New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1947
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| New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1947 | |
 |
|
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |  Balmain (10th title) |
| Minor premiers |  Canterbury-Bankstown (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 95 |
| Points scored | 3238 (average 34.084 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) | Pat Devery (142 points) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Bob Lulham (28 tries) |
The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fortieth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. The addition of two teams, Manly-Warringah and Parramatta, saw ten teams from across Sydney contest during the 1947 season.
Contents |
[edit] Season Summary
For the first time since NSWRFL season 1937, more than eight clubs competed in the Sydney premiership due to the admission of Manly-Warringah and Parramatta to the first grade competition.
Mid way through the season the Balmain Tigers looked out of touch winning only 6 of their first 12 games. Five consecutive wins to end the regular season left them in position to make a finals assault. Balmain's Bob Lulham's 28 try tally in 18 matches in 1947 remains that club's standing record for tries in a season and stands in second place behind Les Brennan's 1954 effort of 29 for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season.
[edit] Teams
- Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
- Canterbury-Bankstown
- Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
- Manly-Warringah admitted in 1947
- Newtown, formed on January 14, 1908
- North Sydney, formed on February 7, 1908
- Parramatta, formed in November 1946
- South Sydney, formed on January 17, 1908 at Redfern Town Hall
- St. George, formed on November 8, 1920 at Kogarah School of Arts
- Western Suburbs, formed on February 4, 1908
[edit] Colours
 Balmain |
 Canterbury |
 Eastern Suburbs |
 Manly |
 Newtown |
 North Sydney |
 Parramatta |
 South Sydney |
 St. George |
 Western Suburbs |
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 366 | 272 | +94 | 27 |
| 2 | Balmain |
18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 342 | 265 | +77 | 24 |
| 3 |  Newtown |
18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 375 | 302 | +73 | 23 |
| 4 |  St. George |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 353 | 272 | +81 | 22 |
| 5 |  Western Suburbs |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 295 | 253 | +42 | 22 |
| 6 |  North Sydney |
18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 287 | 278 | +9 | 19 |
| 7 |  South Sydney |
18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 314 | 328 | -14 | 18 |
| 8 |  Eastern Suburbs |
18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 270 | 316 | -46 | 11 |
| 9 |  Manly-Warringah |
18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 242 | 364 | -122 | 8 |
| 10 |  Parramatta |
18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 230 | 424 | -194 | 6 |
[edit] Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Playoff | ||||||||
 St. George |
5 - 10 |  Western Suburbs |
27 August 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | 13,552 | |||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
 Canterbury-Bankstown |
25 - 15 |  Newtown |
30 August 1947 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 36,303 | ||
 Balmain |
27 - 16 | Western Suburbs |
6 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Tom McMahon | 29,375 | ||
| Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury-Bankstown |
19 - 25 | Balmain |
13 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 34,994 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury-Bankstown |
9 - 13 | Balmain |
20 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 29,292 | ||
[edit] Grand Final
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Position | Balmain Tigers |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Johnson | FB | Jack McCullough |
| Jeff Simmonds | WG | Robert Lulham |
| Eddie Tracy | CE | Pat Devery |
| Norm Young | CE | Joe Jorgenson |
| Morrie Murphy | WG | Arthur Patton |
| Ray Hasson | FE | George Williams |
| Bruce Hopkins | HB | Des Bryan |
| Eddie Burns | PR | Jack Branighan |
| Roy Kirkaldy | HK | Herb Gilbert Jnr |
| Henry Porter (c) | PR | Jack Spencer |
| Alister Clarke | SR | Sid Ryan |
| Ken Charlton | SR | Harry Bath |
| Len Holmes | LK | Tom Bourke (c) |
| Ross McKinnon | Coach | Norm Robinson |
The Tigers had strung together seven consecutve wins including a preliminary final victory over minor premiers Canterbury in their attempt at a second straight premiership. Canterbury exercised their "right of challenge" after losing the final and called for a Grand Final decider.
The formidable Canterbury front row of Roy Kirkaldy, Henry Porter and Eddie Burns were combining in their tenth season for close to 100 appearances as a scrum front trio. They led a punishing Berries defence and give their side a better than even chance of possession in the scrum contests.
Balmain's international star centre and Kangaroo captain Joe Jorgenson had played and coached on a country contract in Junee in 1947 but returned to the Tigers reserve-grade in time for the semi-finals. The Grand Final marked his sole first-grade appearance of the season. Balmain's Test five-eighth Pat Devery was the nominated match kicker but after several misses he passed over to Jorgenson who kicked three penalties to keep Balmain in the game and trailling 9-6 with ten minutes to go.
Then Jorgenson crashed over for a try under the posts and after receiving medical attention he converted his own goal to give the Tigers an 11-9 lead. A final 45 yard penalty goal then sealed the match for the Tigers at 13-9 with Jorgenson scoring all of Balmain's points and being chaired victorious from the field.
Balmain 13 (Tries: Jorgenson. Goals: Jorgenson 5 )
defeated
Canterbury-Bankstown 9 (Tries: Hasson. Goals: Johnson 2, Hasson)
[edit] References
- Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1947 The World of Rugby League
- Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
- Finals lineups and results Hunterlink site
- Balmain Official History Tigers History Site
- Whiticker, Alan(2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
