Bathurst St Patrick's, more commonly referred to as St Pat's, are an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football team based in the Central West city of

Bathurst Bathurst may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Australia * Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and the following things associated with the city ** Bathurst Region, the local government area for the Bathurst urban area and rural surrounds ** ...

. St Pat's have played in the

Country Rugby League The Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL), formed in 1934 and disbanded in 2019, was the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in areas of New South Wales outside the Sydney metropolitan area until it merged with NSW Rugb ...

-controlled Group 10 Rugby League since the 1948, the competition's second season, winning six premierships, the most recent a 34–12 win over Cowra Magpies in 2014.

History

Bathurst St Patrick's were established in 1943, originally called Bathurst CYMS, and donned a strip of royal blue and white. The original squad featured

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famil ...

Anson, Bill Bell, Keith Bell, Buddy Burke, Dick Burke, Digger Delhunty, Ford Eviston, Kevin Fitzgerald, Tom Hayes,

Kevin, Peter Lew, Horace Lloyd,

McCormack, Ron McGill, Bill Muldoon, Jack Muldoon and

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

Shannon. St Pat's qualified for its first Group 10 Rugby League grand final in 1953, meeting Orange CYMS at the Bathurst Sports Ground. In front of almost 7,000, CYMS won a close match, prevailing 9–8. St Pat's would have to wait another 15 years before it made another grand final, this time coming up against an

Oberon Tigers Oberon Tigers is an Australian rugby league football team based in the Central West town of Oberon. The Tigers first played in the Country Rugby League-controlled Group 10 Rugby League in the competition's inaugural season in 1947, before drop ...

side in 1968 that had won the past seven grand finals. Played at the Bathurst Sports Ground, St Pat's were captained by club legend Jack Arrow, with Bill Horder pulling the strings as coach. The

club lead 4–2 at half-time and pulled out to a 9–8 lead in the second-half, which was enough to secure the club's first premiership. Five years later, St Pat's would qualify for another grand final as this time the 1973 minor premiers played Orange Ex-Service's in the decider. The side in navy blue and white raced to an early 5–0 lead before hooker Wayne "Jock" Colley was carried from the field with a serious leg injury. It was Graham Toohey who came on to replace Colley, helping his side to a 7–5 lead at half-time against its

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower * Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...

rivals. A strong second half from St Pat's proved the difference as the hosts won 20–14. Ian Toohey, Roger Toohey and Peter Sikora all scored tries for St Pat's, while Keither Waters was the lone try scorer for Ex-Service's. St Pat's faced the Lithgow Shamrocks in the 1982 side, with the latter looking for its maiden premiership. The grand final finished in heart-breaking fashion for St Pat's, with Shamrocks

five-eighth Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

Glen Holton kicking a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

minutes from time to seal Shamrocks' first premiership with a 16–15 win. The club would have to wait another seven years before another grand final, with St Pat's securing a 31–14 win over Cowra Magpies at home. Captain-coach Mick Siejka was chaired off the field by teammates following the match, with a crowd of 2,800 on hand to watch the match at Jack Arrow Oval. St Pat's would win two grand finals in the first decade of the 21st century, in 2001 and 2008. The 2008 premiership win over the Mudgee Dragons was a special one for St Pat's, after the club had lost club legend Dave Scott to a heart attack in December 2007. The club would be plagued by financial problems in 2011 after members of the St Pat's Sporting Club decided to place it into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistr ...

. The sporting club would later be sold and turned into a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. St Pat's were then forced to find a new home ground and would call the Bathurst Sports Ground home until the end of the 2017 season. St Pat's most recent premiership came in 2014, after a 34–12 win away to the Cowra Magpies. St Pat's hooker Benji John put in a man of the match performance, scoring three tries, while Garry Reilly, Derryn Clayton and Luke Single all scored a try each for the premiers. In 2018, St Pat's would play its first game at the newly constructed Jack Arrow Sporting Complex, after a seven-year wait for a new home ground. The Saints would prevail against the

16–10.St Pat's triumph on new turf with comeback against Oberon Tigers
in
Western Advocate
', 22 April 2018

Team of the century

Team records

Premier League: (6) 1968, 1973, 1989, 2001, 2008, 2014 Runners-up: (2) 1953, 1982 First Division: (6) 1988, 1989, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2018 Under 18s: (7) 1961, 1965, 1969, 1977, 2009, 2012, 2019 Women's League Tag: (5) 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

Notable Juniors

* William Kennedy (2019–

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League ( NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leagu ...

)

References

External links