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Why
2 Points For The Bye?
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
The
question comes up enough: "Why do NRL teams get two points
for the bye?"
Giving
two points for a bye began in soccer competitions in England in
the late 1800s.
Football
seasons rarely exceeded the three months of winter. The administrators
of the past had the same problem the NRL has today - it was impossible
to schedule an entire home-and-away series within the length of
the season. In many football competitions some of the clubs had
two byes, others only had one.
Thus,
a team with two byes would be at a distinct disadvantage, especially
if 'first-past-the-post' was used. To compensate, teams were awarded
two points for a bye.
It could still be argued this was unfair to the team that only got
one bye, as they were forced into an extra match to try and earn
two points other teams were given. However it can be seen, on balance,
that awarding two points for a bye was (overall) fairer than awarding
none.
The NSWRL's 1920 competition was the first to have byes (9 clubs).
Held over 15 weeks, 6 teams had two byes, the other 3 just one.
While each team should have played 16 matches, there was only time
for most to play 13 matches.
NSWRL
First Grade Premiership - 1920
| Club |
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
B
|
Pts
|
| Balmain |
13
|
11
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
27
|
| Souths |
13
|
8
|
0
|
5
|
2
|
20
|
| Glebe |
13
|
8
|
0
|
5
|
2
|
20
|
| Wests |
14
|
8
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
19
|
| Norths |
13
|
7
|
0
|
6
|
2
|
18
|
| Easts |
14
|
8
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
18
|
| Newtown |
14
|
8
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
18
|
| University |
13
|
1
|
0
|
12
|
2
|
6
|
| Annandale |
13
|
0
|
0
|
13
|
2
|
4
|
In
a competition where each team has the same number of byes, there
is probably no justification for the 2 points - other than it now
being traditional.
Copyright
© Sean Fagan 2000-2007
All
rights of the author are asserted.
No content may be reproduced without written permission from Sean
Fagan / RL1908.
ABN 24 944 193 945
www.RL1908.com
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