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The Birth Of League In Australia

In 1907 a New Zealander, A H Baskerville, formed a NZ rugby team to tour England to play against the teams of the "Northern Union". The NU was founded in 1895 after a split of northern English rugby clubs away from the English Rugby Union (and in effect began the game that was later to be called Rugby League). Baskerville's decision became the catalyst for the start of a professional rugby league in Sydney. Upon hearing of Baskerville's plans, dissatisfied factions within the Sydney Rugby Union ranks combined with champion cricketer Victor Trumper and entrepreneur James Giltinan. Together they enticed Baskerville to have his NZ team stop in at Sydney on their way to England and play a three-test series against NSW. The Australian rebels then began the task of signing up the best rugby players with promises of match payments to agree to participate. What made this difficult was that any player who did sign was immediately expelled from the amatuer RU for life. Despite this, they succeeded after signing Rugby Union's biggest drawcard - Herbert "Dally" Messenger. The series between NSW and the NZ "All Golds" was played under RU rules. Both sides were unfamiliar with the rules of the English breakaway competiton of the Northern Union. Baskerville was so impressed by Messenger's talent that he invited the champion centre to tour with his team to England. Through the summer of 1907/8 the momentum for the establishment of a fulltime professional club rugby competition increased, pushed along by the regular reports of Messenger's starring role for the "All Golds" as they toured England. On the weekend of 20 April 1908 eight newly formed clubs took part in the first round of the NSW Rugby League's premiership - Balmain, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe, Newtown, Newcastle, North Sydney, South Sydney and Western Suburbs. Cumberland made their debut in round two.

The First Season - 1908

In early 1908 the NSWRL announced that it's competition teams would be playing "rugby" under the rules of England's Northern Union 13-a-side game - later to be known around the world as the game of rugby league. It is likely that this decision was based on two reasons: 1/ the wider attractiveness of this form of "rugby" and 2/ it meant that there was potential for international competition between representative teams of the two isolated competitions. South Sydney were in active training in the new game by early-March of 1908, holding sessions in Moore Park adjacent to Alf Pick's Hotel (now known as the Bat and Ball Hotel). On March 21 at Sir Josephs Banks Ground, Botany, Souths played a Possibles v Probables game in the first game of rugby league on Australian soil. Much of the credit of the quick adaption to the "NU rules" goes to Tom McCabe - an Englishmen who had migrated to Australia a few years earlier who had played the "Northern" game. McCabe provided the necessary practical guidance that the players needed - during the late summer he took players to Latta's Picnic Ground at Fairfield in Sydney's west (near the Lansdowne Bridge on the Hume Highway) for training and a quick cool off in the river. The competition kicked off with two "double-headers" on Easter Monday to small crowds at Birchgrove Reserve and Wentworth Park. The League could not use its more publicly accessible Agricultural Ground (Sydney Showground) due to the holding of the Royal Easter Show. Crowds were also affected by the holding of the Easter Show (80,000) and the Sydney Cup race meeting (30,000). At Birchgrove Reserve, Balmain over-ran Wests 24-0 and Souths beat Norths 11-7, while at Wentworth Park, Newtown beat Easts 32-16 and Glebe defeated Newcastle 8-5. In the two lower grades that day there were also teams representing Enfield, Sydney and Drummoyne. Cumberland made their debut in round two in front over 20,000 against Souths (losing 23-2) - the game being a curtain-raiser to the Australia v NZ Test. As the season unfolded the "gun" sides Easts, Souths and Glebe set the pace, Cumberland and Wests struggled and the rest held the middle ground. Newcastle's performance was hampered as they were not allocated any home games and had to travel to Sydney each round to play. While international games drew big crowds the premiership itself was not as popular with some games being played out in front of friends and family. In an effort to attract interest, mid-season the League announced that at the completion of the club rounds a further "semi-final" round would be held involving only the top four teams and there would be a Final between the top two teams for the title. The winner of the two semi-final games received two more points to their season tally. Fortunately for the League the two top teams, Easts and Souths, won in the play-off round (even though their best players had left with the Kangaroos that same day) and the unusual finals system passed without controversy. The Final was held in front of about 4000 fans at the Showground on a bright and breezy afternoon. South Sydney led 8-7 at half time and got away to 14-9 in the second half. Easts fought back and scored a late try in the corner. The difficult conversion went wide and Souths held on to win 14-12 and take NSWRL's first premiership title. Despite the poor crowds at club games, the gate receipts from representative games kept the League alive. In late 1908 Cumberland's season long struggle was put to a merciful end when the club was closed - they won one game, produced one representative player and on occasions had trouble fielding 13 players. Of the 24 players they had nine later joined Western Suburbs for the 1909 season. The Sportsman published a generous review of rugby league's first season in Australia: "There is no doubt that the new rules provide far and away better football for players and public alike, and while being more spectacular, the game is not nearly as dangerous as the old game, as will be noticed by the absence of any serious accidents during the season." South Sydney were well revered as well: "They play the kind of football that delights the public taste, having a clever lot of backs behind a rattling set of forwards. The success of the League now largely depends on the ability of our representatives to win matches in the North of England."

The First Kangaroos (to England 1908/9)

Led by entrepreneur James J. Giltinan the First Kangaroos sailed for England on the RMS Macedonia in August of 1908. While the tour had the approval of the NSWRL, there was no doubt that it was Giltinan's tour - and it was solely at his financial risk. The 34 Kangaroos were a mix of talented players worthy of the honour of representing their country, but there were others who could best be described as "passengers". Of the 46 games on tour, 14 of the 34 players turned out in less than ten games. Dally Messenger was the star player of the squad and was again hugely popular in England (following his tour with the "All Golds" the previous English winter). But, there were also many other fine players to support him - the likes of Sid "Sandy" Pearce, Jim Devereux, Dan Frawley, Albert Rosenfeld, Arthur "Pony" Holloway, Larry O'Malley and Sid Deane. Veteran North Sydney skipper Denis "Dinny" Lutge was elected tour captain during the sea voyage to England, with Messenger named vice-captain. Having doubled as stokers aboard the ship to keep fitness levels up, the Kangaroos began their tour in early October with victory over newly recruited Welsh club, Mid-Rhondda, 20-6 and ended it on March 8, 1909, with a 14-9 win against Lancashire. They played 46 games through a long hard English winter, winning 18, drawing six and losing 22. The record is a moderate one statistically, but there were some outstanding performances. The First Test against England produced a 22-all draw to immediately establish the Australian competition's credibility. This was followed up by a 12-11 win over the English champions Hunslet with their famous forward pack known as the "Terrible Six". Financially, the tour was so far in the red at it's completion that the Northern Union had to step in and pay the players passage home (plus some money to live off!). As the finances dwindled ten of the players joined English clubs - some stayed for years and became very familiar faces to English supporters, notably Jim Devereux (Hull) and Albert Rosenfeld (Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity and Bradford Northern). In comparison the Wallabies, who were touring at the same time, played to much bigger crowds and were rated by the Yorkshire Post as "a much more capable side". The English campaign was a disappointment to both Giltinan and rugby league. The players arrived home in May 1909 to a game which was effectively broke and in disarray. For Giltinan, the entrepreneur, bankruptcy awaited - and for a time the future of the game itself was in serious doubt.

The 1909 season - RL on it's knees

Up until Rugby League's troubles at the dawn of the 21st century, 1909 stood out as the most turbulent and critical year of the history of the game in Australia. At times in 1909 the League was on the brink of collapse and seemed to be heading for rugby history obscurity. The year started out with an astounding dismissal of the game's founding fathers by the NSWRL - Giltinan, Victor Trumper and Henry Hoyle, amidst accusations of "secret funds", "ballot rigging" and "tyranny". The predominant issue was not of dishonesty, but of mis-management. Apparently a 300 pounds account at Trumper's bank, the Commercial (sited on the corner of Pitt and Bathurst Streets), was seen as money being secreted away from the NSWRL's balances. Trumper maintained that the account was held as security for the 1909 season's ground rentals. Feelings ran so deep over the handling of the League by the three men that Norths openly threatened to withdraw from the League, and there were claims that Easts, Newtown and Wests would follow. Giltinan, not yet back from the Kangaroo tour, was also attacked for his failure to communicate with the NSWRL while away - the Evening News quoted a NSWRL official: "The League has not received a single official letter from the manager of the team in England." On the field, crowd support for the game at times was embarrassingly low and the finances of the League were rapidly dwindling. With Cumberland gone the competition was amongst only eight teams. Souths reigned supreme for most of the season. They lost only one game in the regular season - away to Newcastle in front of over 3000 fans. Having three home games made Newcastle much more competitive and they finished the season in fourth place. Easts were not the side of the year before - Messenger returned from the Kangaroo tour with a knee injury while Rosenfeld, Frawley and O'Malley were lost to English clubs. Norths had similar problems losing Deane, Devereux and Morton to the north of England, while Kangaroo captain Lutge had retired. The fledgling competition could ill afford to lose so many of the talented players it drew away from rugby only 18 months earlier. The semi-final system was the same concept as used in 1908, however this time it was impossible for the 3rd and 4th placed teams (Easts and Newcastle) to oust the top two (Balmain and Souths) no matter what the results achieved. As a result Easts turned out with four players from the Sydney reserve grade team and the Newcastle team arrived after having played a mid-week game against the visiting NZ Maori team. So critical had the finances of the League become that the Final was postponed until after the completion of two Australia v NZ Maori "Tests" and then four Kangaroos v Wallabies games (see below). To add insult to the local competition, the Final was then placed on the under-card to the final Kangaroos v Wallabies game. This greatly upset the two clubs and there are claims that both Souths and Balmain agreed that their teams would not show up and the game would then have to be rescheduled by the League. The concern wasn't just that the Final had been down-graded but also that a 2pm kick-off on a working Saturday made it impractical for many players to even get to the ground. However, only Balmain stuck by the apparent "agreement" and some of their players stood outside the Showground and formed a picket line in protest. At 2pm Souths kicked off against no-one, picked the ball up and scored a try. The referee then awarded South Sydney the game and with it the premiership title for 1909. After that a scratch team was put together (of various players wearing different jerseys) who then played and lost to Souths 18-10. The League's unsound reasoning in the scheduling of the Final was then exposed further when the crowd for the day was recorded as around 4000 - hardly improving the League's finances and not worth bringing about what would be the premiership's only forfeit until 1996. However, as dark as the season of 1909 had been, the holding of the Kangaroos v Wallabies games would be the saviour of rugby league and nearly the demise of Australian rugby union.

"Wallabies v Kangaroos" matches save RL - 1909/10

The initial signing in 1907 of Dally Messenger undoubtedly was the one critical event in the creation of the professional rugby league competition in Australia. However, even his presence alone could not support the longevity of the game in Australia. Many other quality rugby players joined the League in 1907 and during 1908, however many of the games finest players did not return from England with the Kangaroos in 1909 while others chose to retire. Even if the League had maintained its player pool, it would still have a had a major rival for support, players and sponsors - rugby union. The NSWRL did not have the resources in 1909 to do anything like carry out another raid on rugby union and it looked a long and very hard road ahead for the permanent establishment of the code in Sydney, let alone the rest of the nation. The League had unsuccessfully been trying to sign Wallaby players during their tour of England in 1908/9. However, in mid 1909 senior League officials sought and gained the assistance of Sydney entrepreneur James Joyton Smith to guarantee the cost of staging three matches between the recently returned from England Kangaroo and Wallaby teams. The primary cost was the payments to the Wallaby players to participate - the Kangaroo players by comparison were to receive a pittance. Armed with their new funding the League held negotiations with the cream of the Wallaby players, mostly at Shearer's Hotel in Bay Street, Glebe. The League's attack proved very successful and the majority of rugby's best Australian players agreed to turn out in the games against the Kangaroos including Charles Russell, William Farnsworth, Viv Farnsworth, Arthur McCabe, Chris McKivat, Patrick McCue, Peter Burge, Albert Burge, Robert Craig and John Barnett. The Bulletin noted: "Few of the footballers earn more than two pounds per week, so they were guaranteed practically a year's salary each for a series of three matches." It is believed that the brilliant halfback, McKivat, received the highest payment of between 150 to 200 pounds. The three matches were played (under rugby league rules) all within the space of seven days late in the 1909 season. The Kangaroos (much depleted from their party to England) won the first game 23-20 before 18000 people at the Sydney Showground. The Wallabies were better for the experience though winning the next two games 34-21 and 15-6. Unfortunately the second game was held on a Wednesday and drew only 3000 people meaning that the League had failed to recover J.J. Smith's outlay. It was then hastily decided that a fourth match would need to be played and to add to the card's attractiveness the domestic Final was also included. The League misjudged the support of the fans and only 4000 people turned up. However, it was enough for the League to clear any debt with Smith. The League suffered much criticism from the press and rugby union for the whole venture as it delivered no financial profit to the code. However, the critics failed to recognise that the true return from the Wallaby raid would be the involvement of those players in the seasons that followed. Almost immediately from the commencement of the 1910 season the club competition was much more vibrant and players and supporters left rugby union in droves. This was quickly built upon during the season by the first visit of the England Rugby League team. League representative games began outdrawing rugby union internationals by massive amounts and the code had clearly achieved the status of the state's number one football game - a remarkable recovery from the year before. The loss of the Wallaby players struck a sickening blow to the amateur game which only with the dawning of its own "open professionalism" in the mid-1990's has seen Australian rugby regain some lost ground.

Clubs 1908 - 2001

Adelaide - Annandale - Auckland - Balmain - Brisbane - Canberra - Canterbury - Cronulla - Cumberland - Easts/Sydney City - Glebe -Gold Coast 88-95 - Gold Coast 96-97 - Hunter - Illawarra - Manly - Melbourne - NZ Warriors - Newcastle 08-09 - Newcastle Knights - Newtown - North Qld - North Sydney - Northern Eagles - Parramatta - Penrith -Perth -Western Reds -St. George - St. George/Illawarra - South Queensland - South Sydney - Sydney University - Western Suburbs -Wests Tigers