rebel players was promptly blacklisted by the New South Wales Rugby Union for breaching its fundamental principle of amateurism. Graves was at the meetings of the break-away code in 1908 and was named as foundation captain of the Balmain Tigers. He led the Tigers in their first ever game on 20 April 1908 against Easts, Graves was selected in all three games against New Zealand for Australias inaugural Test series of 1908. He was a member of the first Kangaroo side which toured Britain in 1908-09 and he appeared in 23 games on tour including the deciding 3rd Test at Birmingham in February 1909. In 1909 he played in the 1st and 3rd Tests against New Zealand in Sydney and he captained his country in the 3rd Test victory becoming at that point Australias sixth Test captain. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.6, the second wave of Wallaby defectors to rugby league in 1909 spelled the end of Graves representative career. Though only 26 years old he did not play another Test and he played a further 5 seasons with Balmain retiring in 1913. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914 and this makes Graves a dual code rugby international and he is listed as such in the 1991 edition of the Andrews reference. He is however not listed amongst the Australian dual-code internationals in sources such as the 2005 Rugby League Annual or in editions of Australian Sporting Records, presumably this may be due to his status in making his single Wallaby appearance as a reserve rather than from the run-on side
23.
Arthur Halloway
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Arthur Pony Halloway, was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Born in Sydney, New South Wales he played for the Glebe Dirty Reds, Balmain Tigers and Eastern Suburbs and he was a Half-back for the Australian national team. He played in ten Tests between 1908 and 1919, as captain on three occasions in 1919 and he was recruited by the Glebe club after taking part in the rebel series against Baskervilles New Zealand All Golds. Late in the 1908 season Halloway was selected to go away on the inaugural Kangaroo Tour and he played in 29 matches on tour including the 1st Anglo-Australian Test in London. Earlier that year Halloway made his Test debut in Australias 14–9 win in the 3rd Test in Sydney in 1908, in 1910 Halloway moved to the Balmain club for three seasons, from where he also continued his representative career, making his second Kangaroo tour in 1911. He played in 12 tour matches but no Tests with McKivat the preferred Test half-back and he joined the Eastern Suburbs club 1912 where he won back to back premierships in 1912 and 1913 as well as being a member of the City Cup Winning Side in 1914. Following Chris McKivats retirement he became the preferred half back in the 1914 Ashes series, Halloway returned to Balmain in 1915 where he won further premierships in 1915,16,17,19 and 1920 as captain and captain-coach from 1916. His first appearance as captain of the Kangaroos was on the 1919 tour of New Zealand when he captained the side to a 2–1 tour victory, throughout his playing career Halloway played in over 100 representative matches, including ten tests for Australia. He made over 30 appearances for New South Wales as well as six for Queensland and he later moved to Queensland and represented that state in one game in 1921. He was the man to be part of all of Australias first three tours – the first two Kangaroo tours and the 1919 trip to New Zealand. Along with Billy Cann, Dan Frawley and Tedda Courtney he was one of four men to all three of the tours made between 1908 and 1912 by Australian or New South Welsh teams. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.21, after retirement as a player he coached in the country league at Parkes, then Lismore and also the Newtown club for a season in 1923. He returned to Sydney in the 1930s and won three premierships as coach of the Roosters from 1935 to 1937 and he coached Norths from 1940 to 1941, Canterbury in 1948 and won another premiership coaching Easts in 1945. An article on Arthur Halloway that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 14 August 1945 – shortly before he brought up his 11th premiership as a player and/or coach, All up Pony Halloway went on four overseas playing tours. He won seven premierships as a player and four as a coach and he stands as the Balmains most successful all time coach winning 79% of the matches in which he guided the club. He was involved in the game at the top level either as player or coach in a career spanning 37 years and he was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. In 2007 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame, in February 2008, Halloway was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia. com. au
24.
Glebe (rugby league team)
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They were formed on 9 January 1908, with some sources suggesting that they may have been the first Sydney rugby league club to have been created. They were nicknamed and well known as the Dirty Reds due to the colour of their playing jerseys. Based in Glebe, New South Wales and playing most of their home out of the local Wentworth Oval. Though they came close at times, the club was never able to secure a premiership title, after struggling towards the end of the 1920s the club was eventually voted out of the premiership. The club was revived in late 2015 and intends to field teams in 2017 for the first time in 87 years, at the turn of the 20th century, Glebe was a working-class suburb of Sydney, situated a few kilometres to the west of the city centre. A Glebe team had played in the Sydney second grade competition for a number of years. Glebe immediately made a big impact on the competition, winning all three grades in the inaugural season before taking out another three first grade titles over the next seven years. When the push for the formation of a new rugby league competition began. The Glebe District Rugby League Football Club was formed as a result on 8 January 1908, there was much support from both players and locals for the new team and this was considered an achievement in itself for the New South Wales Rugby League. As with the rugby team, the new rugby league club chose to play in maroon-coloured jerseys. The club began their campaign with an 8–5 victory over Newcastle on 20 April 1908. Throughout the season they remained close to or on top of the ladder and with one round remaining were on equal points with South Sydney. In their semi final, Glebe went down 16–3 to minor premiers South Sydney and were knocked out of the competition, in 1909, the club again lost their final regular-season match against Balmain 10–5 and ended up missing out on a possible finals berth by virtue of the loss. In 1910, the club had a season and had little chance of ever taking the premiership out. The 1911 season was arguably the most successful in the clubs history and they also secured their first-ever victory over local rivals Balmain, winning 41–2 in the second last regular-season match of the season. However, they came up against an Eastern Suburbs side led by Dally Messenger who had won six matches straight. In a match where Glebe were leading almost all the way, Eastern Suburbs fought back and took the lead within the ten minutes to 11–8. In round four, Glebe faced Eastern Suburbs in front of a crowd of 22,000 at the Royal Agricultural Society Grounds
25.
Chris McKivat
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Christopher Hobart McKivat was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and he is unique in Australian rugby history as the only man to captain both the national rugby union and rugby league teams. Following his playing career he became the most successful coach of the North Sydney Bears in the clubs history. He captained the 1908 Summer Olympics gold medal winning Wallaby side and was the captain of the Australian national rugby league team leading them in all 3 Tests of the 1911–12 tour. Thus he captained his country to victory on tour in two different rugby codes and he was born in Cumnock, New South Wales and educated by the Patrician Brothers in Orange. He played country rugby union with the Our Boys club in Wellington and was selected in country representative teams until he was 26. He was a tactically brilliant half-back and a great leader of both forwards and backs. McKivat was selected for New South Wales in 1905 to represent against the visiting All Blacks and he crossed over to the professional code joining the Glebe Rugby League Club as a 30-year-old veteran in 1910. He made his rugby league debut that same year in the first Test in Sydney on 18 June 1910 against Great Britain. Four of his former Wallaby team mates also debuted that day John Barnett, Bob Craig, Jack Hickey and he played in 31 matches on Tour and scored 10 tries. The Heads/Middleton reference describes him a being revered on that tour – a magnificent general, tough, durable and an inspiration to the men around him. It quotes Johnny Quinlan the tour co-manager He always set an example in conduct. His representative career ended at age 32 with that Ashes success and he coached Glebe, Wests and Norths in the following years, including North Sydneys premiership winning sides of 1921 and 1922. Christopher McKivat died on 4 May 1941 after a short illness and he died at Gloucester House, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown. He was survived by his wife and one son, a large funeral was held at St. James Church, Forest Lodge, New South Wales, and he was buried at Botany Cemetery. The Sydney Morning Herald said of him He was described by Rugby and Rugby League authorities as the best halfback of all time, No one possessed better all round ability. His service from the scrum was the speediest of any halfback since the coming of district football, in 2005 McKivat was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In August 2006 he was named as coach of the North Sydney Bears Team of the Century, in February 2008, McKivat was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the codes centenary year in Australia
26.
Alex Burdon
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Alexander Alex Burdon was a pioneer Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer - a dual-code rugby international. He was one of the fathers of rugby league in Australia. He was the captain of the Australian team enjoying that honour in the decider Test of the inaugural tour. Born in Glebe, New South Wales he played first grade for the district from 1902, similar sentiments in the North of England for working-class players who could not afford time off due to injury had indeed prompted the changes that formed the new Northern Union two years earlier. However the movement to start a league competition in Sydney was already well under way before Burdons injury. Burdon joined the newly formed Glebe Rugby League Club in 1908 and was named the clubs foundation captain and he was one of the five selectors for the Pioneer Kangaroo tour of England. He played in 25 tour matches including the first and second Anglo-Australian Test matches and he is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.29. In The First Kangaroos, a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film, Club, Glebe Rugby League Club1908-1020 games,3 tries Representative, Australia 2 Tests. Whiticker, Alan Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
27.
Charles Russell (rugby)
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Charles Boxer Joseph Russell was a pioneer Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer and coach. He represented his country in sports and was one Australias early dual-code rugby internationals. He was a gold medallist at the 1908 Summer Olympics, Russell was a centre/winger whose club rugby was played with the Newtown RUFC in Sydney. He played three Tests for the Wallabies in 1907 against the All Blacks before being selected for the first Wallaby tour of Britain in 1908 and he played in both Tests of the tour scoring tries in each. His 24 tries in all games of that still stands as Wallaby record. He was a member of the Australian Olympic team who won Gold in London in 1908 in the team captained by Chris McKivat, on his return to Australia he joined the fledgling code of rugby league along with 13 of his Olympic teammates. He played at full-back in the first Test against Great Britain in 1910 when Australia hosted the tourists and he was selected in 1911 for the 2nd Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and played in 24 tour matches scoring 9 tries. He played on the wing in the victorious 1st and 2nd Tests of 1911, during the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, the first ever, Russell made his international league debut in the first Test in Sydney on 18 June. Four of his former Wallaby team mates also debuted that day John Barnett, Bob Craig, Jack Hickey and his club football was with Newtown, where he played for 7 seasons. He was captain-coach of the Newtown premiership-winning side of 1910, landing two goals to tie the final against South Sydney 4-4, thus enabling Newtown to win the premiership, Russell was also selected for the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Russell coached Newtown for a number of years including the winning team of 1933. He was a referee and served as an Australian rugby league selector for a number of years. Charles Russell was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1944, in 2008, the centenary year of rugby league in Australia, Russell was named in the Newtown Jets 18-man team of the century
28.
North Sydney Bears
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The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition, the Bears are based on Sydneys Lower North Shore, and have played at North Sydney Oval since 1910. There is a bid supporting a resurrection of the club in the NRL as the Central Coast Bears, based in Gosford, New South Wales. The club was established in 1908, making it one of the founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. North Sydney are presently in partnership with the Rabbitohs serving as Souths reserve grade side, until the end of season 2009, Souths were coached by the Bears record-breaking top points scorer, Jason Taylor. North Sydney was formed as a club of the newly arrived rugby league game in 1908 and were known as the Shoremen. Like the other Sydney district clubs, Norths were largely born from players and officials from the local Rugby Union club, the club initially struggled to obtain access to North Sydney Oval, but council obstruction was removed and the Shoremen played their first real home game in 1910. Many good players such as Andy Morton, Jimmy Devereaux and Sid Deane were lost to English clubs in the years making the semi-finals in the season of 1908. They were nearly dropped from the competition during World War I because of dwindling spectator numbers, towards the end of the war, Norths fortunes improved, playing quality and spectators numbers increased and they won 2 premierships in 1921–22 coached by Chris McKivat. Unfortunately, these would be their last first grade premierships and their last grand final appearance was in 1943, when an injury riddled North Sydney were beaten by Newtown 34–7. North Sydneys Captain-coach in the Grand Final of 1943 was the doyen of rugby league broadcasters. As Lane Cove was in North Sydneys district, the club protested to the NSWRFL, the team became known as the North Sydney Bears during the 1950s after accepting a sponsorship from the nearby Big Bear supermarket at Neutral Bay. The 1952 season saw North Sydney reach the finals for the first time since 1943, the Bears continued to make appearances in the finals during the next few decades, and produced arguably the greatest winger the game has ever seen in Ken Irvine. Irvine still hold the record for most first grade tries for one club, New South Wales representative Queenslander, Bruce Walker, captained the Bears in the final of the 1976 Amco Cup. The nineties saw finals appearances and near misses in 1991, on 14 July 1994 the club was fined $87,000 for breaching the salary cap. That year they came within one match of the grand final, North Sydney remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. In the 1996 ARL season the Bears came within one match of the Grand Final, the following year saw two separate national rugby league championships, and confirmation of the clubs intention to move north to New South Wales Central Coast. Due to having a debt of around $4 million, the North Sydney club were not even considered for the NRLs inclusion criteria
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North Sydney Oval
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North Sydney Oval is a multi-use sporting facility. The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia, the first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground. This was replaced by another pavilion which in turn was replaced by what is now the Duncan Thompson Stand in 1929, the venue was renovated in 1931 due to complaints that the surface was like concrete and that the ground was liable to cause serious injury to players. Nonetheless, as late as the 1980s, the ground was sometimes referred to as Concrete Park, in 1935 the timber fence was replaced by a high brick wall and concrete terrace seating 1,200 people was built. Between 1983 and 1988 major renovations were undertaken, the old grandstand was named after North Sydney Bears player Duncan Thompson. New stands were built and named after cricketers Bill OReilly, Charlie Macartney, in 1983, the venerable Bob Stand was moved to North Sydney Oval from the Sydney Cricket Ground. The hill became known as the Doug Walters Stand, drainage and irrigation systems were installed and the pitch was re-laid in 1989. In 1992 the oval won a Sydney Cricket Association award for Ground of the Year, in 2016 the historic sports field had extensive renovations to ensure that North Sydney Oval is identified as a first-class venue for major sporting events. These included installation of a portable drop-in cricket wicket and improved field lighting, North Sydney Oval first trialed the technology in 1998, when cricket wicket technology was in its early stages. Since then, the technology has improved substantially and is used by many premier sporting stadiums including Sydney Showground Stadium, Adelaide Oval, North Sydney Oval has been the home ground of the North Sydney Bears since their inception in 1908. The club currently plays in the NSWRL VB NSW Cup and still attracts spectators to games at the oval. Only two grounds have hosted more first grade rugby league matches, in 2004, South Sydney Rabbitohs experimented with playing two home games at the ground. The first match between Souths and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles attracted 14,855 spectators, the ground record crowd of 23,089 was set on 13 May 1994 for a Round 10 match with North Sydney taking on local rivals Manly. The Sea Eagles won the match 11–8, the Stadium Is Still Used For NSW Cup, Toyota Cup, SG Ball And Harold Matthew Games. As part of the Central Coast Bears bid to enter the NRL, the New South Wales Blues cricket team play regular Sheffield Shield, Ryobi Cup and Twenty20 Cricket matches at the Oval. The oval hosted the final of the inaugural Twenty20 domestic knock-out cup competition between NSW Blues and Victorian Bushrangers and it also plays home to the North Sydney Grade club. The ground was the host for 6 group matches and the final of the 2009 Womens Cricket World Cup and it has hosted 4 womens test matches, with Australia playing England there in 1957/58, 1968/69 and 1991/92 and India in 1990/91 and 12 one day internationals. New South Wales have played 3 first class there and 21 List A one-day games
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Tedda Courtney
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Ed Tedda Courtney was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and Coach. He played club football for the North Sydney Bears, Western Suburbs Magpies and representative football for the New South Wales state and he is considered one of the nations finest footballers of the 20th century. Born in Sydney, Australia Courtney was one of six brothers who all played for North Sydney and his brothers Raymond and Robert died in World War I. He was a wharfie throughout his life and was renowned for his fearless tackling style. Courtney played rugby union for North Sydney and for St George, Tedda Courtney had a remarkably long first grade career that lasted for 16 seasons. Courtney joined Newtown in 1908 in the code, moved to Wests in 1909. He found his home back at Wests in 1911 where he played the next thirteen seasons. He was selected on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of 1908-09 appearing in all three Tests and in a total of games on tour on which he was the top-scoring forward with 10 tries. He made a second Kangaroo tour in 1911-12 in which he made twenty five match appearances and he played in three other Test series against Great Britain at home in 1910 and 1914 and against New Zealand in 1909, he also represented Australasia. On 14 June 1924 when Courtney was 39 he played in a game for Wests against Glebe alongside his son, Ed Courtney and it remains the only time a father and son combination has played together in a Sydney first grade game. He is listed on the Australian Players register as Kangaroo No.37, Courtney retired at the end of 1924 and returned to the district of his football beginnings - North Sydney. He coached the lower grades for some years and coached first grade in 1930, courtneys coaching services were obtained by the newly formed Canterbury-Bankstown DRLFC for their first season in 1935. In September 2004 Courtney was named at prop in the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century, ted Courtney was a Life Member of the New South Wales Rugby League. In February 2008, Courtney was named in the list of Australias 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the centenary year in Australia
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Arthur Hennessy
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Arthur Stephen Ash Hennessy was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played. He was a state and national representative hooker/forward and was the first captain of the Australian national rugby league team and he later coached at club, state and national representative levels. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Hennessy played his junior football in the centres for the Boys Brigade in 1895. He then played for Bayview in 1896 and became a South Sydney junior, by 1901 Hennessy was a regular first grade rugby union player for Souths. He represented New South Wales in 1901,1902 and 1904 and his enthusiastic foraging and tackling soon changed Kiwi minds. In 1907 he was made Souths captain, when the New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907, Hennessy joined the breakaway New South Wales Rugby Football League and was selected as the new codes first New South Wales captain. In October of that year Hennessy chaired a meeting of rugby identities with a view to creating a South Sydney rugby league club, the club was formed on 17 January 1908 and Hennessy was the inaugural captain-coach. For rugby league, Hennessys place in the scheme of things is nothing less than extraordinary, the games were played under rugby union rules as no one had a copy of the new codes laws. Hennessy subsequently read the book which arrived in Australia and declared. Along with his fellow pioneers Hennessy was prepared to accept the ill-will that accompanied the splitting of the rugby code and you had to take it on the chin and give it on the chin, he said. Many good friendships tumbled to dust when we switched football codes, Hennessy stands as a monumental figure in the South Sydney story. It was at his home at 9 Chapman St, Surry Hills in October 1907 that the meeting was held which led to the formation of the Rabbitohs, Hennessy has sent a circular to all rugby union clubs in the district, convening the meeting. Because of that day and the events followed, he can be fairly rated as the clubs founder. In 1908, Hennessy was Souths first hooker and, with Billy Cann and he coached Souths in their 1908 NSWRFL seasons final. In that foundation season he also had the honour of captaining Australia in its first ever rugby league Test – against New Zealand, Hennessy played in both Tests in May against New Zealand as captain, both of which Australia lost. Hennessy was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test and he is listed in the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.1. In July of that season he made another representative appearance captaining New South Wales in a 43-0 whitewash of Queensland in the first ever Australian interstate match
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William Neill (rugby league)
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William Webby Neill was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer of the early 20th century who later became a leading referee in the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Neill played for South Sydney in the first ever NSWRFL premiership season in 1908 and that went on to play in the first ever Grand final. The following season Souths also won the premiership and he was first selected for the Australian national side that year, Neill moved to Newtown the following season, playing in their 1910 NSWRFL season grand final-winning team to make it three premierships in three years. The following year he was selected to go on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and he played for another three seasons at Newtown before a final season with Glebe. Neill later took to refereeing in the NSWRFL and he oversaw matches in a long refereeing career from 1916 to 1932 and officiated in a number of Grand finals in that time. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1931, Webby Neill is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.50 William Neill at rugbyleagueproject. org William Neill at nrlstats. com
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Fullback (rugby league)
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Fullback is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Typically wearing jersey number 1, the fullback is a member of the teams back-line, the positions name comes from their duty of standing the furthest back in defence, behind the forwards, half backs and the three-quarter backs. Fullbacks are therefore the last line of defence, having to tackle any opposition players and it is for this reason that the fullback is also referred to as the sweeper or custodian. Being able to secure high bomb kicks is a sought after quality in fullbacks, fullback is also one of the most important positions in attack, handling the ball nearly every set of six and often running into open space on the field. Therefore, together with the two half backs and hooker, fullback is one of the four key positions that make up what is referred to as a teams spine. Because the fullback makes the most support runs, players in the role complete more very high-intensity running than any other position, the Rugby League International Federations Laws of the Game state that the fullback is to be numbered 1. However, traditionally players jersey numbers have varied, and in the modern Super League, fullbacks who feature in their respective nations rugby league halls of fame are Frances Puig Aubert, Australias Clive Churchill and Charles Fraser, Wales Jim Sullivan and New Zealands Des White. Churchills attacking flair as a player in the 1950s is credited with having changed the role of the fullback, Rugby league positions Rugby league gameplay
Newtown[1] (1st title)
Arthur McCabe (71)
Dally Messenger (18)
Balmain
Glebe
Annandale
North Sydney
Western Suburbs
