RAS Showground
Sat Sep 18, 2:00pm
WIN on Forfeit
The NSWRL scheduled the 1909 premiership final to be played at Sydney’s agricultural ground as a curtain-raiser to the 4th Kangaroos versus Wallabies match. Balmain protested that the status of the match was being undermined by being played as a preliminary game. The issue had been brewing for a number of weeks.
14 current Wallabies were convinced by lucrative payments (financed by Sydney entrepreneur James Joynton Smith) to cross to league for a three match series against the Kangaroos. The gate-takings from the series though didn’t recoup Smith’s outlay, so the NSWRL arranged a fourth Kangaroos-Wallabies contest, moving the premiership final as the undercard, hoping to boost the size of the crowd. Balmain officials turned up at the NSWRL’s offices the day before the match, unsuccessfully demanding the game be rescheduled to a stand-alone date. Balmain however still had to beat Souths twice to win the title, after Souths last round hicup in Newcastle.. The league, however could not meet this request, "for the simple reason that the leases of the various grounds run out this weekend". The league had players ready to play South Sydney in the event of a Balmain no show.
Balmain then picketed the ground and refusing to play were aimed at ensuring Smith’s debt could not be repaid, forcing the NSWRL into a public scandal that would see it collapse.
As anticpiated, Balmain failed to attend at the Agricultural Ground that afternoon.
South Sydney however attended in force after leading the competition all year, took the field for the match, kicked off, and scored a farcical try. The match was then awarded to South Sydney on forfeit by the referee due to Balmain's non appearance. By doing so South Sydney ended the season on 22 points, 4 points clear of Balmain and securing the 1909 premiership and bringing home the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield for the second year in a row. As planned a exhibition game was then arranged.
A prominent member of the Balmain team indicated that they believed it was likely that Balmain and South Sydney would meet next Saturday on Birchgrove Oval for the gate."
Crowd 4,000
Referee W.Finergan
W D L Diff PT
SOUTHS 11 - 1 +189 22
--
Balmain 9 - 2 +75 18
Newcastle 5 - 6 +35 10
Easts 5 - 6 +29 10
Glebe 4 - 6 -97 8
Newtown 3 1 6 -34 7
Norths 2 2 6 -53 6
Wests 2 1 7 -130 5
South Sydney v Combined Team
RAS Showground
Sat Sep 18, 2:00pm
WIN 18-10
With the Final called off Tommy Anderson and Arthur Conlin were called into the Kangaroos team. To appease the public a game was then played between an odd mixture of players wearing different coloured guernseys, the most prominent being those of Eastern Suburbs on the one side and South Sydney on the other. It was not much of a task to set South Sydney to defeat a team called "Combined," but in whose ranks combination was not very manifest. The South Sydney men naturally played with their opponents rather than against them with the willingness which they would have exhibited against a club worthy of their best efforts.
The game needs no description. It was played on a sodden field in a light rain. The Combined Team could make little headway against the combination of South Sydney and the first half tries were scored for the latter by Cann, Butler, Storie, Hallett and W.Fry, none of which were converted. At the end of the first half the scores were, South Sydney 15 points, Combined nil.
A short half was played, and the teams simply changed ends, and played on without a rest. On turning round Combined made a far better showing, and as the result of a dribbling rush Williams scored. Hinchey converted. Then a rush by Souths carried well down and Butler crossed in, no goal resulting. Play was a very scrambling nature, the state of the ground preventing much else than dribbling, with occassional three-quarter dashes. From a dribbling rush Morris scored for Combined and Keogh converted. South Sydney eased off after the change for a while, and the Combined team scored a few points before they again infused a little willingness into their play. Some amusement was caused when the referee recalled Hallett, the South Sydney full-back, who had scored a try after following up his own kick, and evading the opposition, for off-side. All the players stood still to laugh at the referee's palpable blunder. The final scores were, South Sydney 18 points, Combined 10 points.
Reserve Tom Golden lined up in the combined team.
3-0
6-0
9-0
12-0
HT 15-0
15-5
18-5
18-10
A.Butler 2, Cann, Storie, Hallett, W.Fry tries
no goals
Referee W.Finergan
Final Line Up
T G/A FG
Flbk - Hallett, Howard 1 - -
Wing - Anderson, Tommy - - -
Cntr - Conlin, Arthur - - - (c)
Cntr - Davis, Jim - - -
Wing = Storie, Frank 1 - -
5/8 - Butler, Arthur 2 - -
Half - Fry, William 1 - -
Lock - Carroll, Pat - - -
SRow - Cann, Bill 1 - -
SRow - Coxon, Maxwell - - -
Prop ± Conlin, Charles - - -
Hook - Butler, Harry - - -
Prop - Green, Dick - - -
6 -/6 -
South Sydney Juniors v Combined Newcastle Juniors
Centential Park, Newcastle
Sat Sep 18
WIN 18-12
A team representing the juniors in the South Sydney junior competition met a combined Newcastle team. on Centennial Park on Saturday in a friendly game, and the match provided a great tussle, the winners being in doubt up to the final whistle. Individually, Newcastle were the better team, though lacking knowledge of the finepoints of the Northern Union game, but are improving with each match. In view of the state of the showground, Newcastle cancelled the match, but the visitors' determined on having the trip, if no match took place, so the match was relocated to Newcastle's Centential Park. The Sydney team were kept busy defending nearly the whole of the first half, Kay, Dobson, Hodgson, Mitten, and Colgan passing neatly, and Lindsay, at fullback, being safe. The local forwards showed up finely in fast dribbling rushes. The game was played in a very friendly spirit throughout, and though the visitors won by 13 to 12.
tries goals
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