1954 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Rugby league season

1954 New South Wales Rugby Football League

Teams| 10
Premiers|  South Sydney (15th title)
Minor premiers|  Newtown (5th title)
Matches played| 94
Points scored| 3613
Top points scorer(s)|  Ron Rowles (221)
Top try-scorer(s)|  Ray Preston (34)

← 1953

1955 →

The 1954 NSWRFL season was the forty-seventh season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership competition, based in Sydney. Ten rugby league football teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in the first "mandatory" Grand Final played between South Sydney and Newtown.

## Season summary

[edit]

During the pre-season, Queensland and Australian international representative forward, Harold "Mick" Crocker signed a then record one-year deal for an Australian to move south and play for Sydney club Parramatta.[1] 1954 marked the first season when a Grand Final was scheduled to determine the premiership winner. Prior to that the season victors were either the minor premiers or decided by a final that followed two semi-finals. A Grand Final was only played if the minor-premier was defeated in a semi-final or final and exercised their right to challenge via a Grand Final. Since 1954 a Grand Final has been played every year to determine the premiership winner.

This season, in a New South Wales versus England match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, referee Aub Oxford watched in disbelief the players fighting around him like street-brawlers before turning his back and walking from the field. Oxford never refereed again and the match remains the only top-level game ever abandoned in rugby league history.

### Teams

[edit]

|  |  |  |

|
|
|
|

Balmain

47th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Norm Robinson
Captain: Jack Fifield

| Canterbury-Bankstown

20th season
Ground: Belmore Sports Ground
Coach: Jack Hampstead
Captain: Leo Trevena

| Eastern Suburbs

47th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Captain-Coach: Ferris Ashton

| Manly-Warringah

8th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Ray Norman
Captain: Roy Bull

| Newtown

47th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach : Col Geelan
Captain: Col Geelan, [[[Jim Evans]]

North Sydney

47th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Rex Harrison
Captain: Bob Sullivan

| Parramatta

8th Season
Ground: Cumberland Oval
Captain-Coach: Charlie Gill

| South Sydney

47th season
Ground: Redfern Oval
Captain-coach: Jack Rayner

| St. George

34th season
Ground: Jubilee Oval
Captain-Coach: Ken Kearney

| Western Suburbs

47th season
Ground: Pratten Park
Captain-Coach: Keith Holman

### Ladder

[edit]

| Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | PF  | PA  | PD  | Pts

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1 |  Newtown | 18 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 439 | 215 | +224 | 32
2 |  South Sydney | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 473 | 255 | +218 | 29
3 |  St. George | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 345 | 292 | +53 | 23
4 |  North Sydney | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 415 | 320 | +95 | 22
5 |  Manly | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 391 | 343 | +48 | 21
6 |  Balmain | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 346 | 345 | +1 | 19
7 |  Western Suburbs | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 287 | 374 | -87 | 13
8 |  Canterbury | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 233 | 465 | -232 | 8
9 |  Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 257 | 493 | -236 | 7
10 |  Parramatta | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 282 | 366 | -84 | 6

### Records set in 1954

[edit]

In 1954 South Sydney's Les Brennan set the standing record for the highest number of tries in a debut season with 29. Newtown winger Ray Preston's 34 tries remains second only to Dave Brown's 38 in 1935 in the tally of tries scored in a season.[2] Preston and Kevin Considine combined for fifty-six tries during the season – easily a record for a pair of club wingers.[3]

In the last round on 21 August, Western Suburbs set a record for the highest losing score when they lost to Balmain 32–37. This was to be one of only two cases before the introduction of the 10-metre ruck rule in 1993 that a team scored over thirty points and lost the match.[4]

## Finals

[edit]

Home  | Score  | Away  | Match Information

|
|
|

Date and Time  | Venue  | Referee  | Crowd
Semifinals
St. George | 15–14  |  North Sydney | 28 August 1954  | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien  | 32,397
Newtown | 14–24  |  South Sydney | 4 September 1954  | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler  | 38,520
Preliminary Final
Newtown | 27–13  |  St. George | 11 September 1954  | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler  | 32,303
Grand Final
South Sydney | 23–15  |  Newtown | 18 September 1954  | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien  | 45,759

### Grand Final

[edit]

South Sydney  | Position  | Newtown

|
|

13\. Clive Churchill | FB |

1. Gordon Clifford

12\. Ian Moir | WG | 2\. Kevin Considine
9\. Martin Gallagher | CE | 6\. Dick Poole
7\. Greg Hawick | CE | 4\. Brian Clay
11\. Les Brennan | WG | 3\. Ray Preston
8\. John Dougherty | FE | 53\. Ray Kelly
21\. Ray Mason | HB | 7\. Bobby Whitton

1. Denis Donoghue

| PR | 12\. Jim Evans (c)
2\. Ernie Hammerton | HK | 46\. Frank Johnson
3\. Jim Richards | PR | 11\. Don Stait
18\. Bernie Purcell | SR | 10\. Frank Narvo
4\. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) | SR | 9\. Henry Holloway
6\. Les Cowie | LK | 8\. Peter Ryan
| Coach | Col Geelan

In spite of Newtown finishing as minor premiers they hadn't beaten South Sydney in either regular season encounter. Souths had also won their semi-final meeting 24-14. In this, the NSWRFL's first Grand Final scheduled to determine the premiership winner, Souths were the victors. Legendary fullback Clive Churchill was outstanding setting up three of his side's five tries. The Bluebags stayed in the contest through the kicking boot of their Test fullback Gordon "Punchy" Clifford.

South Sydney 23 (Tries: Cowie 2, Moir, Hawick, Dougherty. Goals: Purcell 4.)

Newtown 15  (Tries: Narvo. Goals: Clifford 6.)

## Player statistics

[edit]

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers

| Points  | Player  | Tries  | Goals  | Field Goals

|
|
|
|

221  |  Ron Rowles | 13  | 91  | 0
168  |  Alan Arkey | 0  | 84  | 0
149  |  Bernie Purcell | 9  | 61  | 0
133  |  George Bain | 1  | 65  | 0
131  |  Gordon Clifford | 1  | 63  | 1

Top 5 try scorers

Tries  | Player

|

33  |  Ray Preston
28  |  Les Brennan
19  |  Ian Moir
19  |  Kevin Hole
16  |  Kevin Considine

Top 5 goal scorers

| Goals  | Player

|

91  |  Ron Rowles
84  |  Alan Arkey
65  |  George Bain
63  |  Gordon Clifford
61  |  Bernie Purcell

## Post-season

[edit]

Following the grand final, nine players from the NSWRFL were selected in a squad of eighteen to represent Australia in the 1954 Rugby League World Cup in France.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ ‘Crocker will play here’ 20 January 1954 The Sydney Morning Herald
2. ^ Rugby League Tables – Most Individual Tries in a Season; AFL Tables
3. ^ Whitticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen; The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players (1999), p. 432 ISBN 1875169768
4. ^ Rugby League Tables – Highest Losing Scores; AFL Tables

## External links

[edit]

* Rugby League Tables - Season 1954 AFL Tables
* Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
* Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au
* 1954 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com
* NSWRFL season 1954 at rugbyleagueproject.org

* v
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South Sydney squad - 1954 NSWRFL Premiers (15th title)

* 1\. Clive Churchill
* 2\. Ian Moir
* 3\. Martin Gallagher
* 4\. Greg Hawick
* 5\. Les Brennan
* 6\. John Dougherty
* 7\. Ray Mason

* 8\. Denis Donoghue
* 9\. Ernie Hammerton
* 10\. Jim Wilson
* 11\. Bernie Purcell
* 12\. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.)
* 13\. Les Cowie

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