1926 NSWRFL season

1926 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	9
Premiers	South Sydney (6th title)
Minor premiers	South Sydney (6th title)
Matches played	75
Points scored	2009 (total) 26.787 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Jack Courtney (104)
Top try scorer(s)	Benny Wearing (14)

The 1926 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the nineteenth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Nine teams from across the city contested during the season, which culminated in South Sydney’s victory over Sydney University in the premiership final.^[1]

Season summary

Rugby league had been going through a period of declining popularity. The “first past the post” method had resulted in a number of seasons where the premiership was decided before the end of scheduled matches, killing interest during the closing rounds. Falling crowd numbers led to the NSWRFL making a substantial loss in 1925, forcing changes to be made. For the 1926 season a finals series was introduced to maintain interest in the competition.^[2] The Premiership would therefore be determined amongst the leading four teams.

The rules concerning the play-the-ball were also changed. Only two players could play at the ball, with one player from each side being allowed to stand immediately behind, and all other players having to stay behind that second man until the ball was heeled. Previously any number of players could play at the ball, and by 1925 play-the-balls had become a real mess.

The rules were changed so that when a ball was forced in goal by the defending side play restarted with a line drop-out rather than a scrum.

These changes combined with the use of multiple reserve balls turned rugby league into a faster and much more attractive spectacle, and the fans returned.

Teams

Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908, at Balmain Town Hall
Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908, at Paddington Town Hall
Glebe, formed on January 9, 1908
Newtown, formed on January 14, 1908
North Sydney, formed on February 7, 1908
South Sydney, formed on January 17, 1908, at Redfern Town Hall
St. George, formed on November 8, 1920, at Kogarah School of Arts
Western Suburbs, formed on February 4, 1908
University, formed in 1919 at Sydney University


Balmain 19th season Ground: Birchgrove Oval Coach: Alf Fraser Captain: Reg Latta	Eastern Suburbs 19th season Ground: RAS Showground Captains:Arthur Oxford, Les Steel	Glebe 19th season Ground: Wentworth Park Captain: Frank Burge, Tom McGrath
Newtown 19th season Ground: Marrickville Oval Coach: Albert "Ricketty" Johnston Captain: Charles Kell	North Sydney 19th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain: Leo O'Connor	St. George 6th season Ground: Earl Park Captain-Coach: Arnold Traynor
South Sydney 19th season Ground: Sydney Cricket Ground Coach: Howard Hallett Captain: Alf Blair	University 7th season Coach: Bill Kelly Captain: A.S. Lane	Western Suburbs 19th season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Captain: Gordon Stettler

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1926 premiership across Sydney.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	South Sydney	16	14	0	2	2	318	146	+172	32
2	Glebe	16	9	1	6	2	188	168	+20	23
3	Eastern Suburbs	16	9	1	6	2	207	192	+15	23
4	University	16	9	0	7	2	198	217	-19	22
5	Western Suburbs	16	8	0	8	2	252	227	+25	20
6	Newtown	16	7	0	9	2	189	223	-34	18
7	North Sydney	16	7	0	9	2	227	271	-44	18
8	Balmain	16	6	0	10	2	187	184	+3	16
9	St. George	16	2	0	14	2	169	307	-138	8

Finals

At one stage in the second half of the season, University had been sitting just one win behind reigning premiers South Sydney. But five successive losses at the back end of the season saw them fall to fourth on the ladder. This though was enough to secure their only ever finals berth in their eighteen-year history. South Sydney for the second season straight showed consistent good form, and in the end comfortably won the minor premiership.

In the semi-finals, both University and South Sydney comfortably defeated their opponents to progress to the final.

Semi-finals		Final

4 September 1926 - Sydney Cricket Ground
Glebe	3
University	29

		18 September 1926 - Agricultural Showground
		South Sydney	11
		University	5



11 September 1926 - Sydney Cricket Ground
South Sydney	21
Eastern Suburbs	5

Final

South Sydney	Position	University
Alan Righton	FB	Hubert Finn
Alby Carr	WG	Ted Barry
Vic Lawrence	CE	Frank O'Rourke
Harry Finch	CE	Paddy McCormack
Reg Williams	WG	Martin Cunningham
Alf Blair (c)	FE	A.S. Lane (c)
Frank Brogan	HB	Ed Wynter
Arch Thompson	PR	Edward Ryan
Harry Cavanough	HK	Frank Benning
George Treweek	PR	Jim Ward
Edward Root	SR	Sammy Ogg
Alf O'Connor	SR	Bill Flanagan
David Watson	LK	Jim McIntyre
Howard Hallett	Coach	Bill Kelly

The 1926 season was the most successful of the eighteen seasons between the wars in which University competed in the top Sydney grade. This may have had to do with their coach Bill Kelly or their new trainer, the former Kangaroo Sid Pearce. Or perhaps they benefitted from that season’s play-the-ball rule change which initially resulted in a cleaner and faster game that suited the lighter and quicker Students. Whatever the reason they won their first seven games.

However the loss of their centre Frank O'Rourke to a broken hand, saw them slip in the final rounds to finish fourth. The play-off system and South Sydney’s “right-of-challenge” as minor-premiers required University to beat the powerful Glebe side and then South Sydney twice to take the title.

In the semi-final against Glebe, University regained their early season form and trounced Glebe by 29–3.

O'Rourke returned for the Final and lined up with state representatives Hubert “Butt” Finn, Jim McIntyre and Alby Lane in front of 20,000 at the Royal Agricultural Society Grounds.

In the opening twenty minutes University had three opportunities to score but poor finishing let them down. After withstanding the Students’ attack Souths responded with eleven points of their own by the half-time break. Early in the second half University’s centre McCormack hit back with an intercept try to pull the deficit back to 11–5 however the Rabbitohs defence held for the remainder of the game and they claimed the premiership.

Refereee Webby Neill himself a former premiership winning Rabbitoh, sent off Souths’ Edward Root during the match.

South Sydney 11 (Tries: Brogan, Finch, Watson. Goal: Blair)

University 5 (Tries: Paddy McCormack. Goal: Jim McIntyre)

References

↑ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com Archived October 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ Middleton, David (30 September 2013). "Ten of the most dominant seasons in rugby league history from historian David Middleton". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2014.

External links

Rugby League Tables - Notes AFL Tables
Rugby League Tables - Season 1926 AFL Tables
Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
History - Introduction North Sydney Bears
History of the University Club Sean Fagan's RL1908
Results: 1921-30 at rabbitohs.com.au

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Est. 1908 at Redfern Town Hall, Sydney, New South Wales

The club	History Honours Players Coaches Records Representatives Results

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Important figures	Arthur Hennessy Benny Wearing George Treweek Jack Rayner Clive Churchill John Sattler Bob McCarthy George Piggins Russell Crowe

League	Current NRL Past NSWRL ARL

Titles	Premierships – 21 1908 1909 1914 1918 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1931 1932 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1967 1968 1970 1971 2014

Seasons (105)	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	Current Auckland Nines National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup Past Amco Cup New South Wales Cup Jersey Flegg Cup

Affiliations	South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League North Sydney Bears

Related articles	The Burrow Reggie the Rabbit South Sydney Central

South Sydney squad - 1926 NSWRFL Premiers (6th title)

1. Alan Righton 2. Alby Carr 3. Vic Lawrence 4. Harry Finch 5. Reg Williams 6. Alf Blair (c) 7. Frank Brogan 8. Arch Thompson 9. Harry Cavanagh 10. George Treweek 11. Edward Root 12. Alf O'Connor 13. David Watson Coach: Howard Hallett

NRL seasons

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