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 28th season of Sydney's top-grade rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. With the inclusion of the Canterbury-Bankstown club this season, nine teams from across the city contested the premiership which lasted from April until September and 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 they again beat them 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.

The fifth round match between St. George and Canterbury-Bankstown was played in part using a rubber ball; the idea was soon dropped as the ball was considered too lively. The match is also famous for the fact that St. George won 91-6. This scoreline remains the highest margin of victory by any team as well as the most points scored by a team in a single match. The following week, Canterbury were on the receiving end of the second-highest winning margin in NSWRFL history when Eastern Suburbs defeated them 87-7. Dave Brown’s 45 points in this match remain the highest number of points scored by an individual in a game.

Teams

The addition of Canterbury-Bankstown meant that the League involved nine teams for the first time since 1929.^[2]

• 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 9 teams for the 1935 season are shown below.

Balmain 28th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Captain-Coach: Joe Busch	Canterbury-Bankstown 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
Newtown 28th season Ground: Marrickville Oval Coach: Charles 'Boxer' Russell Captain: Hans Mork	North Sydney 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	University 16th season Coach: Bob "Botsy" Williams	Western Suburbs 28th season Ground: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Les Mead

Records set in 1935

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.

The standing record for most tries in one season also comes from 1935 being 38 by Easts' Dave Brown.^[3] Brown's 45 points in a 1935 match 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 also kicked 15 goals in the Dragon's 1935 clash 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

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1935 premiership across Sydney.

	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

Before a crowd of 22,106 and refereed by Tom McMahon, Easts led 9-0 at half-time and were never headed despite being without their star centre, Dave Brown.^[4]

Scorers

• Eastern Suburbs

Tries: Rod O'Loan 2, Harry Pierce, Fred Tottey, Jack Beaton. Goals: Ross McKinnon 2

• South Sydney

Try: George Shankland

Source:^[5]

References