The 1982 NSWRFL season was the 75th season of 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 112 ...

football in Australia and saw the

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

’s first expansion since

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

with the introduction of the first two clubs from outside the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

area in over half a century: the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

and the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On the 13th of December 1980, the ...

. Thus a total of 14 clubs (including 6 Sydney-based foundation teams, another 6 from Sydney, one from greater

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and one from the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

) competed for the

J.J. Giltinan Shield The J.J. Giltinan Shield is an Australian rugby league trophy, awarded annually to the National Rugby League minor premiers. It was named after James J. Giltinan who was central to the founding of rugby league in Australia. Giltinan died in 195 ...

and newly-created

Winfield Cup The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Fin ...

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. Sy ...

between the

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

and

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

clubs. This season, NSWRFL teams also competed for the

1982 KB Cup The 1982 KB Cup was the 9th edition of the NSWRFL Midweek Cup, a NSWRFL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRFL, the BRL, the CRL, the QRL and the NZRL. A total of ...

which was won by Manly-Warringah.

Season summary

The first Charity Shield match was played before the 1982 season between

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

and South Sydney. This year a bronze replica of “the Gladiators” – the 1963 photo taken by John O'Gready of

Norm Provan Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St George Dragons during the first ten of t ...

and

Arthur Summons Arthur James Summons (13 December 1935 – 16 May 2020) was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league player, a dual-code rugby international fly-half or five-eighth. He captained the Australian national rugby league team in fiv ...

’ post-game, mud-caked embrace – was first adopted to adorn the

, the new trophy to be awarded to the grand final winners. Because of the introduction of two new teams, twenty-six (rather than twenty-two) regular season rounds were played from February till August, resulting in a top five of Parramatta, Manly, Norths, Easts and Wests. The new teams, the

and the

, would finish their debut seasons in second last and last place respectively. The 1982 season saw the only nil-all scoreline in competition history. Newtown and

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

drew their match at

Henson Park Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. History It was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The brickworks ...

on 28 March, with neither team scoring a point. The long-standing record for the longest suspension for a player in the League's history was broken during the season. Western Suburbs' Bob Cooper was suspended for 15 months for punching Illawarra’s

Lee Pomfret Lee Pomfret (born 8 December 1957) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. Pomfret was a foundation player for Illawarra playing in the club's first game. Background Pomfret was born in ...

. The 1982 season's

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest ...

list was Canterbury-Bankstown’s

Greg Brentnall Greg Brentnall (born 5 December 1956 in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative and , he played for Canterb ...

and the

Dally M Award The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

went to Parramatta’s lock forward, Ray Price. ''

Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor ''Big League''. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which ru ...

'' gave their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs’ halfback

Kevin Hastings Kevin "Horrie" Hastings (born 5 January 1957) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and during the 1970s and 1980s. Hastings played for the Eastern Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), ...

for the third consecutive season.

Teams

This year the number of clubs in the League reached a new high of fourteen, with the addition of two expansion clubs, the

and the

. This saw the first inclusion of teams based outside of the

area since the foundation Newcastle club departed the League in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

. This was the first of several expansions that would take place over the next decade and a half which would see the Sydney-wide competition grow into a New South Wales-wide competition and eventually into a national league. Also, for the first time in three quarters of a century, the League's 1908 foundation teams were outnumbered by teams introduced since the inaugural season.

Ladder

Finals

Chart

Grand Final

The Eels won the minor premiership with ease – eight points ahead of Manly – and breezed through the decider with the same confidence. Manly opened the scoring through Phil Blake in the opening minutes, but Parramatta replied quickly when Brett Kenny put Steve Ella over. After a quiet period, Manly collapsed in the ten minutes before half-time with Parramatta scoring three tries. The first to Eric Grothe came when Brett Kenny had shown brilliant evasive skills on the second tackle after Manly dropped the ball, the second came when a Peter Sterling

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

deflected off a Parramatta player into Kenny's arms, and the third after quick hands saw Kenny send Neil Hunt over in the corner. The Eels led 16–3 at half-time and, despite Les Boyd scoring after playing the ball forward in the 48th minute, Brett Kenny's second try in the 62nd minute sealed victory. Parramatta 21 (Tries: Kenny 2, Ella, Grothe, Hunt. Goals: Cronin 3/5.) Manly 8 (Tries: P Blake, Boyd. Goal: Eadie 1/2.)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26. Top 5 point scorers Top 5 try scorers Top 5 goal scorers

References

External links

Rugby League Tables – Season 1982
''The World of Rugby League''
1982 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com.au
{{National Rugby League seasons New South Wales Rugby League premiership NSWRFL season