The South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League is an affiliation of junior clubs in the South Sydney area.

History

Turf wars

When the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

first entered the

NSWRL 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 ...

competition as South Sydney in 1908, Souths would become neighbours to fellow city counterpart, the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New S ...

. Anzac Parade separated the territories for both inner-Sydney clubs when the boundaries were first established the previous year. Souths' boundaries were based on the municipalities of Redfern,

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

and Waterloo, while the Roosters' boundaries were those of the eastern municipalities of

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

Woollahra Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra. W ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Randwick and

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

. The new junior league boundaries set out in the early 1950s would take territory away from the Roosters, and hand it over to rival neighbouring club South Sydney. In the mid-20th century, the southern half of Roosters territory within the Randwick local government area was handed to South Sydney. The NSWRL made this change to 'even the competition' as South Sydney's original heartland, around Redfern and Waterloo, had rapidly industrialised and de-populated. Rabbitohs stalwart S.G. Ball was a dual administrator within South Sydney Rabbitohs and the New South Wales Rugby League at the time. The Rabbitohs were in a highly successful period and had established South Sydney Juniors Rugby League Club in Kingsford, Roosters territory in recent times. Debate still continues amongst rival fans as to how and why Eastern Suburbs territory, comprising suburbs with junior league clubs rich in talent and numbers in the Randwick and Coogee areas, was given to South Sydney. The Roosters expressed disappointment at losing some of its junior clubs, but the NSWRL would not waver. This was not to be the end of struggle for junior territory between the two inner-city clubs. In the 1980s some junior clubs such as Paddington Colts that were within Roosters territory became dissatisfied with Roosters management and affiliated with South Sydney. After the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground ...

were expelled from the NSWRL in 1983, their junior district was eventually absorbed into the South Sydney junior district in 1987. With the tide having turned compared to the situation decades earlier, and the Roosters having a much smaller junior League than South Sydney, Eastern Suburbs at this time then made unsuccessful attempts to regain the suburbs on the same grounds used to hand the southern parts of Coogee and Randwick from Easts to Souths, that of providing an 'even competition'. The NSWRL, controlled at the time by a Board with a ruling faction of representatives from South Sydney (Terry Parker), Balmain (

Keith Barnes William Keith Barnes AM (born 30 October 1934), also known by the nickname of "Golden Boots", is a Welsh-born Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was a for ...

), Canterbury ( Peter Moore) and Manly (

Ken Arthurson Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM (born 1 October 1929) is an Australian rugby league football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles cl ...

), refused to redraw the boundaries.

Current District Clubs

* Asterisks indicates years where premierships were shared between two teams.

2022 A Grade Divisions

A Grade Premierships

Reference:

A Reserve Premierships

Team of the Century

On 16 May 2008, the South Sydney Juniors Team of the Century was named at the Centenary Ball. # Eric Simms (

La Perouse United The La Perouse United are an Australian rugby league football team based in La Perouse, New South Wales a suburb of south-central Sydney they play in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. Notable Juniors * Chick Donnelley (194 ...

) # Harold Holder (Kinkora Juniors) #

Paul Sait Paul Joseph Sait (born 4 September 1947) is a former Australian rugby league footballer and coach. A versatile or running forward who played in the 1960s and 1970s for South Sydney. He made 7 Test appearances for the Australian national repr ...

(Matraville Tigers) #

Ray Branighan Ray Branighan (born 5 December 1947) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, a star and of the 1970s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, as well as the New South Wales state and Australian nat ...

(Moore Park) #

Benny Wearing Benny Wearing (11 June 1901 – 9 April 1968) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative three-quarter, he played his club football in the NSWRF ...

(Redfern Ioanas) #

Greg Hawick Greg Hawick (3 May 1932 – 6 February 2020) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. A fine utility back for the champion South Sydney Rabbitohs teams in the 1950s and a representative player in the Australian national side, he wa ...

(

Alexandria Rovers The Alexandria Rovers are an Australian rugby league football team based in Alexandria, New South Wales, a suburb of south-central Sydney. They play in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. Notable Juniors Notable First Grade P ...

) # Clem Kennedy (Cleveland Street) # Brian Hambly (Mascot Jets) #

George Piggins George Leslie Piggins AM (born 14 October 1944) is an Australian rugby league personality. He is a former player, coach and administrator of the South Sydney Rabbitohs club. Following their exclusion from the National Rugby League premiership ...

(Mascot Jets) # Ian Roberts (Mascot Jets) #

Bob McCarthy Bob McCarthy MBE (born 5 August 1946) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, New South Wales and for the Australian national side. He lat ...

(Moore Park) # George Treweek (Mascot Jets) #

Ron Coote Ron Coote AM (born 1944) is an Australian former representative rugby league player whose club career was played with South Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, with both of whom he won premierships. He is considered one of the nation's fi ...

Terry Hill Terry Hill (born 22 January 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly-Warri ...

(

Zetland Magpies The Zetland Magpies are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football team based in Zetland, New South Wales, a suburb of south-central Sydney they play in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. Notable players * Darren B ...

) #

Craig Wing Craig Wing (born 26 December 1979), also known by the nickname of "Wingy", is an Australian-born former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He began his career in rugby league, playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the S ...

( Maroubra Lions) #

Craig Coleman Craig Coleman (born 31 January 1963) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and coach. He primarily played at , and remains fourth on the list of most first-grade games played for Souths, 208. Playing career Coleman was ...

(Waterloo Waratahs) # Gary Stevens (Chelsea United) Coach: Alf Blair (Waterloo Albions)

References

External links

* * {{South Sydney Rabbitohs 1947 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1947 South Sydney Rabbitohs Junior rugby league Rugby league competitions in New South Wales Rugby league in Sydney