1935 NSWRFL season
| 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 9 |
| Premiers |
 Eastern Suburbs (5th title) |
| Minor premiers |
Eastern Suburbs (6th title) |
| Matches played | 75 |
| Points scored |
2770 (total) 36.933 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) |
Dave Brown (244) |
| Top try scorer(s) |
Dave Brown (38) |
The 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-eighth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. The season culminated in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over South Sydney in the final.[1]
Season summary
The inclusion of the Canterbury-Bankstown club in the premiership this season saw the number of teams increase for the first time since University’s introduction in 1920. This meant the number of regular season matches each club played increased in 1935 from 14 to 16.
Eastern Suburbs began an unbeaten streak that lasted almost three years. On 22 June 1935, South Sydney beat Eastern Suburbs 18–11 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. On 25 April 1938 Souths against defeated Easts 21–14. Between those two dates Eastern Suburbs did not lose a premiership match. The University club did not win a single match in 1935, continuing a losing streak that started in round 2, 1934 and which would run till round 14, 1936, and which marks the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42.[2]
Teams
The addition of Canterbury-Bankstown meant that the League involved nine clubs for the first time since 1929.[3]
- Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908, at Balmain Town Hall
- Canterbury-Bankstown, formed October 30, 1934.
- Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908, at Paddington Town Hall
- 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
- University, formed in 1919 at Sydney University
- Western Suburbs, formed on February 4, 1908
The jerseys of the nine clubs for the 1935 season are shown below.
 28th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Captain-Coach: Joe Busch |
 1st season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Tedda Courtney Captain: Jack Morrison→Tom Carey |
Eastern Suburbs 28th season Ground: Sports Ground Coach: Arthur Halloway Captain: Dave Brown |
 28th season Ground: Marrickville Oval Coach: Charles 'Boxer' Russell Captain: Hans Mork |
 28th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Frank Burge Captain: Doug Deitz |
South Sydney 28th season Ground: Sports Ground Coach: Dave Watson Captain: Percy Williams |
| St. George 15th season Ground: Earl Park Coach: Albert Johnston Captain: Percy Fairall |
 16th season Coach: Bob “Botsy” Williams |
Western Suburbs 28th season Ground: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Les Mead |
Records set in 1935
On 11 May at Earl Park, St. George defeated newcomers Canterbury 91–6, this remaining the biggest winning margin and most points scored by one team in the history of the NSWRFL/NSWRL/ARL/NRL, beating South Sydney’s 67–nil win over Western Suburbs in 1910.[4] The following weekend on 18 May, Eastern Suburbs defeated the “Cantabs” (as Canterbury were initially known) 87–7, this remaining the second-highest score and winning margin in the history of the competition.[4] The record in any grade occurred on 19 July 1913 when South Sydney reserves defeated Mosman by 102 points to 2.[5][6]
In the second half of the Earl Park match, St. George scored fourteen tries and sixty-eight points, this being the most scored in one half of any match.[7]
Eastern Suburbs winger Rod O'Loan scored a club record of seven tries in a 61–5 win over University. This tally stands second (behind Frank Burge's eight tries in 1920) on the list of most individual tries in a premiership match. Dave Brown’s six tries in a 1935 game against Canterbury stands in equal third place in that same list, Easts winning the match 65–10.[8]
The standing record for most tries in one season also comes from 1935, being 38 by Brown.[9] Brown’s 45 points in the 87–7 victory against Canterbury also stands as the record for most points in a match and the 15 goals he kicked in that match stands in equal first place as the most goals scored in a match. The other equal place holder is St George’s Les Griffen who kicked 15 goals in the Dragons’ 91–6 victory against Canterbury.
Dave Brown’s season tally of 244 points stood for 34 years as the record points scored in a season until topped by Eric Simms in 1969.
Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Suburbs |
16 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 599 | 157 | +442 | 34 |
| 2 |  South Sydney |
16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 314 | 222 | +112 | 26 |
| 3 |  Western Suburbs |
16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 345 | 243 | +102 | 24 |
| 4 |  North Sydney |
16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 248 | 253 | -5 | 23 |
| 5 |  Balmain |
16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 320 | 225 | +95 | 21 |
| 6 |  St. George |
16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 334 | 162 | +172 | 20 |
| 7 |  Newtown |
16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 280 | 248 | +32 | 20 |
| 8 |  Canterbury-Bankstown |
16 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 150 | 660 | -510 | 8 |
| 9 |  University |
16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 109 | 529 | -420 | 4 |
Finals
In the two semi-finals played as a double-header at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the same day, the top two ranked teams Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney beat their lower-ranked opponents Western Suburbs and North Sydney. Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney won their respective matches and met each other in the Final.
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||
| 7 September 1935 – Sydney Cricket Ground | |||||||
| Eastern Suburbs |
15 | ||||||
| Western Suburbs |
10 | ||||||
| 14 September 1935 – Sydney Cricket Ground | |||||||
| Eastern Suburbs |
19 | ||||||
| South Sydney |
3 | ||||||
| 7 September 1935 – Sydney Cricket Ground | |||||||
| South Sydney |
14 | ||||||
| North Sydney |
10 | ||||||
Premiership Final
| South Sydney | Position | Eastern Suburbs |
|---|---|---|
| Les McDonald | FB | Tom Dowling |
| Harry Thompson | WG | Rod O’Loan |
| Harry Eyers | CE | Ross McKinnon |
| Eddie Finucane | CE | Jack Beaton |
| George Shankland | WG | Fred Tottey |
| "Paddy" Stewart | FE | Ernie Norman |
| Percy Williams(c) | HB | Viv Thicknesse |
| Jack McCormack | PR | Ray Stehr (c) |
| George Kilham | HK | Tom McLachlan |
| Eric Lewis | PR | Max Nixon |
| Frank Curran | SR | Harry Pierce |
| Michael Williams | SR | Joe Pearce |
| Eddie Hinson | LK | Andy Norval |
| Dave Watson | Coach | Arthur Halloway |
Before a crowd of 22,106 and refereed by Tom McMahon, Easts led 9–nil at half-time and were never headed despite being without their record-breaking centre, Dave Brown.[10]
Scorers
- Eastern Suburbs
Tries: Rod O'Loan 2, Harry Pierce, Fred Tottey, Jack Beaton. Goals: Ross McKinnon 2
- South Sydney
Try: George Shankland
Source:[11]
References
- ↑ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
- ↑ Rugby League Tables – Most Consecutive Games Lost; AFl Tables
- ↑ "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- 1 2 Rugby League Tables – Game Records; AFL Tables
- ↑ ‘Rugby League: Second Grade‘; The Sunday Times, 20 July 1913, p. 13
- ↑ ‘Records Made: St. George and Griffen’; Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 1935, p. 17
- ↑ See Middleton, David; Rugby League 1996; pp. 123, 125 ISBN 0732256720
- ↑ Rugby League Tables – Most Individual Tries in a Game; AFL Tables
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "The Rugby Season has ended". The Sydney Mail. Australia. 1935-09-18. p. 33. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
- ↑ "Finals Scorers,1935". stats.rleague.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
External links
- Rugby League Tables - Notes AFL Tables
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1935 AFL Tables