The First Showcase Match: Goulburn 1914

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Sydney clubs often travelled to NSW country areas in the early decades of rugby league. On weekends where no club matches were scheduled or they had the bye, teams would catch a Friday night or Saturday morning train north, south or west to help spread the word about the 'League Football' game.

After usually arriving early Saturday, the team would play one or two games against local sides before returning straight home - missing work on Monday wasn't an option. The proceeds from the matches would help to grow or establish local clubs and competitions.

It was not until 1990 that the NSWRL began to schedule regular season matches in areas outside the bounds of the current clubs. The first match saw Easts and Canterbury make the trek to Townsville where they slugged out a 12-12 draw.

However the first competition match taken to a country area was back in 1914 when Western Suburbs and Annandale played in Goulburn. Two matches were played in 1909 in Newcastle, but they were a premiership club at the time.

Earlier trial matches between Sydney clubs had been played outside the metropolitan area, including in Orange (Easts v Glebe in 1912) and in Bathurst (Souths v Norths in 1913). The first competition match came with a 1914 visit to Goulburn.

Aside from the Goulburn match being an obvious attempt to show 1st grade rugby league to the locals, little is known of how the match came about. There was no local competition at the time, so the only ready solution was to bring two teams in.

Goulburn was the state's largest inland city and readily accessible via train from Sydney. While the city was an obvious target for the growing game, Wests and Annandale were hardly the prime exponents of Sydney rugby league in 1914.

The match was the third last round of the season and it held no significance on the fight for the premiership. At that point Annandale had yet to win a game, while Wests hadn't seen a victory in almost two months.

With the growing news that war in Europe was escalating, the teams boarded the Friday night train from Sydney on August 7, 1914, arriving in Goulburn the next morning. The match was set down to kick-off at 3.15 p.m at the Goulburn Showground. More often than not, an early August afternoon would have been quite cold and windy.

The local press made note of the players arriving: "The city this morning was practically invaded by footballers.....two league teams, Annandale and Western Suburbs, were in town. The visitors attracted attention by driving through the city in motor cars, and stimulated no doubt by the news of the German request for an armistice purchased small flags and sang the National Anthem."

"There are included in the teams both interstate and international players. The public can look forward to some first-class football, as the teams are well matched and the contest is a competition one." [Goulburn Evening Penny Post]

For all the flag waving the Germans weren't serious about an armistice, and it seems the players weren't serious about their football. As the Post's reporter would later put it: "If the mission has failed there is no one to blame but the visiting exponents."

On paper, the match did offer some appeal with Tedda Courtney, William Joass, Clarrie Tye, H. Naylor and W. Easterbrook in the Wests team, and Rex Norman, W. Lindsay, J. Brassell, Jim Pye and W. Doyle playing for Annandale.

Wests won the match by 6-4 after scoring two unconverted tries. The closeness of the scores apparently wasn't enough to enliven the crowd "scarcely was there a cheer raised during the progress of the match."

The match reporter for the Post did concede that the players could have been weary from the overnight train journey but "as they came as missionaries, those who visited the game had a right to expect the best."

"As an exhibition match calculated to gain recruits to the ranks of Rugby League the display of Saturday afternoon on the showground was not a success...the match was to supply that something more, but it failed to materialise."

At the back-end of the game, the reporter was hopeful: "Annandale can be relied upon in the last quarter to make things hum, but there was no buzzing on Saturday." The 'Dales Rex Norman made some late valiant runs to clinch the winning try, but "his forwards either failed to take a pass that meant victory or got in each other's way."

The final summation from the Goulburn Evening Penny Post: "The game was a disappointing display, however, from a league point of view, and if Saturday's is anything like a fair sample of the two teams' capabilities - which, however, we cannot believe - something better in class should be tried next time. It will only be something a bit extra that will attract Union footballers Leaguewards."

If the NSWRL did have plans to return, they would have been ended by the priorities of the Great War.

The match though took £17 at the gate (6d. general entry, with 6d. extra to sit in the
Grandstand or Smokers' Stand)
with £5 donated to help establish
the local League competition.

The visit to the country air must have done the Annandale players some good - the next week they won their only game of the season when they nudged out Eastern Suburbs 16-14 at Wentworth Park. At nearby Birchgrove Oval, Wests copped a 30 point flogging from Balmain.

Thanks to the Southern Tablelands Regional Library, Goulburn

Copyright © 2007 - Sean Fagan / RL1908.

THE FOOTBALL BOOM IS WITH US
£8400 Yield
FIVE YEARS OF PROGRESS
Goulburn Evening Penny Post
Wednesday, December 18, 1935
(Courtesy of Gordon Thompson,
Research Officer at the Goulburn and District Historical Society)

For the last five years the Goulburn Rugby Football League (GRFL) has been riding on the crest of a wave of prosperity unprecedented in the annals of the code.

In that time the league's aggregate turnover has mounted to the surprising sum of £8400, this and achievements in other directions consolidating the claims that Goulburn is the leading country football centre in New South Wales.

Last season (1935) when £2500 was handled, eclipsed all others, the fact that this figure was £100 greater than the total revenue for the five years between 1926 and 1930 exemplifying the tremendous swing of public patronage towards football.

Officials of the GRFL predict that next season will prove even more momentous by virtue of the Englishmen's visit to Australia, and possibly also Goulburn. Inter-district matches and the introduction of Sunday play appear to have been the secret of the great measure of success enjoyed in the last five years, during which time another radical change in the shape of importing paid players from other centres was brought about with very satisfactory results.

In addition, the controlling body has been fortunate in having had succeeding sets of officers who have worked assiduously and without thought of reward in order to promote the welfare of the sport.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Goulburn saw its first serious competitive football over 40 years ago – probably in 1892 – although there had been matches played prior to that year. St. Patrick's College possessed an excellent team somewhere around 1888, in which the present Bishop of Riverina, Dr. Dwyer, and his brothers were star players.

Old records also show that Mr. H. S. Belcher, who still resides in Goulburn, represented New South Wales against Queensland and New Zealand in 1883 and 1884. This, of course, was before the introduction of the League code. In 1899, the Rev. Mr. Mullineux's English XV played Goulburn, the international side defeating the “lads from the bush” by only 14 points to 3. Among the players who represented Goulburn in that match was the late Les. Seaborn, Sydney solicitor, who later became a prominent metropolitan player.

Naturally, this team was proud of its performance against such a famous combination, but there were some equally notable performances by local teams in the following years, when such combinations as the Wentworths from Sydney (which included the famous Warbricks), Glebe and Western Suburbs (metropolitan premiers, and including such well-known exponents such as Stan Wickham) were either defeated or held closely by Goulburn representative side.

The League code had its inception at about the time the Great War began, and it succeeded in spite of strong opposition and a general feeling that it was something in the nature of a flash in the sporting pan.

Prior to the change from Union to League, the South Goulburn Club held sway for some years, but the last year of Union football saw the Waratahs down the hitherto invincible South side in a memorable final – Memorable for the fact that it was destined to be the last game of two great players, Frank (“Bunny”) Isaac and Cecil (“Buck”) Leeson. They had enlisted, but were given special leave to take part in the final.

Both played wonderful games, Isaac being responsible for the good work leading to the try of the match. Leeson and Isaac left for Active Service soon afterwards and both were killed in the Landing at Gallipoli.

LEAGUE'S DEBUT

With the following year came League football and the Waratah Club had the honour to be premiers for the last year of Union and the first year of League. Once again South Goulburn put a strong team into the field and it remained practically unbeaten until 1922, despite strong opposition from North Goulburn, these two teams remaining deadly rivals and figuring in a series of hectic battles season after season.

It was then found that the leading clubs had become so strong that competition was restricted to a few teams and it was obvious that public interest was on the wane. The matter gave a good deal of worry to the officials at the time and, after discussing it from many angles, it was agreed to give the ward system a trial during 1923. Goulburn was divided into four playing zones – North, South, East and West – and a player was not permitted to strip for any zone other that in which he resided.

Those who sponsored the scheme had hopes that this would result in at least four of more or less equal strength being placed in the field, but the scheme was far from being the success anticipated, and the League struggled through several lean seasons in its efforts to keep the clubs up to standard.

North Goulburn annexed the premiership in the first year of football under the ward system, the side being captained by Arthur (“Smacker”) McLaughlin, who, by coincidence, was one of the star players in the rival South Goulburn Club prior to the change-over. “Bigga” Mills, referred to in the foregoing list, was very prominent in Goulburn matches in which he took part owing to his speed and dash, and later went to England, where he has since had several successful seasons with the Huddersfield Club, ranking as one of the best three-quarters ever seen in England.

SUNDAY PLAY

With the game in the doldrums, the league, though it did so with a good deal of trepidation, introduced Sunday play late in the 1930 season, and about eight games were played at the racecourse, which was the only suitable area that could be secured for Sunday fixtures, the City Council having refused the use of the sportsground. There was a steady reaction on the part of the public, and by the end of the season it was evident that Sunday matches had come to stay.

The following table of figures, showing the revenue each season from 1922 to 1935 inclusive, tells its own story of how the scales of public favour have swung during that time: 1922, £662/2/2; 1923,£492/11/6; 1924, £537/16/8; 1925, £530/13/9; 1926, £82/19/4; 1927, £373/14/5; 1928, £338/0/2; 1929, £373/14/5; 1930, £646/15/6; 1931, £787/7/8; 1932, £810/17/9; 1933, £1821/17/4; 1934, £2443/15/3; 1936, £2500.

Apart from Sydney and Newcastle, Goulburn, it is believed, had a greater turnover during the 1935 season than any centre in NSW; in fact, it was higher than the revenue gained by half of the Sydney first-grade clubs.

No more conclusive proof of the patronage extended by the public last season could be needed. In the last two seasons gate levies amounting to £120 have been paid to the NSW Country League by Group 8, of which Goulburn is headquarters. This is an achievement unequalled by any other group in the country, and indicates that many district clubs have benefitted by the boom for which Goulburn has been largely responsible.

RECORD GATES

In 1924 Gundagai played in Goulburn, the gate yielding £94, and a week later Cootamundra played here to a £120 gate. These figures created records at that time, but pale into insignificance when compared with the £144 taken at the Canberra-Goulburn game in 1933 and the £137 and £136 taken at two Goulburn-Crookwell matches in 1934. Gates ranging from £100 to £120 in the last two seasons have been common occurrences, while the absolute record for any football fixture ever played in this city was the £187 netted at the 1934 Country Week elimination game.

No less than 130 football teams have been brought here in the last five years, Goulburn's representative side having come out on the right side in the majority of cases. Supporters and old players will have many memories of the visit of such teams as Temora, Tumut, Gundagai, Cootamundra, Orange, Forbes, Lithgow, Young, Bathurst, Canberra, Queanbeyan, Crookwell, Glebe, Newtown and other Sydney sides, Queensland Railways, Nowra, Kiama and other coastal combinations.

It is considered that 1934 saw Goulburn with the finest representative side it has ever fielded. In this side, which was captained and coached by Hans Mork, were: H. Mork, H. Porter, A. Smith, F. Felsch, H. Allwork, R. Daly, F. McLaughlin, L. Whittle, E. Lambert, K. Lynch, G. Darby, A. Devlin, R. Mitchell, R. Gustafson, and C. Slatyer. The practise of engaging coaches was commenced several years ago and has been continued since. J. Hickey was the first coach, followed by Tom Arneman, A. (“Fatty”) Edwards, Hans Mork, and finally Alf Smith.

It can safely be said that a vital factor in the phenomenal success met with since inter district football was resorted to was the generous action on the part of Mr. A. F. Carr in donating the Carr Cup in 1932. Great rivalry has marked each season's series for this now famous trophy, which has probably drawn in more money during the short time it has been in play than has any other country football trophy, over the same period. The cup is open to clubs within a radius of 75 miles of Goulburn, where the trophy is reposing until the start of the 1936 activities.

OFFICIALS' WORK

Capable administration has piloted the Goulburn Rugby Football League through the years, and the players and public alike should feel indebted to those who have sacrificed their time and money in furthering the interests of the code. The present secretary, Mr. Jack Seiffert, has held office for five years, and the results of operations over that period will stand as a monument to his organising ability, enterprise and zealous efforts.

In the season ended a few months back he was ably supported by the present president, Mr. H. G. Robertson, one of the most enthusiastic officials the GRFL has ever been privileged to have; and Mr. Bob Sharman, who has had to shoulder a big responsibility in his capacity as treasurer.

These executive officers have had the support of a particularly keen and able committee, the members of which were always there to respond to any calls made upon their services. Others who have been prominently identified with the management of the sport in the years gone by include: Elijah Weatherby, Jim Southwell, Archie Turnbull, Joe Lynch, W. Dangerfield, Frank Gilloughby, Bert Wilson, A. Spratt, W. Boyd, Frank McMahon, C. Curnow, J. Saunders, A. W. Oldfield and Bert Cox.

Action on the part of the league to acquire its own ground – Rugby League Park – has proved its worth hundreds of time over, and was doubtlessly the most progressive move ever made in the history of Goulburn football. There is no doubting that but for the fact that the league has had the exclusive of this area, football would not be in the happy position it is to-day.

Among the players conspicuous in those days who come to mind are: Arthur and Frank McLaughlin, Alf Debnam, Len and Lionel Whittle, Bert Wilson, Jack Day, Billy Hare, Perce Medway, George and Stan Burt, Ernie (“Bigga”) Mills, Jack Nicholson, Harry Ridley, Alf Norman, Les McWhinney, Mylie, “Fuzzy” and Jack Payne, Les Leggett, Tom Horan, Harry Irwin, Cliff Tamsett, Harold Tamsett and many others.

(Courtesy of Gordon Thompson,
Research Officer at the Goulburn and District Historical Society)