New South Wales Competitions 1924

[1923] [1925]

Representative
Sydney
Newcastle - Hunter District

The Sydney Premiership final playoff between Balmain and South Sydney was the first football match ever broadcast on radio in Australia. The Balmain secretary, Bob Savage, called it for 2SB (now 2BL).

The Australian Rugby League Board of Control (ARL) was formed in December to manage the international side of the game.


Representative Games

[1923] [1925]

Not all representative fixtures are listed.

Country Week

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

    Western Division 40 beat Northern Division 5
    on 20th May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    North Coast 6 beat South Coast 5
    on 20th May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Far North Coast 40 beat Southern District 7
    on 20th May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Far North Coast 11 beat South Coast 8
    on 22nd May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Western District 22 beat North Coast 7
    on 22nd May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Southern District 29 beat Northern Districts 8
    on 22nd May at Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Combined Country beat Newcastle.

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.

    Glebe 34 beat Hunter District 6
    on Monday 9th June at Maitland Showground.

Sydney

[1923] [1925]

First Grade Premiership

Only nine competition rounds were played due to the English tour of Australia.

[details] [finals]

 1 Balmain               8  6  1  1  1  124   53   71  15
 2 South Sydney          8  6  1  1  1  104   60   44  15
   ------------------------------------------------------
 3 Western Suburbs       8  4  0  4  1  130  103   27  10
 4 Glebe                 8  4  0  4  1   87   95   -8  10
 5 St George             8  3  2  3  1   94  125  -31  10
 6 North Sydney          8  3  0  5  1  107  128  -21   8
 7 Eastern Suburbs       8  3  0  5  1   85  106  -21   8
 8 University            8  2  1  5  1   85  115  -30   7
 9 Newtown               8  2  1  5  1   98  129  -31   7

Final:

    Balmain 3 beat South Sydney 0.

City Cup

Only six rounds of cup games were played in 1924.

[details]

 1 Eastern Suburbs       6  4  2  0  0  129   54   75  10
 2 South Sydney          6  4  1  1  0   88   73   15   9
 3 North Sydney          5  2  3  0  1   64   57    7   9
 4 University            5  3  0  2  1   89   49   40   8
   ------------------------------------------------------
 5 Balmain               5  2  1  2  1   57   55    2   7
 6 St George             6  3  0  3  0   72   80   -8   6
 7 Newtown               5  1  0  4  1   49   83  -34   4
 8 Western Suburbs       5  1  0  4  1   29   86  -57   4
 9 Glebe                 5  0  1  4  1   30   70  -40   3

Semifinals:

    South Sydney 14 beat North Sydney 10.
    University 8 beat Eastern Suburbs 5.

Final:

    South Sydney 23 beat University 2.

League Cup

[details]

Semifinals:

    ?

Final:

    Newtown 17 beat Western Suburbs 5.

Newcastle

[1923] [1925]

Four grades of competition were run plus under-16s. The President's Cup was run as an end of season competition.

First Grade Premiership
(Cornish Shield)

[details]

 1 Eastern Suburbs      8  6  2  0  2   59   26  18
 2 Northern Suburbs     8  4  1  3  2   72   73  13
   ------------------------------------------------
 3 Central Newcastle    8  4  0  4  2   87   60  12
 4 South Newcastle      8  2  1  5  2   54   75   9
 5 Western Suburbs      8  2  0  6  2   61   99   8
                                       (calculated)

Final:

    Eastern Suburbs 9 beat Northern Suburbs 2.

Second Grade Premiership
(Gulperin Cup)

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

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinal:

    Carrington beat Eastern Suburbs.

Final:

    Carrington 5 beat South Newcastle 3.

Third Grade Premiership

Teams (16): Carrington no.1, Carrington no.2, Central Newcastle,
Dangar Park, Eastern Suburbs no.1, Eastern Suburbs no.2, Maryville,
South Newcastle no.1, South Newcastle no.2, Stockton no.1,
Stockton no.2, Tighe's Hill, Wallsend, Waratah, Western Suburbs,
Wickham.

[Plus Northern Suburbs teams?]

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinal:

    Northern Suburbs no.1 6 beat Western Suburbs 0.

Final:

    Northern Suburbs no.1 13 beat Carrington 7.

Fourth Grade Premiership

Teams (12): Broadmeadow, Carrington, Dangar Park, Eastern Suburbs,
Islington, Maryville, South Newcastle, St Andrew's, Stockton,
Tighe's Hill, Waratah, Western Suburbs.

Second round teams (6): Dangar Park, Eastern Suburbs, Islington,
South Newcastle, St Andrew's, Waratah.

[Final table unavailable.]

Final:

    Waratah 5 beat South Newcastle 2.

Under-16s Premiership

Teams (6): Carrington, Central Newcastle, South Newcastle, Toronto,
Waratah, Western Suburbs.

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinal:

    Waratah beat Western Suburbs.

Final:

    Waratah 12 beat Central Newcastle 8.

President's Cup

[details]

 1 South Newcastle      6  5  0  1  1   89   45  12
 2 Eastern Suburbs      5  4  0  1  2   50   20  12
   ------------------------------------------------
 3 Northern Suburbs     6  1  3  2  1   38   55   7
 4 Western Suburbs      5  0  2  3  2   23   46   6
 5 Central Newcastle    6  1  1  4  1   45   79   5
                                       (calculated)

Final:

    Eastern Suburbs 20 beat South Newcastle 11.

Hunter District

[1923] [1925]

Two grades of competition were played plus juniors. The A grade initially had three entrants: Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs and Greta. After the first round Kurri Kurri and Cessnock decided they also wanted to field teams, so the competition was put on hold and then redrawn. After round four Greta withdrew because they could not field enough players. Then two weeks later Kurri Kurri withdrew for no apparent reason, though it was believed they wanted to join the Newcastle competition (they didn't). The season ended in controversy when Maitland United walked off during the final after their captain was sent off for laying a hand on the referee. As Eastern Suburbs were fielding an illegal player both teams were disqualified and no premiership was awarded.

The league experimented with a home and away format to see if it would generate greater team support.

The standard of refereeing attracted a lot of comment, as apparently each had different ideas about how the ball should be played.

A Grade Premiership
(Hepworth Shield)

[details]

 1 Maitland United      11  8  0  3  3   87   42   45  32
 2 Eastern Suburbs       9  4  0  5  4   62   50   12  16
 3 Cessnock              9  3  0  6  2   43   63  -20  12
   ------------------------------------------------------
 4 Kurri Kurri           4  3  0  1  1   17   16    1  12
 5 Greta                 3  0  0  3  2    3   41  -38   0
  * Cessnock and Kurri Kurri joined for round 2.
  * Greta withdrew afer round 4.
  * Kurri Kurri withdrew after round 6.
  * Missing scores of Kurri Kurri versus Cessnock.

Semifinal:

    Eastern Suburbs 15 beat Cessnock 3.

Final:

    Maitland United versus Eastern Suburbs abandoned.
      (Both teams disqualified.)

C Grade Premiership

Teams (12): Bellbird, Branxton, Cessnock no.1, Cessnock no.2, East End,
Eastern Suburbs, East Maitland, Martin's Creek, Paxton, Thornton,
Western Suburbs, Weston.

[Final table unavailable.]

Semifinals:

    Branxton beat Weston.
    East End 10 beat East Maitland 3.

Final:

    East End 20 beat Branxton 5.