The Western Suburbs Red Devils (Wests Illawarra, Wests Wollongong, Wests Red Devils or simply Wests Devils) are an 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 players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football team based in Figtree. The club is a member of the

Country Rugby League The Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL), formed in 1934 and disbanded in 2019, was the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in areas of New South Wales outside the Sydney metropolitan area until it merged with NSW Rug ...

and compete in the

Illawarra Rugby League The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs (Dapto, Helensburgh, Mount Keira, Unanderra and Wollongong). The area pr ...

premiership. The club play out of Figtree Oval, Figtree. Wests wear red and blue jerseys and have won 16 premierships. Wests Illawarra Leagues club is a thriving club in

Unanderra Unanderra ( ) is a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 6 km south-west of the Wollongong CBD. It is bordered to the west by Farmborough, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights in the Mount Kembla ...

History

Wests formed in 1949 with the amalgamation of clubs in the district (primarily Unanderra and Mount Keira). The Leagues Club was established in

and opened in 1956. The Red Devils won the premiership the following year with a 22–6 win over Wollongong. They repeated this effort in 1959 when they defeated Northern Suburbs 12–6 in the Grand Final.Western Suburbs History
/ref> With Don Parish at the helm as captain-coach, Wests took back-to-back titles in 1969–70.

Warren Ryan Warren Redman Ryan (born 27 October 1941) is an Australian former professional rugby league football coach and player. He is considered one of the most influential rugby league coaches of the 20th century. Ryan also played in the NSWRFL Premie ...

continued this trend the following two seasons when he took over, defeating

Thirroul Thirroul () is a northern seaside suburb of the city of Wollongong, Australia. Situated between Austinmer and Bulli, it is approximately 13 kilometres north of Wollongong, and 73 km south of Sydney. It lies between the Pacific Ocean ...

(18–11 in 1971, and 23–9 in 1972).

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

legend,

Tommy Bishop Tommy Bishop (born 15 October 1940) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Blackpool Borough, Barrow and St Helens in the English Champion ...

also guided the team to a premiership in 1978. Wests were again premiers two years later, winning in 1980 and 1981. The following year 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 ...

were accepted into 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 ...

premiership, thus all the sides in the league became feeder clubs to this side. Being premiers, a large portion of the Red Devils were contracted to the Steelers. This made life difficult in the 1982 premiership for the Red Devils, but within three years they won another premiership. They followed this up with another in 1989 and 1991. The Red Devils went through a dry spell from here, not winning the premiership for 18 years. They came close during Brendon Reeves' reign in 2005. They did eventually break the drought in 2009 when they defeated reigning premiers, Thirroul, 14–4 under coach Paul McGregor in his first season. They went back-to-back with a 24–0 win in 2010, again over the Butchers. In 2011, Wests made it a treble of grand final wins with a 34–24 victory over

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

. The Red Devils were unable to match the team of the 60-70s that won four consecutive premierships when they lost 20–16 to finals rivals Thirroul in the 2012 grand final. In 2018 Wests found enough to hold off Thirroul 18–16 to claim their first Illawarra League crown in eight seasons. The Devils ran in four first-half tries to lead 18–0 at the break before a second-half fightback saw the Butchers get within two with 18 minutes to play.

Players

Notable former players

Beau Ryan Beau Ryan (born 11 May 1985) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, television presenter, actor and singer who played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. Ryan is also well ...

Jackson Hastings Jackson Hastings (born 4 January 1996) is a Great Britain international rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. He previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Sydney Roosters and the Wests ...

(2014–

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, 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 ...

) Players in bold represent current

NRL 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 ...

players.

Honours

Team

First Grade Premierships: 16 ::1957, 1959, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1989, 1991, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018 * Illawarra Rugby League Reserve Grade Premierships: 8 ::1985,1964, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011 * Illawarra Rugby League Under-18's Premierships: 7 ::1962, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2016, 2018

References

External links

Western Suburbs Official Site

Wests Red Devils Homepage (Sportingpulse)

Country Rugby League Homepage

Illawarra Rugby League Homepage
{{Country Rugby League Rugby league teams in Wollongong Rugby clubs established in 1949 1949 establishments in Australia