1909 NSWRFL season

1909 New South Wales Rugby Football League
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-time 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.

Teams

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.

Balmain, formed on 23 January 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
Eastern Suburbs, formed on 24 January 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
Glebe, formed on 9 January 1908
Newcastle, formed on 10 February 1908 at Pike's Rooms, Bolton Street, Newcastle
Newtown, formed on 8 January 1908
North Sydney, formed on 7 February 1908
South Sydney, formed on 17 January 1908 at Redfern Town Hall
Western Suburbs formed on 4 February 1908

Souths lost only one game in the regular season, to Newcastle in Newcastle, 3 days after the Novocastrians had beaten the New Zealand Māori team.

Glebe included Peter Moko, the first player of Polynesian background to play in the premiership.^[3]

Newcastle exited the League at the end of the season.^[4]


Balmain 2nd season Ground: Birchgrove Oval Coach: Robert Graves Captain: Joe Regent	Eastern Suburbs 2nd season Ground: RAS Showground Coach: Captain: Albert Rosenfeld	Glebe 2nd season Ground: Wentworth Park Coach: Captain: Alex Burdon	Newcastle 2nd season Ground: Newcastle Showground Coach: Captain: Stan Carpenter
Newtown 2nd season Ground: Wentworth Park Coach: Captain: Bill Noble	North Sydney 2nd season Ground: Coach: Captain: Albert Broomham	South Sydney 2nd season Ground: RAS Showground Coach: Arthur Hennessy Captain: Arthur Conlin	Western Suburbs 2nd season Ground: RAS Showground Coach: Captain: Tom Phelan

Touring sides

During the season the New Zealand national side toured in June-July, followed by the second New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia.

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1909 premiership across Sydney.

	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

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
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
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

Finals

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. ^[5] The final was deemed to be a forfeit as a result, with South Sydney claiming their second premiership in as many years.^[6] Requests from Balmain for the match to be played at a later date were refused by the League.^[7] Conflict over whether there was an agreement between the two clubs not to play a final^[8] caused a deep seated resentment towards Souths by Balmain which lasted many years.

South Sydney: controversial 1909 Premiers.

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 • Billy Cann • P.Carroll • Arthur Hennessy (coach)

References

↑ Heads, Ian. "Controversy" (PDF). League of Legends. National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
↑ Cunneen, Chris (2001). The best ever Australian Sports Writing. Australia: Black Inc. p. 321. ISBN 1-86395-266-7. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
↑ The pick of the Pacific theage.com.au, 5 March 2009
↑ "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
↑ Coady, Ben (28 September 2009). "Grand final dramas". WA Today (Australia: Fairfax Digital). Retrieved 15 January 2010.
↑ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
↑ "Football". The Sydney Mail (Australia). 29 September 1909. p. 59. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
↑ Graham McNeice and Ian Collis (November 1997). "That’s Rugby League: New Light on Football’s Greatest Controversies" (PDF). Sporting Traditions • vol. 14 no. 1 (Sydney). p. 160.

Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
Rugby League Tables - Season 1909 The World of Rugby League
Premiership History and Statistics RL1908 (archived)
1909 - Souths Win After Balmain Forfeits! RL1908 (archived)
Cumberland RLFC RL1908 (archived)
Results: 1908-1910 at rabbitohs.com.au

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Est. 1908 at Redfern Town Hall, Sydney, New South Wales

The club	History Honours Players Coaches Records Representatives Results

Home grounds	Current ANZ Stadium Past Sydney Sports Ground Redfern Oval Sydney Football Stadium

Culture	Charity Shield South Side Story Book of Feuds Ron Coote Cup Rivalries Return to Redfern South Sydney Leagues Club Red and Green Ball George Piggins Medal Souths Cares Rabbitohs Hall Of Fame

Important figures	Arthur Hennessy Benny Wearing George Treweek Jack Rayner Clive Churchill John Sattler Bob McCarthy George Piggins Russell Crowe

League	Current NRL Past NSWRL ARL

Titles	Premierships – 21 1908 1909 1914 1918 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1931 1932 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1967 1968 1970 1971 2014 Minor Premierships – 17 1908 1909 1914 1918 1925 1926 1927 1929 1932 1949 1950 1951 1953 1968 1969 1970 1989 World Club Champions – 1 2015

Seasons (105)	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	Current Auckland Nines National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup Past Amco Cup New South Wales Cup Jersey Flegg Cup

Affiliations	South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League North Sydney Bears

Related articles	The Burrow Reggie the Rabbit South Sydney Central

NRL seasons

NSWRL era	1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

ARL / SL war	1995 1996 1997 (ARL / SL)

NRL era	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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