Rugby League & Easter
History of premiership games on Good Friday and Easter

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

The history of rugby league and Easter stretches back to the very beginnings of the game in Australia, with the first round of the first ever premiership being held on Easter Monday back in 1908.

With the NSWRL's major ground, the Agricultural Ground in use by the Royal Easter Show, the four club matches ("double-headers") were held at Birchgrove Oval in Balmain and at Glebe's Wentworth Park.

The NSWRL's first premiership trophy, was donated by the Royal Agricultural Society, the organisers and hosts of Sydney's famous Royal Easter Show.

Easter, of course, is not a fixed date on the calendar, and many seasons commenced after the Easter holiday period had been and gone. However, with the inclusion of Parramatta and Manly in 1947, the now 10 team competition increasingly saw the playing of Easter-time football.

By the 1950s, the Easter weekend was a big part of the game. In 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1959, two entire clubs rounds were played over Easter - one round was played on the Saturday, and all of the next round played on the Easter Monday. (Tough going for footy players over Easter back then!).

In a changing era, the first Easter Sunday premiership game came in 1963, where Newtown 10 def Souths 3 at Redfern Oval.

In January 1964 the ARL proposed to hold the first Good Friday match, with a game between the 1963/64 Kangaroo tourists against "The Rest". The announcement of the plan was immediately objected to by many church leaders and some club officials. Though the ARL eventually abandoned the idea, it was done at the request of the tired Kangaroos, rather than in response to pressure from outside of the game. It was not though for another 30 years that a match was eventually played on Good Friday.

Football games of various codes had been played in Britain and North America on Good Friday since the early 20th century. Amongst the more prominent was the annual rugby union game between the famous Barbarians club and Penarth in Wales - a yearly tradition that began in 1901. English soccer had already commenced playing in front of enourmous crowds at Good Friday matches, though some players individually opted to stand down.

The first Good Friday premiership game under the NSWRL finally came in 1993, when the Sydney Roosters defeated Souths 18-4 at the Sydney Football Stadium (crowd 26,433).

Good Friday games have been held in Sydney ever since, while premiership Good Friday games have also been held at Perth (Western Reds) in 1995, Adelaide in 1997 (Super League), Auckland and Newcastle in 1998, and Melboune in 2001. In 2000 Australia defeated the Kiwis 52-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.

The first now traditional Good Friday game between the Roosters v Brisbane was in 1994 (Broncos winning 44-12 @ SFS, crowd 20,216), and it has been a regular fixture since 2001.

From 1996-1998 Wests Magpies played against Auckland, Parramatta and Sydney Roosters (respectively) at Campbelltown in "Maundy Thursday" (the Thursday before Good Friday) games. A Thursday evening match was also held in 1998 between Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast on the Adelaide Oval.

From its opening in 1999, the Olympic Stadium at Homebush has hosted numerous games coinciding with the adjacent Royal Easter Show, beginning with Canterbury 20 def Brisbane 16 on Good Friday 1999 (crowd 30,360). Over recent seasons Canterbury and South Sydney have met on the field each Easter long weekend.

In 1987, Norths 18 defeated St George 16 at the (old) Sydney Showground (aka the Agricultural Ground) before a crowd of 24,000 in the first weekend of the Royal Easter Show. It was last rugby league game held at this famous ground, first used for club, inter-state and Test matches in 1908.