1947 NSWRFL season
| 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |  Balmain[1] (10th title) |
| Minor premiers |  Canterbury (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 95 |
| Points scored | 3238 (total) 34.084 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Pat Devery (142) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Bob Lulham (28) |
The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 40th season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. The addition of two teams, Manly-Warringah and Parramatta, saw ten teams from across the city contest during the 1947 premiership, the first expansion of the League since Canterbury's introduction in 1935. The season culminated in a grand final between the Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown clubs.[2]
Season summary
Mid way through the season the Balmain club looked out of touch winning only 6 of their first 12 games. Five consecutive wins to end the regular season left them in position to make a finals assault. Balmain's Bob Lulham's set a new record for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season with a tally of 28 tries in 18 matches. This remains that club's standing record for tries in a season.
Teams
For the first time, the number of clubs in the league reached double digits due to the admission of Manly-Warringah and Parramatta to the first grade competition. Manly had been competing for a number of years in the NSWRFL's President's Cup (3rd grade) competition and had been assured by the league of first grade status should they win the Presidents Cup, which they finally did in 1946. After Cumberland's demise from the league, pressure began to build in the area for another team in the NSWRFL in the 1930s, though this died down during World War II and a Parramatta district club was not proposed again until 1946 when the club was successfully admitted into the Premiership.[3][4]
- Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
- Canterbury-Bankstown, formed on September 25, 1934
- Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
- Manly-Warringah admitted in 1947
- Newtown, formed on January 14, 1908
- North Sydney, formed on February 7, 1908
- Parramatta, formed in November 1946
- 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
Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canterbury |
18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 366 | 272 | +94 | 27 |
| 2 | Balmain |
18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 342 | 265 | +77 | 24 |
| 3 |  Newtown |
18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 375 | 302 | +73 | 23 |
| 4 |  St. George |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 353 | 272 | +81 | 22 |
| 5 |  Western Suburbs |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 295 | 253 | +42 | 22 |
| 6 |  North Sydney |
18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 287 | 278 | +9 | 19 |
| 7 |  South Sydney |
18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 314 | 328 | -14 | 18 |
| 8 |  Eastern Suburbs |
18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 270 | 316 | -46 | 11 |
| 9 |  Manly-Warringah |
18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 242 | 364 | -122 | 8 |
| 10 |  Parramatta |
18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 230 | 424 | -194 | 6 |
Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Playoff | ||||||||
| St. George |
5 - 10 | Western Suburbs |
27 August 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | 13,552 | |||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| Canterbury |
25 - 15 | Newtown |
30 August 1947 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 36,303 | ||
| Balmain |
27 - 16 | Western Suburbs |
6 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Tom McMahon | 29,375 | ||
| Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury |
19 - 25 | Balmain |
13 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 34,994 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury |
9 - 13 | Balmain |
20 September 1947[5] | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 29,292 | ||
Grand final
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Position | Balmain |
|---|---|---|
| Dick Johnson | FB | Jack McCullough |
| Jeff Simmonds | WG | Robert Lulham |
| Eddie Tracy | CE | Pat Devery |
| Norm Young | CE | Joe Jorgenson |
| Morrie Murphy | WG | Arthur Patton |
| Roy Hasson | FE | George Williams |
| Bruce Hopkins | HB | Des Bryan |
| Eddie Burns | PR | Jack Branighan |
| Roy Kirkaldy | HK | Herb Gilbert Jnr |
| Henry Porter (c) | PR | Jack Spencer |
| Alister Clarke | SR | Sid Ryan |
| Ken Charlton | SR | Harry Bath |
| Len Holmes | LK | Tom Bourke (c) |
| Ross McKinnon | Coach | Norm Robinson |
The Tigers had strung together seven consecutive wins including a preliminary final victory over minor premiers Canterbury in their attempt at a second straight premiership. Canterbury exercised their "right of challenge" after losing the final and called for a Grand Final decider.
The formidable Canterbury front row of Eddie Burns, Roy Kirkaldy and Henry Porter were combining in their tenth season for close to 100 appearances as a scrum front trio. They led a punishing Berries defence and gave their side a better-than-even chance of possession in the scrum contests.
Balmain's international star centre and Kangaroo captain Joe Jorgenson had played and coached on a country contract in Junee in 1947 but returned to the Tigers reserve-grade in time for the semi-finals. The Grand Final marked his sole first-grade appearance of the season. Balmain's Test five-eighth Pat Devery was the nominated match kicker but after several misses he passed over to Jorgenson who kicked three penalties to keep Balmain in the game and trailing 9-6 with ten minutes to go.
Then Jorgenson crashed over for a try under the posts and after receiving medical attention he converted his own goal to give the Tigers an 11-9 lead. A final 45-yard penalty goal then sealed the match for the Tigers at 13-9 with Jorgenson scoring all of Balmain's points and being chaired victorious from the field.
Balmain 13 (Tries: Jorgenson. Goals: Jorgenson 5 )
defeated
Canterbury-Bankstown 9 (Tries: Hasson. Goals: Johnson 2, Hasson)
.jpg)
References
- ↑ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 1947 Grand Final at nrlstats.com
- Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1947 The World of Rugby League
- Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
- Finals lineups and results Hunterlink site
- Balmain Official History Tigers History Site
- Whiticker, Alan(2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
- Results:1941-1950 at rabbitohs.com.au
- 1947 Labor Daily Cup at rleague.com
- 1947 NSWRFL season at rugbyleagueproject.com
