The 1936 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-ninth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league football club competition, Australia’s first. Nine teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from April until September, and culminated in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over Balmain in the final.[1]

1936 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams9
Premiers Eastern Suburbs (6th title)
Minor premiers Eastern Suburbs (7th title)
Matches played63
Points scored1956
Top points scorer(s) Syd Christensen (123)
Top try-scorer(s) Fred Tottey (25)

Season summary

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In round 14 of the University club ended a losing streak which had begun round 2, 1934 and marked the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42. Eastern Suburbs went through 1936 undefeated – a feat achieved by teams in only five other seasons before or since.

The first premiership game of Rugby League at Henson Park was played on 1 April 1936, when Newtown defeated University 20–0.

For the first time since 1919 and only the second since the competition began South Sydney lost more games than it won.[2]

Teams

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Balmain
 

29th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Joe Busch
Captain: Syd Christensen

Canterbury-Bankstown
 

2nd season
Ground: Belmore Sports Ground
Coach: Frank Burge
Captain: Alan Brady

Eastern Suburbs
 

29th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Arthur Halloway
Captain: Dave Brown

Newtown
 

29th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach: Bill Kelly
Captain: Hans Mork

North Sydney
 

29th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Jim Craig
Captain: Rex Harrison

South Sydney
 

29th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Dave Watson
Captain: Eric Lewis

St. George
 

16th season
Ground: Earl Park
Coach: Arthur Justice / Eddie Root
Captain: Eddie Root

University
 

17th Season
Coach: Bob Williams
Captain: Leo Reddy

Western Suburbs
 

29th season
Ground: Pratten Park
Coach: Frank McMillan
Captain: Cliff Pearce

Ladder

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The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1936 premiership across Sydney.
Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1   Eastern Suburbs 13 11 2 0 2 335 145 +190 28
2   Balmain 13 9 0 4 2 268 161 +107 22
3   Canterbury 14 9 2 3 1 213 132 +81 22
4   North Sydney 13 7 1 5 2 210 161 +49 19
5   Newtown 14 7 0 7 1 203 226 -23 16
6   Western Suburbs 13 5 1 7 2 199 203 -4 15
7   South Sydney 13 5 0 8 2 187 185 +2 14
8   St. George 13 3 0 10 2 141 228 -87 10
9   Sydney University 14 1 0 13 1 99 414 -315 4

Finals

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In the two semi finals, the top two ranked teams Eastern Suburbs and Balmain beat their lower-ranked opponents North Sydney and Canterbury-Bankstown. Eastern Suburbs and Balmain then played off for the premiership in the Final.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
September 1936 - Sports Ground
 
 
  Balmain 16
 
12 September 1936 - Sports Ground
 
  North Sydney 3
 
  Eastern Suburbs 32
 
September 1936 - Sports Ground
 
  Balmain 12
 
  Eastern Suburbs 25
 
 
  Canterbury-Bankstown 13
 

Premiership Final

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Eastern Suburbs Position Balmain
13. Tom Dowling FB 14. Frank Johnston
12. Rod O'Loan WG 2. Sid Goodwin
11. Dave Brown (c) CE 15. Gus Reeves
23. Jack Lynch CE 32. Eddie Lockhart
9. Fred Tottey WG 3. Jack Redman
8. Ernie Norman FE 5. Syd Christensen (c)
7. Viv Thicknesse HB 6. Tom Grahame
32. Jack Coote PR 10. Dave Manning
17. Tom McLachlan HK 9. Bill Alexander
  1. Ray Stehr
PR 8. Frank Griffiths
4. Harry Pierce SR 21. Billy Johnson
5. Joe Pearce SR 11. Edmund Beaver
6. Andy Norval LK 26. Roy Palmer
Arthur Halloway Coach Joe Busch

In front of a crowd of 14,395 at the Sydney Cricket Ground Easts were vying for back-to-back premierships and took on Balmain.

The match, officiated by referee Lal Deane was tight in the first half with a scoreline favouring Easts 8–6 at the break. In the second half Easts ran away with the game, scoring eight tries all up to Balmain's two.

The game marked the end of a sterling career for champion Tiger and former international halfback Joe “Chimpy” Busch, and was a suitable farewell for Roosters’ captain and star, Dave Brown. Brown headed to English club Warrington for two years, so that he did not play for the Tricolours during the 1937 and 1938 seasons.

Eastern Suburbs 32 (Tries: Fred Tottey 2, Rod O’Loan, Dave Brown, Ray Stehr, Ernie Norman, Jack Lynch, Andy Norval. Goals: Jack Lynch 2, Dave Brown 2 )

defeated

Balmain 12 (Tries: Frank Griffiths, Sid Goodwin. Goals: Sid Christensen 2, Bill Johnson)

References

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  1. ^ Premiership Roll of Honour Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine at rl1908.com
  2. ^ "South Sydney: Season Summary". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
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