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.
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