1910 NSWRFL season

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 and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield. During the season, many of the league’s top players took part in matches of the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia.

1910 NSWRFL season
LeagueNew South Wales Rugby Football League
DurationApril 30 to September 17
Teams8
Matches played57
Points scored1576
Premiers Newtown[1] (1st title)
Minor Premiers Newtown
Top point-scorer(s) Arthur McCabe (71)
Top try-scorer(s) Dally Messenger (18)
Second Grade
Number of teams12
Premiers Eastern Suburbs
Runners-up Newtown
Third Grade
Number of teams16
PremiersSydney
Runners-upRozelle

Season summary

On 23 July 1910 at the Sydney Showground the South Sydney club defeated Western Suburbs 67–0. This still stands as Souths’ highest ever score and biggest winning margin in a premiership game.[2] It was not beaten in the NSWRFL until 11 May 1935 when St. George defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 91–6, which remains the record score and margin as of 2019.[3]

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.[4]

The League's takings for all matches this year amounted to £13,512, an increase of over £6,000 on the previous season.[5] 1910 was the first season where the NSFWRFL had more people in attendance than Rugby Union.[6]

Teams

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 longer 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 with eight teams.[7] Also this season St. Luke's Park became the Western Suburbs club's home ground.

Annandale
1st season
Ground: Wentworth Park
Coach:
Captain: George Wilcox
Balmain
3rd season
Ground: Birchgrove Park
Coach: Robert Graves
Captain: Arthur Halloway		 Eastern Suburbs
3rd season
Ground: RAS Showground
Captain- Coach: Dally Messenger		 Glebe
3rd season
Ground: Wentworth Park
Coach:Chris McKivat
Captain: Alex Burdon
Newtown
3rd season
Ground: Erskineville Metters Park
Captain-Coach: Charles 'Boxer' Russell
North Sydney
3rd season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach:
Captain: Tedda Courtney		 South Sydney
3rd season
Ground: RAS Showground
Captain-Coach: Arthur Hennessy		 Western Suburbs
3rd season
Ground: St. Luke's Park
Coach:
Captain: Percy Bolt

Ladder

Newtown finished on top of the League's ladder at the end of the regular season.

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1910 premiership across Sydney.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Newtown 14111226092+17023
2 South Sydney 141103326109+21722
3 Eastern Suburbs 14923248116+13220
4 Balmain 14806153190-3716
5 Glebe 14608175194-1912
6 Annandale 14518145200-5511
7 North Sydney 143011146283-1376
8 Western Suburbs 141013115386-2712

Ladder progression
  • Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 2.
  • 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
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Newtown 24688101214151517192123
2 South Sydney 2466681012141618182022
3 Eastern Suburbs 244688810111214161820
4 Balmain 024668810121414161616
5 Glebe 0024668881012121212
6 Annandale 0000244467791111
7 North Sydney 22224444444446
8 Western Suburbs 00000022222222

Final
Newtown Position South Sydney
William "Webby" NeillFBFrank Twiss
Charles Russell (Ca./Co.)WGTommy Anderson
Viv FarnsworthCEHoward Hallett
Albert HawkesCEJack Leveson
Fred MunneryWGArthur Conlin
Bill FarnsworthFEArthur McCabe
William HayesHBArthur Butler
James MoganPRBill Spence
John ChevallHKJim "Barra" Davis
David GrundiePRErnie Hucker
Jack BarnettSRHarry Butler
Patrick McCueSRJohnny Rosewell
Joe MurrayLKArthur Hennessy (Ca./Co.)

Unlike the previous two seasons where a play-off system was used to decide the premier, there was only one game played in 1910. The top two teams, Newtown and South Sydney, played off in a memorable match in front of fifteen or sixteen thousand[8] 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. However, after Souths player Howard Hallett was forced to kick the ball clear from his own line, Newtown centre Albert Hawkes caught the ball on the full just metres away from halfway and the touch line. 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 difficult position, allowing Newtown to tie the game and win the competition as they had been minor premiers.[9]

Newtown 4 (Goals: Charles Russell 2)

drew with

South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 (Goals: Jim Davis 2)

References
  1. "Premiership Roll of Honour". rl1908.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011.
  2. "Club Records". rabbitohs.com.au. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012.
  3. Rugby League Tables – Game Records; AFL Tables
  4. "Rugby league history as FOUR English brothers star for Russell Crowe's side". Mirror. 30 August 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  5. "A Flourishing League". Grey River Argus. New Zealand. 1911-03-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
  6. Titus O'Reily (20 August 2018). A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport. Penguin Books. p. 210. ISBN 9780143793519.
  7. "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  8. "Football". The Sydney Mail. 1910-09-21. p. 54. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  9. "League football". Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 69. New Zealand. 1910-09-19. p. 4. Retrieved 2009-12-03.

Collis, Ian; Whiticker, Alan (2007). 100 Years of Rugby League. 1. Chatswood, NSW: New Holland. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-1-74110-463-9.

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