The 1918

New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

was the eleventh season of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

’s professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season, with South Sydney finishing on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.

Season summary

The quality of the competition in 1918 suffered due to the loss of players fighting in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. South Sydney and Western Suburbs dominated the season, dropping just two and three games respectively. With just three rounds to go, both sides met each square on 18 points each. A win for South Sydney would virtually guarantee them the premiership unless they dropped their final two games. At the end of the day, South Sydney prevailed 11–3 and went on to win all their remaining matches, taking away their fourth premiership from eleven seasons. The season also saw the struggling Dales fail to win a game from fourteen starts. It was the first

winless season A winless season is a regular season in which a sports team fails to win any of its games. The antithesis of a perfect season, winless seasons have been suffered twelve times in professional American football, six times in arena football, three tim ...

in NSWRFL history and signalled the end for the club, who would play only a further two seasons in the premiership. The Western Suburbs club claimed their first title by winning the knockout competition, the

City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was conteste ...

Teams

The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season. * Annandale * Balmain, formed on 23 January 1908 at

Balmain Town Hall Balmain may refer to: Places * Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Electoral district of Balmain, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia * Balmain East, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Balmain Hou ...

* Eastern Suburbs, formed on 24 January 1908 at

Paddington Town Hall The Paddington Town Hall is a heritage-listed former town hall building located at 249 Oxford Street, Sydney, Oxford Street in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington, New South Wales, Paddington, in the City of Sy ...

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

, formed on 9 January 1908 * Newtown, formed on 14 January 1908 *

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

, formed on 7 February 1908 * South Sydney, formed on 17 January 1908 at

Redfern Town Hall The Redfern Town Hall is a landmark sandstone civic building located in the heart of , New South Wales, Australia. built in 1870 and designed in the Victorian Regency style by George Allen Mansfield. It was the seat of the Municipality of Red ...

* Western Suburbs, formed on 4 February 1908

Ladder

References

External links

Rugby League Tables - Notes
''AFL Tables''

''AFL Tables''

''RL1908''

at ''rabbitohs.com.au'' {{National Rugby League seasons New South Wales Rugby League premiership NSWRFL Season