The 1918
New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership
The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...
was the eleventh season of
Sydney’s professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season, with South Sydney finishing on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.
Season summary
The quality of the competition in 1918 suffered due to the loss of players fighting in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
South Sydney and
Western Suburbs dominated the season, dropping just two and three games respectively. With just three rounds to go, both sides met each square on 18 points each. A win for South Sydney would virtually guarantee them the premiership unless they dropped their final two games. At the end of the day, South Sydney prevailed 11–3 and went on to win all their remaining matches, taking away their fourth premiership from eleven seasons.
The season also saw the struggling
Dales fail to win a game from fourteen starts. It was the first
winless season
A winless season is a regular season in which a sports team fails to win any of its games. The antithesis of a perfect season, this ignominy has been suffered twelve times in professional American football, six times in arena football, three times ...
in NSWRFL history and signalled the end for the club, who would play only a further two seasons in the premiership.
The
Western Suburbs club claimed their first title by winning the knockout competition, the
City Cup
The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959.
The inaugural city cup was contested ...
.
Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged from
the previous season.
*
Annandale
*
Balmain, formed on 23 January 1908 at
Balmain Town Hall Balmain may refer to:
Places
* Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia
* Electoral district of Balmain, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia
* Balmain East, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia
* Balmain Ho ...
*
Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to:
Places
*Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India
*Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia
**Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia
Sports clubs
;Association football
*Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand
* Eastern ...
, formed on 24 January 1908 at
Paddington Town Hall
The Paddington Town Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall building located at 249 Oxford Street in the inner eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Sir Henry Parkes ...
*
Glebe
Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...
, formed on 9 January 1908
*
Newtown, formed on 14 January 1908
*
North Sydney, formed on 7 February 1908
*
South Sydney, formed on 17 January 1908 at
Redfern Town Hall
The Redfern Town Hall is a landmark sandstone civic building located in the heart of , New South Wales, Australia. built in 1870 and designed in the Victorian Regency style by George Allen Mansfield. It was the seat of the Municipality of Redfer ...
*
Western Suburbs, formed on 4 February 1908
Ladder
References
External links
Rugby League Tables - Notes''AFL Tables''
''AFL Tables''
''RL1908''
at ''rabbitohs.com.au''
{{National Rugby League seasons
New South Wales Rugby League premiership
NSWRFL Season