1903 Metropolitan Rugby Union season

1903 Sydney Rugby Premiership
1903 Sydney Rugby Premiership
Duration	2 May to 22 August
Teams	8
Premiers	Eastern Suburbs (1st title)
Minor Premiers	Eastern Suburbs (1st title)
Runners-up	Glebe
Wooden spoon	Balmain (3rd spoon)
Top point-scorer(s)	Reg Harris (27)
Top try-scorer(s)	Walter Davis (6) Walter Ogaard (6)
Second Grade
Number of teams	10
Premiers	Newtown
Runners-up	Eastern Suburbs
Boroughs Competition
Number of teams	17
Premiers	Gipps
Runners-up	Balmain
	← 1902 1904 →

Last updated December 24, 2023

The 1903 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 30th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the fourth season run for clubs that represented a district. Eight clubs (seven representing a district, the remaining club representing Sydney University) competed from May till August 1903. The season culminated in the fourth district premiership, which was won by Eastern Suburbs. Eastern Suburbs were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

Teams

Eight clubs contested the season; seven clubs representing a district and one club representing Sydney University.^[1]


Balmain Formed on 26 March 1900 Ground: Birchgrove Oval Captain: R Hutchenson	Eastern Suburbs Formed on 22 March 1900 Ground: Hampden Park Captain: Percy Macnamara	Glebe Formed on 15 March 1900 Ground: Wentworth Park Captain: William Howe
Newtown Formed on 22 March 1900 Ground: Erskineville Oval Captain: Edward Larkin	North Sydney Formed on 23 March 1900 Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain: Jack O'Donnell	South Sydney Formed on 26 March 1900 Ground: RAS Showground Captain: J Bourke
Sydney University Formed on 19 August 1865 Ground: University Oval Captain: John Manning	Western Suburbs Formed on 22 March 1900 Captain: Stanley Wickham

Season Summary

The success of Eastern Suburbs in the 1903 Sydney Rugby Premiership was popular with the football public. This was mostly due to the fact that the club were first-time winners and played the game in a sporting fashion. The team displayed excellent defence, letting in only eight tries during the season. Eastern Suburbs opened the season by defeating Glebe by 4 points to 3, and that victory proved a highly important one to both teams, as, at the close, there was one competition point between them. From start to finish of the season, Eastern Suburbs either held the leading position or shared the lead with another club.^[2]

Glebe, who finished second, were the only team who scored at least one try in every match. The club finished strongly by winning the last 6 rounds of the season. As a pack they were superior to that of any other team, excepting Eastern Suburbs. At no time did they equal the best of their form in other seasons.^[2]

After a bit of a slow start to the season, Newtown began to display outstanding brilliance in attack. This led them to move quickly up the ladder and finish the season in a strong third place. Newtown were the most brilliant all-round team in the competition, yet lacked that solidity.^[2]

At the conclusion of the season, the Rugby world saw the shock death of another of their players. Wallace Millican, three-quarter for Newtown, died of blood poisoning on 30 August after spending most of the week confined to his bed. Millican was 21 years old and hugely popular amongst the Newtown followers.^[3]

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Eastern Suburbs	13	10	1	2	89	41	+48	21
2	Glebe	13	9	2	2	89	48	+41	20
3	Newtown	13	7	2	4	114	65	+49	16
4	North Sydney	13	6	1	6	77	87	-10	13
5	Sydney University	13	5	2	6	101	65	+36	12
6	Western Suburbs	13	4	2	7	56	96	-40	10
7	South Sydney	13	4	0	9	50	73	-23	8
8	Balmain	13	1	2	10	56	157	-101	4

^[4]

Ladder Progression

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
1	Eastern Suburbs	2	4	6	8	9	9	11	13	13	15	17	19	21
2	Glebe	0	2	4	5	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20
3	Newtown	0	2	2	3	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16
4	North Sydney	2	2	3	5	7	9	9	11	13	13	13	13	13
5	Sydney University	2	3	5	5	5	5	7	7	9	9	10	10	12
6	Western Suburbs	2	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7	8	10	10
7	South Sydney	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8
8	Balmain	0	0	1	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Statistics

Points

	Player	Pl	T	G	FG	Pts
1	Reg Harris	12	2	8	1	27
2	Percy Macnamara	13	3	6	0	24
3	Albert Cotter	5	2	5	1	22
4	WA Hay	12	1	8	0	20
5	HA Morton	11	0	8	0	20
6	Walter Davis	11	6	0	0	18
7	Walter Ogaard	12	6	0	0	18
8	Sid Riley	10	5	0	0	15
9	William Burleigh	12	5	0	0	15
10	Victor Futter	12	5	0	0	15

Tries

	Player	Pl	T
1	Walter Davis	11	6
	Walter Ogaard	12	6
3	Sid Riley	10	5
4	William Burleigh	12	5
5	Victor Futter	12	5
6	Patrick Carew	11	4
7	L Seaborn	10	4
8	William Hardcastle	6	4
9	E Quinsey	13	4
10	Nigel Barker	13	4

Lower Grades

The MRFU also conducted Second Grade and Boroughs competitions this season.

Second Grade

Ten teams participated in the Second Grade competition: the eight First Grade clubs entered a team each, in addition two Boroughs clubs, Willoughby and Manly, were permitted to each enter a team. The season concluded with Newtown undefeated at the top of the table by a margin of 8 points. They were therefore declared premiers.^[2]

Boroughs Competition

Seventeen teams participated in the Boroughs Competition. The teams were split into two divisions of nine teams. In Division A was North Sydney, Willoughby, Mosman, Manly, East Sydney, Surrey Hills, Redfern, Balmain and Gipps. In Division B was Newtown, University, Waterloo, Rockdale, Glebe, Annandale, Leichhardt and Ashfield. At the end of the regular games, North Sydney finished at the top of Division A and Glebe finished at the top of Division B.^[5] The final saw Gipps beat Balmain 11 points to 6 to take the premiership.^[6]

Participating clubs

Club	Grade
Club	1st	2nd	B.
Annandale Football Club			Y
Ashfield Football Club			Y
Balmain District Football Club	Y	Y	Y
East Sydney Football Club			Y
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby Football Club	Y	Y
Gipps Football Club			Y
Glebe District Football Club	Y	Y	Y
Leichhardt Football Club			Y
Manly Football Club		Y	Y
Mosman Football Club			Y
Newtown District Football Club	Y	Y	Y
North Sydney District Rugby Football Club	Y	Y	Y
Redfern Football Club			Y
Rockdale Football Club			Y
South Sydney District Football Club	Y	Y
Surry Hills Football Club			Y
Sydney University Football Club	Y	Y	Y
Waterloo Football Club			Y
Western Suburbs District Rugby Football Club	Y	Y
Willoughby Football Club		Y	Y

Footnotes

↑ "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 29 April 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
1 2 3 4 "MR. W. COFFEY ON THE PLAY OF NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 26 August 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
↑ "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 2 September 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
↑ "SYDNEY FIRST GRADE PREMIERSHIP, 1903". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 2 September 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
↑ "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 24 June 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
↑ "THE "REFEREE" SCORE-BOOK". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 12 August 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 27 May 2018.

Related Research Articles

The Glebe Dirty Reds are an Australian rugby league foundation club which played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's Sydney premiership, the major competition for the sport in Sydney, from 1908 until their exit at the end of 1929. 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 maroon colour of their playing jerseys.

The Shute Shield, known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end of the club rugby season.

The 1908 NSWRFL season was the inaugural season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League's premiership, Australia's first rugby league football club competition, in which nine clubs competed from April till August 1908. The season culminated in the first premiership final, for the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield, which was contested by Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney. In 1908 the NSWRFL also assembled a New South Wales representative team for the first ever interstate series against Queensland, and towards the end of the season, the NSWRFL's leading players were absent, having been selected to go on the first Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.

The 1909 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the second season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Eight teams contested during the season for the premiership and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield; seven teams from Sydney and one team from Newcastle, New South Wales.

The 1911 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fourth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the premiership and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield.

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 and the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield.

The 1914 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventh season of Sydney's top-grade rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season. The 1914 season's gate receipts totalled £24,072, which was £7,038 more than the previous season's.

The 1915 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the eighth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league football club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season, with the Balmain club finishing on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.

The 1917 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the tenth season of Sydney's professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season and Balmain finished on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1919 NSWRFL season</span> Rugby league competition

The 1919 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twelfth season of Sydney’s professional rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season, with Balmain finishing on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.

The 1922 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fifteenth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Nine teams from across the city contested the season which culminated in North Sydney’s victory over Glebe in the premiership final.

The 1924 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventeenth 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 Balmain’s victory over South Sydney in the premiership final. The 1924 season was the last in the NSWRFL for future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Harold Horder.

The 1900 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 27th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the first season run for clubs that represented a district. Eight clubs competed from May till August 1900. The season culminated in the first district premiership, which was won by Glebe. Glebe were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

The 1901 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 28th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the second season run for clubs that represented a district. Eight clubs competed from May till August 1901. The season culminated in the second district premiership, which was won by Glebe and Sydney University. Both teams had finished the season at the top of the premiership table and as a result were to play a final to determine the Premiership. However, both clubs decided not to play a final resulting in both being declared joint premiers.

The 1902 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 29th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the third season run for clubs that represented a district. Eight clubs competed from May till August 1902. The season culminated in the third district premiership, which was won by Western Suburbs. Western Suburbs were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

The 1904 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 31st season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the fifth season run for clubs that represented a district. Eight clubs competed from May till September 1904. The season culminated in the fourth district premiership, which was won by Sydney University. Sydney University were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

The 1899 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 26th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. It was the last season run for independent clubs who took their players from across the city. Eight clubs competed from May till September 1899. The season culminated in the premiership, which was won by Wallaroo. Wallaroo were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

The 1898 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 25th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. Seven clubs competed from May till August 1898. The season culminated in the premiership, which was won by the Pirates. The Pirates were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

The 1897 Metropolitan Rugby Union season was the 24th season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. Six clubs competed from May till September 1897. The season culminated in the premiership, which was won by Randwick who were undefeated during the season. Randwick were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table. This was the first premiership run under the new Metropolitan Rugby Football Union.

The 1896 New South Wales Rugby Football Union season was the 23rd season of the Sydney Rugby Premiership. Six clubs competed from May till August 1896. The season culminated in the premiership, which was won by Randwick. Randwick were crowned premiers by virtue of finishing the season on top of the table.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 29 April 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

[:0-2] 1 2 3 4 "MR. W. COFFEY ON THE PLAY OF NEW ZEALANDERS AND AUSTRALIANS". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 26 August 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

[3] "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 2 September 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 26 May 2018.

[4] "SYDNEY FIRST GRADE PREMIERSHIP, 1903". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 2 September 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 17 May 2018.

[5] "FOOTBALL". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 24 June 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 27 May 2018.

[6] "THE "REFEREE" SCORE-BOOK". Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939). 12 August 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 27 May 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]