The 1961
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 54th season of the
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 ...
competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a
grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...
between St. George and Western Suburbs.
Season summary
Ten Sydney-based clubs participated in the competition with each team meeting all others twice in eighteen regular premiership rounds to reach a top four who battled out four finals.
In round 1, Sydney's
Nine Network made the first live telecast of an Australian rugby league match between
Balmain and
North Sydney from
North Sydney Oval
North Sydney Oval is a multi-use sporting facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, owned and operated by North Sydney Council. First used as a cricket ground in 1867, it is also used for Australian rules football, rugby league, rug ...
on 15 April.
The second half of the match was beamed live with former international
Ray Stehr
Raymond Ernest Stehr (24 January 1913 – 2 June 1983) was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative player whose club career was played at Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. He has been named as one of the nation' ...
the first commentator. There were only two cameras to capture the action, one positioned on each 25-yard line and cameramen frantically switched lenses depending on where play was located.
[Big League, July 13, 2006 p.7]
St. George won their eighth premiership, defeating
Western Suburbs in the Grand Final. The Magpies again won the NSWRFL Club Championship this season.
Also this season the
Jersey Flegg Championship was introduced.
The 1961 season also saw the retirement from the League of future
Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian.
It was officially established in 2002, ...
inductee,
Keith Holman
Keith Victor Holman, MBE (11 September 1927 – 11 October 2011) was an Australian Rugby League footballer, a national and state representative whose club career was played with Western Suburbs from 1949 to 1961.
He has since been name ...
.
Teams
Regular season
Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin
Ladder
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 last place on the ladder in that round.
Finals
Grand Final
Wests beat St George for the minor premiership on for-and-against and they were both ten points clear of their nearest rivals. If the Dragons run was to be stopped, this was the chance in legendary
half
One half ( : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing one by two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two, or "halving"; conversely, ...
Keith Holman's last match.
With misty rain on the day of the decider, Wests were knuckling down for another tight forward struggle as had been the case the major semi final also played in the wet. However, Saints stunned the Magpies as they ignored the conditions and threw the ball around.
The Dragons backline ran riot. Eddie Lumsden had a tremendous match, scoring three tries while Johnny King also scored another. Brian Clay, the best player on the field, cut loose against the veteran Holman who was playing in the unaccustomed five-eighth role. In every attacking raid there was an abundance of St George players backing up as the Wests' defence became more and more compressed.
St George scored three tries in a window of fifteen minutes to lead 15-0 at the 26-minute mark. The first was scored after nine minutes when Norm Provan from dummy-half passed to Johnny Raper who sent Clay away to the corner. Close to the sideline and fifteen metres before the try line, Clay called Lumsden inside him and snapped a reverse flick pass into the winger's hands enabling him to score untouched.
At the 21-minute mark from a St George scrum win Raper took the ball and ran toward King, he drew three defenders then lofted the ball to King who scored in the corner. Five minutes later a classic backline got the ball through the hands to Dave Brown who drew Barnsley in leaving Lumsden unmarked for his second try.
They took a 17-nil lead to the half-time break and the match appeared theirs. Fifteen minutes into the second half Lumsden scored again. St George then proceeded to lock up the game and Wests could not overcome the tough Dragons defence.
St George won their sixth Grand Final in a row, stunning Western Suburbs by 22-0. This victory enabled them to beat the previous record of Grand Final wins in a row, held by the South Sydney Rabbitohs. It was Bob Bugden's last match for the Dragons. He had featured in all six wins.
St. George 22 (Tries: Lumsden 3, King. Goals: Graham 5.)
Western Suburbs 0
Player statistics
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.
Top 5 point scorers
Top 5 try scorers
Top 5 goal scorers
Footnotes
External links
Rugby League Tables - Season 1961''The World of Rugby League''
* Writer, Larry (1995) ''Never Before, Never Again'', Pan MacMillan, Sydney
* Big League, News Magazines for the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
June 13, 2006
Results:1961-70 at rabbitohs.com.au1961 J J Giltinan Shield and WD HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
{{National Rugby League seasons
New South Wales Rugby League premiership
NSWRFL season