New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1967
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| New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1967 | |
 |
|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |  South Sydney (17th title) |
| Minor premiers |  St. George (13th title) |
| Matches played | 136 |
| Points scored | 3827 (average 28.14 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,769,881 (average 13,014 per match) |
The 1967 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixtieth season of the rugby league football competition based in Sydney. The introduction of the Cronulla-Sutherland and Penrith clubs saw a total of twelve teams from across the Sydney area contest during the season.
Contents |
[edit] Season summary
The 1967 season was the first played under the four tackle rule, replacing the previous era (since the code's 1908 inception) of unlimited tackles.
1967 also saw the NSWRFL expand to twelve teams with the introduction of the Penrith Panthers and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
The twelve sides met each other twice in twenty-two regular premiership rounds before the top four teams battled out four finals. For the sixth consecutive season the St George Dragons finished as minor premiers.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs won their seventeenth premiership, defeating Canterbury-Bankstown 12-10 in the Grand Final. This finally spelled the end for St. George's monopoly on Grand Final wins which lasted over a decade, and commenced a new period of Souths' dominance, in which they would win four premierships in a five-year period.
[edit] Teams
 Balmain Tigers |
 Canterbury Bulldogs |
 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
 Eastern Suburbs Roosters |
 Manly Sea Eagles |
 Newtown Jets |
 North Sydney Bears |
 Parramatta Eels |
 Penrith Panthers |
 South Sydney Rabbitohs |
 St. George Dragons |
 Western Suburbs Magpies |
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. George |
22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 437 | 267 | +170 | 33 |
| 2 | South Sydney |
22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 422 | 271 | +151 | 32 |
| 3 |  Canterbury-Bankstown |
22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 349 | 269 | +80 | 29 |
| 4 |  Eastern Suburbs |
22 | 13 | 2 | 7 | 269 | 219 | +50 | 28 |
| 5 |  Manly-Warringah |
22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 365 | 271 | +94 | 26 |
| 6 |  Balmain |
22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 344 | 258 | +86 | 26 |
| 7 |  Western Suburbs |
22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 269 | 255 | +14 | 22 |
| 8 |  North Sydney |
22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 297 | 370 | -73 | 17 |
| 9 |  Parramatta |
22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 309 | 322 | -13 | 16 |
| 10 |  Newtown |
22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 274 | 406 | -132 | 16 |
| 11 |  Penrith |
22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 203 | 352 | -149 | 12 |
| 12 |  Cronulla-Sutherland |
22 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 208 | 486 | -278 | 7 |
[edit] Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
 Canterbury-Bankstown |
13-2 |  Eastern Suburbs |
26 August 1967 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 47,186 | ||
 St. George |
8-13 |  South Sydney |
2 September 1967 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 51,915 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| St. George |
11-12 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
9 September 1967 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 49,941 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| South Sydney |
12-10 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
16 September 1967 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 56,358 | ||
[edit] Grand Final
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Position | South Sydney |
|---|---|---|
| Les Johns | FB | Kevin Longbottom |
| Barry Reynolds | WG | Brian James |
| Bob Hagan | CE | Eric Simms |
| Johnny Greaves | CE | Bob Moses |
| Clive Gartner | WG | Michael Cleary |
| Bob Doyle | FE | Jim Lisle |
| Ross Kidd | HB | Ivan Jones |
| Kevin Ryan (c) | PR | John Sattler (c) |
| Col Brown | HK | Elwyn Walters |
| Merv Hicks | PR | John O'Neill |
| Kevin Goldspink | SR | Bob McCarthy |
| George Taylforth | SR | Alan Scott |
| Ron Raper | LK | Ron Coote |
| Kevin Ryan | Coach | Clive Churchill |
Live television broadcast coverage of grand finals commenced in 1967 with the match being shown on all four Sydney channels. As a result, the crowd of 56,358 was the lowest seen at a grand final since the rainy 1962 St George and Wests decider. [1]
South Sydney, led by new skipper John Sattler, began their period of dominance by downing Canterbury in a torrid 80 minutes played in bleak conditions with a light rain throughout. Taylforth and Eric Simms opened accounts with early goals, before John O'Neill barged over for a close-range try from dummy half. Canterbury's Ron Raper responded with a field-goal kicked from halfway and then Taylforth punished Souths with two successful penalty goals after firstly a clash between Kevin Ryan and O'Neill and then a scrum infringement. Canterbury led 8-5.
The turning point came just before half-time when Rabbitohs second rower Bob McCarthy swooped on a lofted pass from Canterbury's Col Brown intended for Johnny Greaves and ran the length of the field to take Souths into the break with a 10-8 lead.
Taylforth kicked his fourth goal to take the scores level nine minutes into the second-half but from that point on the match became a tight arm wrestle. With five minutes remaining Canterbury's Ross Kidd was penalised for a scrum feed and Simms kicked the Rabbitohs to a two point lead which they held to give them their 17th premiership title. It marked the beginning of a new golden period for Souths and Ron Coote, Mike Cleary, Bob McCarthy, O'Neill, Sattler and Simms would win four premierships in the next five seasons and figure prominently in representative squads of that period.
South Sydney 12 ( Tries: O,Neill, McCarthy. Goals: Simms 3.)
Canterbury 10 ( Goals: Taylforth 4. Fld Goal: Raper .)
[edit] References
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1967 The World of Rugby League
- Big League, News Magazines for the National Rugby League June 13, 2006
[edit] Notes
- ^ Big League, July13 2006 p.7
