1928 NSWRFL season

1928 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	9
Premiers	South Sydney (8th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (1st title)
Matches played	59
Points scored	1597 (total) 27.068 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Benny Wearing (94)
Top try scorer(s)	Tony Redmond (9)

The 1928 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-first season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. During the season, which lasted from April until September, nine teams from across the city contested the premiership, culminating in a final between Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney.

Season summary

No minor premiership was awarded, and hence no "right of challenge" arose from the finals. Only 14 rounds of premiership matches were played.
A dispute between the NSWRL and the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust over a number of issues lead to the League moving their match of the day to the neighbouring Sydney Sports Ground. The dispute wasn't patched up until 1935.
The first ever night football match was played at the Sydney Showground, The match involved South Sydney and Eastern Sububs and was played on 22 December. Souths won 10-6. The match was played 9-a-side and took place without the approval of the NSWRL.
Western Suburbs became the first Sydney club to use an animal for its nickname and logo. Wests, previously known as "The Fruitpickers" became "The Magpies".

Teams

Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
Glebe, formed on January 9, 1908
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
Western Suburbs, formed on February 4, 1908
University, formed in 1919 at Sydney University


Balmain 21st season Ground: Birchgrove Oval Coach: Alf Fraser Captain: Ray Elliott	Eastern Suburbs 21st season Ground: RAS Showground Captain: Arthur Toby	Glebe 21st season Ground: Wentworth Park Captain-coach: Jack Toohey
Newtown 21st season Ground: Marrickville Oval Captain(s): Charles Kell, Keith Ellis	North Sydney 21st season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Tom McMahon Captain: Jimmy Johnson	South Sydney 21st season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Charlie Lynch Captain: Pat Maher^[1]
St. George 8th season Ground: Earl Park Coach: Frank Burge Captain: Arthur Justice	University 9th season Coach: Bill Kelly Captain: A.S. Lane	Western Suburbs 21st season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Chris McKivat Captain: Frank McMillan

Earl Park riot

The season of 1928 was infamous for the Earl Park riot. In a St George home game 21-3 victory over Balmain, Tony Russell of Balmain became involved in a running feud with George Carstairs, the St George captain.

Referee Brannaghan began to lose control of the match when he sent off St George forward Harry Flower early in the second half but allowed Balmain players to stay on the field. After a later incident between Russell and Carstairs resulted in the latter being knocked unconscious and Brannaghan merely cautioning Russell, the crowd's aggravation grew and the situation escalated.

The Earl Park crowd took matters into their own hands by storming the field in an attempt to injure Russell. Police arrived and intervened using handcuffs, batons and fists but not before Russell was badly beaten by the crowd. He suffered leg and head injuries and was put into the same ambulance as George Carstairs where it was reported that Russell attempted to assault Carstairs and ambulance officers had to intervene to restrain him.

A week later, a NSWRL investigation blamed crowd violence and not the players or officials for the disturbance.

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1928 premiership across Sydney.

	Team	Pld	W	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	13	12	1	1	200	98	+102	26
2	Eastern Suburbs	12	11	1	2	192	116	+76	26
3	South Sydney	13	8	5	1	216	152	+64	18
4	North Sydney	12	6	6	2	157	149	+8	16
5	University	13	6	7	1	184	176	+8	14
6	Western Suburbs	12	4	8	2	174	206	-32	12
7	Glebe	12	4	8	2	94	149	-55	12
8	Balmain	13	4	9	1	180	236	-56	10
9	Newtown	12	1	11	2	112	227	-115	6

Finals

Heading into the finals, top placed St. George and Eastern Suburbs were in top form, with St. George losing their only match in round 3 and Eastern Suburbs losing to St. George in round 7 of the 14-week competition. With Saints & Easts finishing on 26 points each, no playoff for the minor premiership was staged to award a right of challenge in the finals,^[2] thus negating the good work done by both sides during the premiership rounds and ultimately providing an easier route than otherwise for Souths to win the title away from both of the minor premiers.

In the semi-finals, Eastern Suburbs beat fourth-placed North Sydney to make the final, whilst South Sydney beat St. George, whom they had lost to 9-8 just three weeks earlier.

Semi-finals		Final

7 September 1928 - Wentworth Oval
Eastern Suburbs	26
North Sydney	13

		22 September 1928 - Agricultural
		South Sydney	26
		Eastern Suburbs	5



7 September 1928 - Earl Park
St. George	5
South Sydney	13

Final

South Sydney	Position	Eastern Suburbs
Alan Righton	FB	Arthur Toby
Benny Wearing	WG	Les Steel
Jack Why	CE	Larry Hedger
Harry Finch	CE	Nelson Hardy
Reg Williams	WG	Vic Webber
Harry Kadwell	FE	Gordon Fletcher
Jim Breen (c)	HB	Joe Busch
Harry Cavanough	PR	Arthur Oxford
Alf Binder	HK	Dick Brown
David Watson	PR	Harry Kavanagh
Edward Root	SR	Tom Fitzpatrick
George Treweek	SR	Sam Bryant
Oscar Quinlivan	LK	George Harris
Charlie Lynch	Coach

A crowd of 25,000 were at the Royal Agricultural Society Grounds to watch the final between South Sydney and Easts, refereed by Lal Deane. George Treweek scored Souths' first try, crashing over under the posts after Easts' fullback Toby fumbled the high kick. Wearing converted. Then Jack Why, Root and Brien combined to put Williams over and Souths took an 8-0 lead. Before the half-ended Wearing kicked a penalty goal from halfway and Quinlivan crossed for another Souths try and a 13-0 lead at the break.

The second stanza started no better for Easts when Hardy took the ball close with the line wide open only to see his pass dropped. Harry Kadwell struck back for Souths who went to a 16-0 lead before the floodgates opened - Cavanough scored from the next kick-off and then Kadwell crossed again. Easts' only try of the match was by Steel under the posts and was the last of the match with bell sounding shortly after. Thus the Rabbitohs took their fourth successive title and become the first club to achieve that feat.

South Sydney 26 (Tries: Kadwell (2), Treweek, Williams, Quinlivan, Cavanough. Goals: Wearing 2, Quinlivan 2)

defeated

Eastern Suburbs 5 (Tries: Steel. Goal: Oxford)

References

↑ Alan Whiticker. "Pat Maher". rugbyleagueproject.org. Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
↑ Finding The Premier Club at rl1908.com

Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
Rugby League Tables - Season 1928 The World of Rugby League
Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
Haddan, Steve [2007] The Finals - 100 Years of National Rugby League Finals, Steve Haddan Publishing, Brisbane
Results: 1921-30 at rabbitohs.com.au
The Earl Park Riot at eraofthebiff.com

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

South Sydney squad - 1928 NSWRFL Premiers (8th title)

1. Alan Righton 2. Benny Wearing 3. Jack Why 4. Harry Finch 5. Reg Williams 6. Harry Kadwell 7. Jim Breen (c) 8. Harry Cavanagh 9. Alf Binder 10. David Watson 11. Edward Root 12. George Treweek 13. Oscar Quinlivan Coach: Charlie Lynch

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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