Representative
Sydney

1909 was the year in which the pendulum swung in league's favour. Public interest increased, and large crowds turned up to watch the year's representative fixtures. Then James Joynton Smith, an English-born hotelier and racing identity, offered 15 members of the Wallabies rugby union team who had just returned from England large amounts of money to play three matches against the Kangaroos under league rules. They accepted, amongst much furore, and an example was set which many amateur players chose to follow in the next few years.

Because of Joynton Smith's generosity, the league looked like finishing in the red a second time. To avoid this they scheduled a fourth Kangaroos-Wallabies match, with the Sydney Premiership final to be played as a curtain raiser. Balmain were outraged at seeing their big day trivialised, and chose to boycott the game. Souths turned up, kicked off, scored a farcical try, and were awarded the game. There has been bad blood between the two sides ever since.

At the end of the season Newcastle withdrew from the competition to set up their own league.

 1 South Sydney         10  9  0  1  -  210   41  169  18
 2 Balmain              10  8  0  2  -  130   62   68  16
 3 Newcastle            10  5  0  5  -  144   93   51  10
 4 Eastern Suburbs      10  5  0  5  -  167  141   26  10
   ------------------------------------------------------
 5 Glebe                10  4  0  6  -   62  159  -97   8
 6 Newtown              10  3  1  6  -   73  107  -34   7
 7 North Sydney         10  2  2  6  -  104  157  -53   6
 8 Western Suburbs      10  2  1  7  -   42  172 -130   5

Semifinals:

    South Sydney 20 beat Newcastle 0.
    Balmain 15 beat Eastern Suburbs 8.

 1 South Sydney         11 10  0  1  -  230   41  189  20
 2 Balmain              11  9  0  2  -  145   70   75  18
   ------------------------------------------------------
 3 Newcastle            11  5  0  6  -  144  113   31  10
 4 Eastern Suburbs      11  5  0  6  -  175  156   19  10

Final:

    South Sydney beat Balmain on forfeit.

Notes:

1. 19 June: Newcastle 26 beat Glebe 8. RL95 reports it as 29-8, but the SMH and RL96 contradict this.
2. 7 August: Newtown 15 beat Wests 2. RL95 reports it as 13-2, but the SMH contradicts this.

Teams (8): Balmain, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe, Newtown, North Sydney,
  South Sydney, Sydney, Western Suburbs.

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinals:

    Glebe 15 beat Sydney 6.
    Eastern Suburbs 14 beat North Sydney 0.

Final:

    Eastern Suburbs beat Glebe.

Teams (9): Balmain, Drummoyne, Eastern Suburbs, Glebe, Newtown,
  Rozelle, South Sydney, South Sydney Federal, Sydney.

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinals:

    South Sydney Federals 16 beat Drummoyne 0.
    Rozelle 3 beat Eastern Suburbs 2.

Final:

    South Sydney Federals beat Rozelle.