| 1909 NSWRFL season | |
| Teams | 8 |
| Premiers | South Sydney (2nd title) |
| Minor premiers | South Sydney (2nd title) |
| Matches played | 42 |
| Points scored | 975 (total) 23.214 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Arthur Conlin (43) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Tommy Anderson (11) |
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.
At the begninning of the season, the nearly broke NSWRFL had met and kicked out its founders Henry Hoyle, Victor Trumper and J J Giltinan.[1] Part-way through the season, Edward Larkin was appointed full-tme secretary of the NSWRFL.[2]
Also in 1909 north of the border, the Queensland Rugby Football League got its club competition started for the rebel football code of rugby league.
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The teams that made up the 1909 premiership season were the same as the 1908 season with the exception of Cumberland who were dissolved, being unable to field a competitive team. Their last premiership match turned out to be a 45-0 loss at the hands of North Sydney on 25 July 1908, a game where the team had to "borrow" two of North Sydney's officials in order to make up a 13-man side. Seven of Cumberland's players ended up going to Western Suburbs the following year, but only three of these players were able to play another premiership match.
Souths lost only one game in the regular season, to Newcastle in Newcastle, 3 days after the Novocastrians had beaten a New Zealand Maori team.
The jerseys of the 8 teams for the 1909 season are shown below.
| Balmain | Eastern Suburbs | Glebe | Newcastle |
| Newtown | North Sydney | South Sydney | Western Suburbs |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sydney | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 210 | 41 | +169 | 18 |
| 2 | Balmain | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 62 | +68 | 16 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 144 | 93 | +51 | 10 |
| 4 | Eastern Suburbs | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 167 | 141 | +26 | 10 |
| 5 | Glebe | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 62 | 159 | -97 | 8 |
| 6 | Newtown | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 73 | 107 | -34 | 7 |
| 7 | North Sydney | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 104 | 157 | -53 | 6 |
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 42 | 172 | -130 | 5 |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sydney | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 |
| 2 | Balmain | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | Eastern Suburbs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 5 | Glebe | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 6 | Newtown | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 7 | North Sydney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
In 1909 semi-finals were played amongst the four highest placed teams. Top two finishers South Sydney and Balmain were able to win their respective semi-finals. However, after the New South Wales Rugby League had planned a match between the Australian rugby union and rugby league teams that would upstage the premiership final, both South Sydney and Balmain unofficially agreed to not play out a final. But unknown to Balmain, South Sydney turned up ready to play. Another version states that Balmain refused to play in protest against the match being held at Souths' home ground.[3] The final was deemed to be a forfeit as a result, with South Sydney claiming their second premiership in as many years.[4] Requests from Balmain for the match to be played at a later date were refused by the League.[5] Conflict over whether there was an agreement between the two clubs not to play a final[6] caused a deep seated resentment towards Souths by Balmain which lasted many years.
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||
| 14 August 1909 - Wentworth | |||||||
| Balmain | 15 | ||||||
| Eastern Suburbs | 8 | ||||||
| 14 September 1909 - Showground | |||||||
| South Sydney | |||||||
| Balmain | (forfeit) | ||||||
| 14 August 1909 - Agricultural | |||||||
| South Sydney | 20 | ||||||
| Newcastle | 0 | ||||||
Members of the South Sydney side who showed up on Grand Final day and won by forfeit were:
• Arthur Butler • Arthur Conlin (c) • Harry Butler • Howard Hallett • T.Anderson • J.Davis • Frank Storie • Ed Fry • Dick Green • Jack Coxon • W.Cann • P.Carroll • Arthur Hennessy (coach)
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