New South Wales Competitions 1920 1919 - 1921

Representative
Sydney
Newcastle - Hunter District


Representative 1919 - 1921

Not all representative fixtures are listed.

England visit

    England 17 beat Newcastle 10
    on 25th August at Newcastle Showground.

    England 24 beat Newcastle 3
    on 28th August at Newcastle Showground.

Country Week

A series of games played in Sydney to select the team to take on Queensland in the interstate match.

    Southern Division 16 beat Western Division 10
    on 1st June at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Newcastle 55 beat Combined Armidale and Tamworth 10
    on 1st June at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Newcastle versus Southern Division
    on 3rd June at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Combined Country versus Metropolis
    on 5th June at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Interdistrict Games

    Hunter 27 beat Upper Hunter 7
    on 14th August at Maitland Showground.

    Hunter Juniors 11 beat Tamworth 2
    on 4th September at Maitland Showground.

Visits by Sydney Teams

When a Sydney club had a bye it would occasionally arrange a visit to a country area to play the local district team.

    North Sydney 15 beat Newcastle 10
    on 5th June at Newcastle Showground.

    North Sydney 31 beat Newcastle 14
    on 17th June at Newcastle Showground.

    Newcastle Seconds 9 beat North Sydney Reserves 6
    on 17th June at Newcastle Showground.

Sydney 1919 - 1921

The Sydney University Amateur RLFC entered a team in the competition.

At the sixth attempt the NSWRL finally managed to persuade the Public Schools Amateur Athletic Association to allow the playing of league in public schools.

Annandale were cut at the end of the season. "Annandale were the wooden spooners at the time, but such vigorous methods did the members of this team introduce into their play and so unattractive was the play, plus the fact, as was the case with the recently eliminated Glebe club, that a large number of players were not eligible by residence, that it was decided to cut out the club and redistribute the district." -- Rugby League News, 1929.

First Grade Premiership Match Results - 1919 - 1921

In the round 7 match between Glebe and University Frank Burge scored 8 tries.

The season finished with three rounds left to play. Balmain, with a seven point lead, could not be beaten, so the league stopped play and proceeded to the City Cup. This was the last of Balmain's five wins in six years.

 1 Balmain              13 11  1  1  2  287  114  173  27
 2 South Sydney         13  8  0  5  2  258  149  109  20
 3 Glebe                13  8  0  5  2  268  166  102  20
 4 Western Suburbs      14  8  1  5  1  309  141  168  19
 5 North Sydney         13  7  0  6  2  237  151   86  18
 6 Eastern Suburbs      14  8  0  6  1  254  175   79  18
 7 Newtown              14  8  0  6  1  208  203    5  18
 8 University           13  1  0 12  2  101  498 -397   6
 9 Annandale            13  0  0 13  2   59  384 -325   4

Balmain were premiers.

Notes:

  1. 24 July: Glebe 46 beat Annandale 11. RL95 reports it as 44-11, but the SMH contradicts this.
  2. 1 September: Balmain 16 beat Wests 8. RL95 reports it as 16-6, but the SMH contradicts this.

City Cup

[details]

Round 1:

    Balmain 9 beat Newtown 6.
    North Sydney 33 beat Glebe 8.
    Eastern Suburbs 23 beat Annandale 0.
    South Sydney 64 beat University 5.
    Bye: Western Suburbs.

Playoff:

    Western Suburbs 17 beat Eastern Suburbs 0.

Semifinals:

    North Sydney 34 beat South Sydney 15.
    Western Suburbs 11 beat Balmain 2.

Final:

    North Sydney 14 beat Western Suburbs 7 after extra time.

League Cup

[details]

Round 1:

    ?

Playoff:

   Western Suburbs 9 beat Eastern Suburbs 3.

Semifinals:

    ?

Final:

    Glebe 9 beat Western Suburbs 6.

Newcastle 1919 - 1921

The division of the previous years was sorted out and a new governing body formed before the start of the season, mostly due to the efforts of Alderman R Gibson, the Mayor of Newcastle. The fact that the visiting English team wanted to play in Newcastle may have helped. The leadership of the new body was dominated by the officials whose disqualification had started the whole affair.

East Newcastle became known as Eastern Suburbs.

Cessnock withdrew from the Hunter District competition mid-season in order to join the Newcastle competition. They fielded teams in the second and fourth grades.

First Grade Premiership (Cornish Shield)

[details]

 1 Northern Suburbs     15 11  1  3  0  162   60  102  23
 2 South Newcastle      15 10  1  4  0  150   98   52  21
   ------------------------------------------------------
 3 Western Suburbs      14  9  0  5  0  137  111   26  18
 4 Central Newcastle    13  4  0  9  1   82   95  -13   8
 5 Eastern Suburbs      13  4  0  9  0   67  136  -69   8
 6 Kurri Kurri          14  3  0 11# 1   81  179  -98   6
  # Forfeited one game.

Final:

    Northern Suburbs 11 beat South Newcastle 0.

Second Grade Premiership

Teams (8): Broadmeadow, Carrington, Central Newcastle,
Eastern Suburbs, Kurri Kurri, Northern Suburbs, South Newcastle,
Western Suburbs.

  * Eastern Suburbs withdrew after the first round.

[Final table unavailable.]

Final:

    South Newcastle 2 beat Northern Suburbs 0.

Third Grade Premiership

Teams (18): Broadmeadow, Carrington, Central Newcastle, Dora Creek,
Eastern Suburbs no.1, Eastern Suburbs no.2, Kurri Kurri, Mayfield,
New Lambton, Northern Suburbs no.1, Northern Suburbs no.2,
Northern Suburbs no.3, South Newcastle, Stockton, Toronto,
Waratah, Western Suburbs, Weston.

[Final table unavailable.]

Final:

    New Lambton 14 beat Central Newcastle 6.

Fourth Grade Premiership

Teams (17): Broadmeadow, Carrington, Central Newcastle,
Eastern Suburbs, Kurri Kurri, Mayfield, New Lambton,
Northern Suburbs no.1, Northern Suburbs no.2, Northern Suburbs no.3,
South Newcastle no.1, South Newcastle no.2, Stockton, Toronto,
Waratah, Western Suburbs, Weston.

[Final table unavailable.]

Final:

    Central Newcastle 0 drew with South Newcastle no.? 0.
      (Central Newcastle won the replay 10-0.)

Kerr Cup

Run after the completion of the premiership matches over four rounds and a final. Eastern Suburbs and Kurri Kurri combined to form one team. South Newcastle forfeited their first match and then withdrew.

 1 Western Suburbs       3  3  0  0  0   44   18   26   6
 2 Central Newcastle     3  2  0  1  0   30   37   -7   4
   ------------------------------------------------------
 3 Eastern Suburbs-Kurri Kurri
                         3  1  0  2  0   41   49   -8   2
 4 South Newcastle *     1  0  0  1  1    0    0    0   0
 5 Northern Suburbs      2  0  0  2  1   15   26  -11   0
  * South Newcastle withdrew after round 2.

Final:

    Western Suburbs 4 beat Central Newcastle 3.

Hunter District 1919 - 1921

Cessnock withdrew from the competition midseason in order to join the Newcastle competition.

The competition point system used was 4 for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss, and -2 for a forfeit.

Seniors Premiership

[details]

 1 Eastern Suburbs       9  8  0  1  0  2   89   17   72  32
 2 East End             10  5  0  5  1  2   69   57   12  18
 3 Western Suburbs      10  4  2  4  1  1   46   64  -18  18
   ---------------------------------------------------------
 4 East Maitland         9  2  2  5  0  2   37   69  -32  12
 5 Cessnock *            4  0  0  4  1  1    3   37  -34  -2
  * Cessnock withdrew mid season.

Note that the table excludes the result of the round 12 match
between East Maitland and Eastern Suburbs.

Semifinal:

    Western Suburbs 4 beat East End 2.

Final:

    Western Suburbs 11 beat Eastern Suburbs 7.

Juniors Premiership

Teams (9): Cessnock, East End, Eastern Suburbs, East Maitland no.1,
East Maitland no.2, Greta, Raymond Terrace, Singleton,
Western Suburbs.

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinals:

    East Maitland 10 beat Western Suburbs 3.
    Singleton 9 beat Raymond Terrace 3.

Final:

    East Maitland 9 beat Singleton 5.