1954 NSWRFL season

Last updated

1954 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams10
Premiers South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney (15th title)
Minor premiers Newtown colours.svg Newtown (5th title)
Matches played94
Points scored3613
Top points scorer(s) Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Ron Rowles (221)
Top try-scorer(s) Newtown colours.svg Ray Preston (34)

The 1954 NSWRFL season was the forty-seventh season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership competition, based in Sydney. Ten rugby league football teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in the first "mandatory" Grand Final played between South Sydney and Newtown.

Contents

Season summary

During the pre-season, Queensland and Australian international representative forward, Harold "Mick" Crocker signed a then record one-year deal for an Australian to move south and play for Sydney club Parramatta. [1] 1954 marked the first season when a Grand Final was scheduled to determine the premiership winner. Prior to that the season victors were either the minor premiers or decided by a final that followed two semi-finals. A Grand Final was only played if the minor-premier was defeated in a semi-final or final and exercised their right to challenge via a Grand Final. Since 1954 a Grand Final has been played every year to determine the premiership winner.

This season, in a New South Wales versus England match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, referee Aub Oxford watched in disbelief the players fighting around him like street-brawlers before turning his back and walking from the field. Oxford never refereed again and the match remains the only top-level game ever abandoned in rugby league history.

Teams

Balmain
Balmain Jersey 1943.png

47th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Norm Robinson
Captain: Jack Fifield

Canterbury-Bankstown
Canterbury-Bankstown Jersey 1938.png

20th season
Ground: Belmore Sports Ground
Coach: Jack Hampstead
Captain: Leo Trevena

Eastern Suburbs
Eastern Suburbs Jersey 1954.png

47th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Captain-Coach: Ferris Ashton

Manly-Warringah
Manly-Warringah Jersey 1954.png

8th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Ray Norman
Captain: Roy Bull

Newtown
Newtown Jersey 1915.png

47th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach : Col Geelan
Captain: Col Geelan, [[[Jim Evans]]

North Sydney
North Sydney Jersey 1954.png

47th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Rex Harrison
Captain: Bob Sullivan

Parramatta
Parramatta Jersey 1953.png

8th Season
Ground: Cumberland Oval
Captain-Coach: Charlie Gill

South Sydney
South Sydney Jersey 1930.png

47th season
Ground: Redfern Oval
Captain-coach: Jack Rayner

St. George
St George Jersey 1948.png

34th season
Ground: Jubilee Oval
Captain-Coach: Ken Kearney

Western Suburbs
Western Suburbs Jersey 1953.png

47th season
Ground: Pratten Park
Captain-Coach: Keith Holman

Ladder

TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts
1 Newtown colours.svg Newtown 181521439215+22432
2 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 181413473255+21829
3 St. George colours.svg St. George 181116345292+5323
4 North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney 181026415320+9522
5 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly 181017391343+4821
6 Balmain colours.svg Balmain 18918346345+119
7 Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs 186111287374-8713
8 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury 184014233465-2328
9 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs 183114257493-2367
10 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta 183015282366-846

Records set in 1954

In 1954 South Sydney's Les Brennan set the standing record for the highest number of tries in a debut season with 29. Newtown winger Ray Preston's 34 tries remains second only to Dave Brown's 38 in 1935 in the tally of tries scored in a season. [2] Preston and Kevin Considine combined for fifty-six tries during the season – easily a record for a pair of club wingers. [3]

In the last round on 21 August, Western Suburbs set a record for the highest losing score when they lost to Balmain 32–37. This was to be one of only two cases before the introduction of the 10-metre ruck rule in 1993 that a team scored over thirty points and lost the match. [4]

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd
Semifinals
St. George colours.svg St. George 15–14 North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney 28 August 1954 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack O'Brien32,397
Newtown colours.svg Newtown 14–24 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 4 September 1954 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler38,520
Preliminary Final
Newtown colours.svg Newtown 27–13 St. George colours.svg St. George 11 September 1954 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler32,303
Grand Final
South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 23–15 Newtown colours.svg Newtown 18 September 1954 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack O'Brien45,759

Grand Final

South SydneyPositionNewtown
13. Clive Churchill FB
  1. Gordon Clifford
12. Ian Moir WG 2. Kevin Considine
9. Martin Gallagher CE 6. Dick Poole
7. Greg Hawick CE 4. Brian Clay
11. Les Brennan WG 3. Ray Preston
8. John Dougherty FE 53. Ray Kelly
21. Ray Mason HB 7. Bobby Whitton
  1. Denis Donoghue
PR 12. Jim Evans (c)
2. Ernie Hammerton HK 46. Frank Johnson
3. Jim Richards PR 11. Don Stait
18. Bernie Purcell SR 10. Frank Narvo
4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) SR 9. Henry Holloway
6. Les Cowie LK 8. Peter Ryan
Coach Col Geelan

In spite of Newtown finishing as minor premiers they hadn't beaten South Sydney in either regular season encounter. Souths had also won their semi-final meeting 24-14. In this, the NSWRFL's first Grand Final scheduled to determine the premiership winner, Souths were the victors. Legendary fullback Clive Churchill was outstanding setting up three of his side's five tries. The Bluebags stayed in the contest through the kicking boot of their Test fullback Gordon "Punchy" Clifford.

South Sydney 23 (Tries: Cowie 2, Moir, Hawick, Dougherty. Goals: Purcell 4.)

Newtown 15 (Tries: Narvo. Goals: Clifford 6.)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Post-season

Following the grand final, nine players from the NSWRFL were selected in a squad of eighteen to represent Australia in the 1954 Rugby League World Cup in France.

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References

  1. ↑ ‘Crocker will play here’ 20 January 1954 The Sydney Morning Herald
  2. ↑ Rugby League Tables – Most Individual Tries in a Season; AFL Tables
  3. ↑ Whitticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen; The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players (1999), p. 432 ISBN   1875169768
  4. ↑ Rugby League Tables – Highest Losing Scores; AFL Tables
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