1.
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
2.
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
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.
1910 NSWRFL season
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The 1910 NSWRFL season was the third season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the premiership, during the season, many of the league’s top players took part in matches of the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia. On 23 July 1910 at the Sydney Showground the South Sydney club defeated Western Suburbs 67–0 and this would stand as Souths’ highest ever score and biggest winning margin in a premiership game for over one hundred years. It was not beaten in the NSWRFL until St. George defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 91–6 on 11 May 1935 – this remains the record score, during the season Annandale’s Ray, Roy, Rex and Bernard Norman became the first set of four brothers to play in the same NSWRFL side. The Leagues takings for all matches this year amounted to £13,512, with the loss of Cumberland at the end of the 1908 season, the league remained with eight teams, a preferable outcome since no byes would be needed. However by the end of the 1909 season, interest for a local Newcastle competition as well as the difficulties of travel for the Newcastle side saw it pull out of the premiership. As a result, a team from Annandale joined the premiership to leave the competition eight teams. Also this season St. Lukes Park became the Western Suburbs clubs homeground, Newtown finished on top of the Leagues ladder at the end of the regular season. Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the finished the round inside the top 2. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round, the top two teams, Newtown and South Sydney, played off in a memorable match in front of fifteen or sixteen thousand people at the Sydney Showground on 17 September 1910. Leading 4-2 with reportedly only seconds to go, South Sydney seemed set to take out their third straight premiership, the rules at the time allowed Hawkes to claim a fair mark and Newtown to have a shot at goal. Newtown captain Charles Boxer Russell was successful in kicking the goal from a position, allowing Newtown to tie the game. Newtown 4 drew with South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 Collis, Ian, Whiticker, archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Rugby League Tables - Season 1910, archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Premiership History and Statistics RL19081910 - Stunning Goal Gives Newtown The Title RL1908 Annandale RLFC RL1908 Newcastle RLFC RL1908 Results, 1908-1910 at rabbitohs. com. au
5.
1912 NSWRFL season
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The 1912 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fifth season of Sydney’s rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the premiership, with four rounds remaining in the 1912 season, Eastern Suburbs and Glebe were clearly ahead of the rest of the teams and it looked unlikely that they would be caught. In front of 25,000 people, the two played out a closely fought match in muddy conditions. Dally Messenger was able to break a 4–4 deadlock late in the match by kicking a goal after a scrum win close to the sideline. With a four-point premiership lead and only three rounds to play, Eastern Suburbs, who had only lost one game before in the season to eventual third-placed Newtown and that turned out to be the case, with Eastern Suburbs winning their remaining three games to take away the premiership. Also this season Pratten Park became the Western Suburbs club’s homeground, the teams remained unchanged from the previous season. com. au
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
Balmain, New South Wales
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Balmain, New South Wales is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, Australia. Balmain is located 6 km west of the Sydney central business district and it sits on a small peninsula that juts out of Sydney Harbour, directly opposite Milsons Point. It is located on the Balmain peninsula surrounded by Port Jackson, adjacent to the suburbs of Rozelle to the south-west, Birchgrove to the north-west, and Balmain East to the east. Iron Cove sits on the side of the peninsula, with White Bay on the south-east side. Traditionally Blue Collar, Balmain was where the roots of the Trade Unionist movement began. Although these days the Green Party has much support from those who live in the area, prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by indigenous Aboriginal Australian, Gadigal and Wangal people. The area now known as Balmain was part of a 550 acres grant to colonial surgeon Dr William Balmain made in 1800 by Governor John Hunter, a year later, Balmain transferred his entire holding to settle a debt to John Borthwick Gilchrist before returning to Scotland. The legality of the transfer from Balmain to Gilchrist for only 5 shillings was challenged by Balmains descendents. The area subsequently known as Gilchrists place, though court documents refer to the area as the Balmain Estate. During the many years of legal challenges, the land was leased for farming, in 1814 the adjacent homestead of Birchgrove was sold to Roland Warpole Loane, a merchant and settler descended from a family of English landlords. One hundred acres on the adjoining Balmain estate were leased to Loane, in 1833, Gilchrist transferred power of attorney to Frederick Parbury. When Loanes lease finally expired in 1836 and the land retrieved from his possession, three parcels were sold to Thomas Hyndes in 1837. The peninsula changed rapidly during the 1800s and became one of the industrial centres of Sydney. Increasing industrialisation at Balmain created a demand for cheap housing and this was satisfied by the dock owners selling small blocks of land to entrepreneurs who then built tiny cottages and rented them to the workers. Lever Brothers Factory opened in 1895, a coal mine was opened in 1897 beside what is now Birchgrove Public School by English shareholders. From the bottom of the shaft a decline led down to a block of coal situated under the harbour between Ballast Point and Goat Island, Balmain Power Station was erected in stages from 1909 and the Balmain Reservoir was built in 1915. The opening of the railway in the 1920s further established and Balmain gained a reputation as a rough area of Sydney. The coal mine closed in 1931, a large influx of immigrants boosted Balmains population in the 1950s
11.
Paddington, New South Wales
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Paddington is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two local government areas, the portion south of Oxford Street lies within the City of Sydney, while the portion north of Oxford Street lies within the Municipality of Woollahra. It is often referred to as Paddo. Paddington is bordered to the west by Darlinghurst, to the east by Centennial Park and Woollahra, to the north by Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay, the suburb of Paddington is considered to be part of the region associated with the stories of the Cadigal people. These people belonged to the Dharug language group, which includes what is now known as the Sydney central business district and it is known that the ridge, being the most efficient route, on which Oxford Street was built was also a walking track used by Aboriginal people. Much of the Aboriginal population of Sydney died due to the outbreak of 1789. Some Anthropologists maintain that the tribe moved to areas of the shared Eora language group. At the time when Robert Cooper began to build his first house in Paddington, Paddington has never been a suburb with a dense indigenous population. In the 1930s, when parts of Sydney such as Redfern and Glebe became hubs for Aborigines entering the labour force, 1788-1800 In 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour and established a settlement in Sydney Cove. Three kilometres to the east lay the land that would become Paddington, with a high sandstone ridge, eroded by streams leading to a marshy rush-filled cove too sallow for ships, the area was ignored by the newcomers, except for collecting rushes for thatch. 1801-1840 On a path used by local Aboriginal people, a road of some form was built by Governor Hunter to South Head as early as 1803, Governor Macquarie upgraded the road in 1811 for strategic purposes to accommodate wheeled vehicles. The road was improved by Major Druitt in 1820 to give access to the signal station at South Head. It was also to access to the salubrious villas built by the colonys emerging plutocracy. The road was renamed the Old South Head Road after construction of New South Head Road along the Harbour foreshore was begun in 1831, a mill was located at the end of Gordon Street and run by the Gordon family grinding wheat from the early 1830s. It remained a prominent feature of the landscape as houses were built. Cooper built his mansion, Juniper Hall, on the South Head Road ridge while Underwood built his house on Glenmore Road, the suburbs name came about when in October 1839 James Underwood subdivided 50 of his 97 acres. He called his subdivision the Paddington Estate after the London Borough of that name and it extended from Oxford Street down to present day Paddington Street. What emerged was a class distinction, the working-class located largely on or near the South Head Road
12.
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
13.
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
14.
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
15.
Redfern, New South Wales
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Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney located 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Strawberry Hills is a locality on the border with Surry Hills, the area experienced the process of gentrification in recent years. Redfern was subject to redevelopment plans by the state government, to increase the population and reduce the concentration of poverty in the suburb. The suburb is named after surgeon William Redfern, who was granted 100 acres of land in area in 1817 by Lachlan Macquarie. He built a house on his property surrounded by flower. His neighbours were Captain Cleveland, an officer of the 73rd regiment, who built Cleveland House and John Baptist, sydneys original railway terminus was built in Cleveland Paddocks and extended from Cleveland Street to Devonshire Street and west to Chippendale. The stations name was chosen to honour William Redfern, at that time, the present Redfern station was known as Eveleigh. The remains of Cleveland Paddocks became Prince Alfred Park, in August 1859, Redfern became a municipality of Sydney Redfern has been characterised by migrant populations that have lived in the area. In the late 19th century many of the businessmen in the area were from Lebanon such as George Dan 1890, Stanton and Aziz Melick in 1888 and Shafiqah Shasha and Anthony, as waves of immigrants arrived in Australia, many made Redfern their first home. On 17 January 1908 at Redfern Town Hall the South Sydney club was formed to compete in the first season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership. The notorious Redfern Mail Exchange was built in 1965, after 300 people were evicted from their homes on the 2.15 hectare site and it became the scene of many industrial disputes when the automatic mail-sorting machinery which was supposed to sort efficiently, actually destroyed many letters. It became known as the Redfern Mangler, the 2004 Redfern riots began on 14 February 2004, at the end of Eveleigh Street outside Redfern station, sparked by the death of Thomas TJ Hickey. The teenager, riding on his bicycle, was allegedly being chased by a police vehicle, members of his family were then reported to have started grieving for TJ around Eveleigh Street with a crowd gathering commiserating with the family. Fliers were distributed blaming police for TJs death, the police closed the Eveleigh Street entrance to the railway station, but youths in the crowd became violent, throwing bricks and bottles, this escalated into a riot. A subsequent inquest found that although the police were following Hickey, they had not caused the accident, the riots sparked fresh debate into the welfare of Aboriginal Australians and the response of the police to those living in the Redfern area. The main shopping strip is located on Redfern Street, east of Redfern railway station, there are also commercial developments nearby, along Regent Street and surrounding streets. The Redfern skyline is dominated by two towers and two residential blocks located between Regent Street and Gibbons Street, beside Redfern railway station. Redfern railway station, located on the edge of the suburb is a major station on the Sydney Trains network
16.
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
17.
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
18.
Charlie Hedley
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Charlie Hedley was a pioneer Australian rugby league player. He was one of his countrys first national representative players appearing in the professional series against New Zealand in 1907. Hedley had been a Glebe rugby union player before he joined the Glebe rugby league club in its inaugural 1908 season and he was selected to play at fullback in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was debut match of the Australia national rugby league team. He played in seventeen matches of the tour including the third Test against England, upon his return he played two season with the Annandale club in Sydney. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914, charlie Hedley died suddenly at his Leichhardt home on 13 August 1942. He was survived by his wife and two children and he was buried at Rookwood Cemetery on Saturday 15 August 1942. Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
19.
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
20.
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
21.
Sydney Sports Ground
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The Sydney Sports Ground No.1 was a Stadium and Dirt track racing venue in Sydney, New South Wales. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium currently sits, the ground had two main grandstands and was surrounded by a grass covered hill, giving it a capacity of more than 35,000. It was demolished along with the smaller No.2 Ground in 1986 to allow the building of the SFS, during its lifespan the Sports Ground hosted Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Motorcycle speedway and Speedway car racing. The Sports Ground was the ground of NSWRL team, the Eastern Suburbs Roosters. The Roosters played their last game at the Sports Ground on 29 June 1986, the South Sydney Rabbitohs club also used it as a home ground from 1928 to 1947. The Roosters recorded their biggest ever win at the Sydney Sports Ground on 18 May 1935, easts ran in 19 tries to one with Australian test centre Dave Brown, the Bradman of rugby league, scoring 45 points from 5 tries and 15 goals. Easts would win their 5th premiership in 1935 while Brown would go on to be the leading try scorer with 38. The Sports Ground was used as the Sydney Cricket Ground was in use on that day, Soccer and rugby league were among the sports held at the ground, but soccer teams also used the ground for major matches. It was also an important open-air boxing venue between the 1930s and 1960s, the champion Australian boxers Jack Carroll, Ron Richards and Jimmy Carruthers has memorable victories there. The Sydney Sports Ground was one of the used in the 1938 British Empire Games. The average attendance at the Sports Ground for the tournament was 17,270, for many years the ground also hosted minor Rugby union representative matches and the annual Sydney rugby premiership grand final. Among some of the most memorable of these games were wins by the Sydney team over more fancied visitors such as Wales and Ireland, from 1907 the Sydney Sports Ground was used as a Motorcycle racing track. The track that was later to become the dirt speedway was then concrete, the Sydney Sports Ground Speedway was officially opened in 1937 by Mr E. A. Buttershaw, NSW Minister for Lands. Between 1938 and 1953, eight Solo riders and four Speedcar drivers died as a result of accidents on the dirt track, the Sports Ground held its last speedway meeting on 25 March 1955. On 19 June 2004 a plaque was unveiled on the site of the former Sports Ground and it reads, In an era when death was an accepted risk of the sport,12 competitors lost their lives while racing at the Sydney Sports Ground. In the most tragic accident, close friends off the track Norm Clay and Ray Duggan both died after crashing together in a Solo race there on 21 January 1950
22.
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
23.
Bill Noble
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Bill Noble was a pioneer Australian international representative rugby league footballer. He played club football in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premierships very first season with Newtown in 1908, in 1909 he was also selected to play for Australia, making his full international debut against New Zealand in 1910. He went on to play in the first ever test match against Great Britain on Australian soil during the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, Noble was also selected for the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, playing in two tests and 19 tour matches. He joined the Balmain Tigers as captain for his season in 1913. Noble was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914, Noble moved to Queensland after his playing days were over, and was the general manager of the Golden Casket lotteries, until his death in 1937. He was buried at South Brisbane Cemetery on 29 November 1937, Bill Noble at rugbyleagueproject. com Bill Noble at nrlstats. com Bill Noble at yesterdayshero. com. au
24.
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
25.
Con Sullivan
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Con Sullivan was a New Zealand international rugby league footballer of the early twentieth century who played for various Australasian representative sides. Sullivan started his career in Wellington, where he was selected to tour Australia, in 1910 he started playing for North Sydney in the NSWRFL Premiership. In his first year at the club he was selected to play for New South Wales, Australia, the following year he was selected to go on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, and played in 16 matches, for Australasia, including the third Test. Sullivan toured New Zealand with the New South Wales side in 1912-13 and played his last Test series against England in 1914 in teams captained by his clubmate, Sullivan later married Deanes sister with their son Bob Sullivan continuing the family link with the club. Bob Sullivan made a Test appearance for Australia in 1954 and his younger brother John also played for Norths in the 1950s as a versatile back. Con Sullivan died in October 1964
26.
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
27.
Billy Cann
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Billy Cann was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1900s who later wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative lock forward, Cann played his club football for South Sydney with whom he won the 1914 NSWRFL Premiership. Cann was also an administrator at Souths and a football journalist. Cann, a contemporary of Dally Messenger and Albert Rosenfeld, began his career as a Rugby union three-quarter at Souths. Frustrated at being ignored by rugby union selectors, he joined the rebel New South Wales rugby league team played the New Zealand All Golds in 1907. Cann joined South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1908, butler was then selected to tour England with the Kangaroos in the 1908-09 so was unable to play in Souths first premiership win in 1908. Cann is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.20, Cann was a member of the premiership-winning Souths teams of 1909. Cann also represented Australasia in 1910, Cann was selected to go on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain as well as two tours to New Zealand with the New South Wales team. Cann was a member of the premiership-winning Souths teams of 1914 and he had played 9 seasons with the club. Cann was a member of Souths committee from 1908 as well as a delegate to the New South Wales Rugby Football League, in 1921–1922, Cann was co-manager of the Kangaroo tour along with Souths secretary, S. G. George Ball. During the 1940s and 50s, Cann was a vice-president of the NSWRFL and he also wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. Cann is credited with shaping the role of the lock in the new code, john Quinlan said of Cann, It was he who introduced the typical Australian style of fast forward play in which the backs and forwards combine so effectively and spectacularly. It is no reflection on his successors to say the original model remains the greatest gem and he was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. In February 2008, Cann 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. The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, wetherill Park, New South Wales, Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p.74. Sydney, New South Wales, ABC Enterprises
28.
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
29.
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
30.
Grand final
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A grand final is a game that decides a sports leagues championship winning team, i. e. the conclusive game of a finals series. Synonymous with a game in North American sports, grand finals have become a significant part of Australian culture. The earliest competitions to feature a final were Australias AFL. They influenced other competitions such as soccers A-League, the National Basketball League, netballs Suncorp Super Netball, most grand finals involve a prestigious award for the player voted best on field. The Anglo-Norman term grand to describe an event, documented in England as grand match in 1836, was used in Australia from the 1850s. A steeplechase in England has been called the Grand National Steeple Chase since at least 1839, use of the term in Australian Football dates back to the first organised and widely publicised match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College on 7 August 1858 at Yarra Park, Melbourne. The game was advertised as the football match in the Melbourne Morning Herald. In 1859, a football match was advertised in Richmond. The earliest known event described as grand in Sydney was a match in 1862. In the 1871 South Yarra Challenge Cup, Carlton and Melbourne drew their three matches, but also won their remaining matches. As head-to-head record was the tiebreaker at that time, the team captains. Carlton won by two goals to nil, the New South Wales Rugby Football League experimented with a finals system in 1908, its inaugural year, but abandoned it the following season. Finals were reintroduced in 1926, and the premiership decider appeared to only be called a grand final if it involved the minor premiers, by the 1930s, the NSWRFL adopted the term grand final to describe the premiership decider. Up until 1954 a grand final match was only if the minor premiers were beaten. The tradition is maintained by the present-day NRL National Rugby League, prior to 1898, the South Australian Football Association was awarded to the team that finished top of the end-of-season ladder placings. In 1889, Norwood and Port Adelaide finished equal first, meaning a play off match was required to determine the premiers, in promoting the decider match, local press dubbed the match a play-off or a deciding match rather than a grand final. This was played on October 5, and Norwood won the match 7.4 to 5.9, in 1894, Norwood and South Adelaide finished with a 13-5 record from their 18 matches. The SAFA fixed a replay for October 10, Labor Day Norwood won the replay 4.7 to South Adelaide 3.5 with a goal as the bell rang
31.
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
32.
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
33.
Rugby league positions
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A rugby league football team consists of thirteen players on the field, with four substitutes on the bench. Each of the thirteen players is assigned a position based on both the role they are expected to fill within the team and the area they occupy on the field. In practice, the positions simply serve as a guideline as to the expected role in both attack and defence. Players are divided into two categories, forwards and backs. Forwards are generally chosen for their size and strength and they are expected to run with the ball, to attack, and to make tackles. Forwards are required to improve the field position thus creating space. Backs are usually smaller and faster, though a big, fast player can be of advantage in the backs and their roles require speed and ball-playing skills, rather than just strength, to take advantage of the field position gained by the forwards. Typically forwards tend to operate in the centre to the field, while backs operate nearer to the touch-lines, the laws of the game recognise standardised numbering of positions. The starting side normally wear the corresponding to their positions, only changing in the case of substitutions. In some competitions, such as Super League, players receive a number to use all season. For these positions, the emphasis is on speed and ball-handling skills, generally, the back line consists of smaller, more agile players. Numbered 1, the primary role is the last line of defence. Defensively, fullbacks must be able to chase and tackle any player who breaks the first line of defence and their role in attack is usually as a support player, and they are often used to come into the line to create an overlap in attack. There are four threequarters, two wingers and two centres, right wing, right centre, left centre and left wing. Typically these players work in pairs, with one winger and one centre occupying each side of the field, there are two wingers in a rugby league team, numbered 2 and 5. The wingers are the players positioned closest to the touch-line on each side of the field and they are generally among the fastest players in a team, with the speed to exploit space that is created for them and finish an attacking move. They are usually positioned just inside the wingers and are typically the second-closest players to the touch-line on each side of the field, in defence, they are expected to mark their opposite centre. Numbered 6, the stand off or five-eighth is usually responsible for directing the ball to the rest of the team in attack and is often a strong passer and runner
Eastern Suburbs[1] (1st title)
Glebe (1st title)
South Sydney
Newtown
Annandale
North Sydney
Western Suburbs
Balmain