1966 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition March 2024 1966 New South Wales Rugby Football League 10 16x16px St. George 13th 16x16px St. George 12th 95 2715 1293261 16x16px Bob Lanigan (185) 16x16px Johnny King (15) Eastern Suburbs 4th 1965 NSWRFL season 1965 1967 NSWRFL season 1967 The 1966 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 59th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the 1964 grand final between St. George and Balmain. Season summary 1966 was the last season played under the unlimited tackle rule. Balmain, with their talented raw rookie recruit Arthur Beetson, appeared to be about to topple the Dragons from their long-held perch when the Tigers won eleven consecutive regular season games. However a late season slump saw them pegged back to the rest of the field and an eventual second place on the minor-premiership ladder behind the Dragons, who were being led by new captain-coach Ian Walsh. Eastern Suburbs did not win a single match in 1966, continuing a losing streak that started in round 14, 1965 and which would run till round 2, 1967. This marked the second-most consecutive losses in NSWRFL premiership history at 25 behind University’s 42 in the middle 1930s. Their winless streak ran a total of 29 games between their 11–9 win over Canterbury in Round 12, 1965 and beating North Sydney 17–11 in Round 6 of 1967. This remains the last time any team would go through an Australian rugby league season winless.https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/who-were-the-worst-nrl-teams-of-all-time/news-story/29cd40460fb0aaac61a82b2d7fc38feb Who were the worst NRL teams of all time? The Daily Telegraph Nick Campton 4 November 2015 2 April 2023 No team would finish a season on zero points again until the Melbourne Storm finished last in the 2010 NRL season as punishment for gross salary cap breaches uncovered by the NRL in April that year.Stuart Honeysett and Brent Read (23 April 2010) Shocking end to the Melbourne Storm era The Australian Teams Balmain100px|center 59th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Harry BathCaptain: Keith BarnesCanterbury-Bankstown100px|center 32nd seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Captain-coach: Roger Pearman→George TaylforthEastern Suburbs100px|center 59th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Bert Holcroft Captains: Ron Saddler / Ken Ashcroft Manly-Warringah100px|center 20th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Wally O'ConnellCaptains: Frank Stanton / Ken DayNewtown100px|center 59th seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Dick Poole Captain: Paul Quinn North Sydney100px|center 59th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Fred Griffiths Captain: Billy Wilson Parramatta100px|center 20th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Captain-coach: Ken ThornettSouth Sydney100px|center 59th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Bernie Purcell Captain(s): Jim Lisle / Bob Moses St. George100px|center 46th seasonGround: Jubilee Oval Captain-coach: Ian WalshWestern Suburbs 59th seasonGround: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Noel Kelly Regular season Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 F1 F2 F3 F4 GF BalmainSTG+3EAS+6CBY+4MAN+5SOU+4PAR+9NOR+20NEW+3WES+5STG+7EAS+23CBY−4MAN+13SOU−8XPAR−2NOR−5NEW−2WES−5XXSTG−8MAN+3STG−19 Canterbury-BankstownWES−10NEW−7BAL−4EAS+15STG−2MAN−23SOU+4NOR−9PAR+2WES+3NEW+5BAL+4EAS+2STG−2XMAN−4SOU−19NOR+6PAR−12 Eastern SuburbsNEW−7BAL−6STG−26CBY−15MAN−17SOU−7PAR−12WES−9NOR−18NEW−6BAL−23STG−15CBY−2MAN−53NOR−13SOU−30PAR−9WES−31X Manly-WarringahNOR+10WES−7NEW−8BAL−5EAS+17CBY+23STG−19PAR−7SOU−11NOR+6WES+21NEW+16BAL−13EAS+53XCBY+4STG+2PAR+4SOU+6XNEW+1XBAL−3 NewtownEAS+7CBY+7MAN+8SOU+4PAR+7NOR+8WES−1BAL−3STG−17EAS+6CBY−5MAN−16SOU+10PAR−7XNOR+9WES−5BAL+2STG−2WES+15MAN−1 North SydneyMAN−10SOU+5PAR+8STG−1WES−5NEW−8BAL−20CBY+9EAS+18MAN−6SOU−22PAR0STG−11WES+9EAS+13NEW−9BAL+5CBY−6X ParramattaSOU−10STG0NOR−8WES+11NEW−7BAL−9EAS+12MAN+7CBY−2SOU−16STG−10NOR0WES+10NEW+7XBAL+2EAS+9MAN−4CBY+12 South SydneyPAR+10NOR−5WES+6NEW−4BAL−4EAS+7CBY−4STG−28MAN+11PAR+16NOR+22WES−4NEW−10BAL+8XEAS+30CBY+19STG−29MAN−6 St. GeorgeBAL−3PAR0EAS+26NOR+1CBY+2WES+28MAN+19SOU+28NEW+17BAL−7PAR+10EAS+15NOR+11CBY+2XWES−3MAN−2SOU+29NEW+2XXBAL+8XBAL+19 Western SuburbsCBY+10MAN+7SOU−6PAR−11NOR+5STG−28NEW+1EAS+9BAL−5CBY−3MAN−21SOU+4PAR−10NOR−9XSTG+3NEW+5EAS+31BAL+5NEW−15 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 F1 F2 F3 F4 GF Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 16x16px St. George181314331156+175272 16x16px Balmain181206279203+76243 16x16px Manly181107348256+92224 16x16px Newtown181008261249+12205 16x16px Western Suburbs181008228241-13206 16x16px South Sydney18909263228+35187 16x16px Parramatta18828236232+4188 16x16px Canterbury188010244295-51169 16x16px North Sydney187110282313-311510 16x16px Eastern Suburbs180018147446-2990 Ladder progression Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round. Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round. Team123456789101112131415161718191St. George 16 St. George 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 15 17 19 21 23 23 23 23 25 272Balmain 16 Balmain 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 22 24 24 24 24 24 24 243Manly 16 Manly-Warringah 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 14 14 16 18 20 224Newtown 16 Newtown 2 4 6 8 10 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 16 16 16 18 18 20 205Western Suburbs 16 Western Suburbs 2 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 12 14 16 18 206South Sydney 16 South Sydney 2 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 14 16 18 18 187Parramatta 16 Parramatta 0 1 1 3 3 3 5 7 7 7 7 8 10 12 12 14 16 16 188Canterbury 16 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 14 14 14 16 169North Sydney 16 North Sydney 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 8 9 9 11 13 13 15 15 1510Eastern Suburbs 16 Eastern Suburbs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Playoff 23x23px Newtown20–5 23x23px Western Suburbs23 August 1966Sydney Sports GroundW.Kelly10,724 Semi-finals 23x23px Manly-Warringah10–9 23x23px Newtown27 August 1966Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce31,803 23x23px St. George10–2 23x23px Balmain3 September 1966Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce46,531 Preliminary Final 23x23px Balmain8–5 23x23px Manly-Warringah10 September 1966Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce39,461 Grand Final 23x23px St. George23–4 23x23px Balmain18 September 1966Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce61,129 Grand Final 1966 NSWRFL Grand Final 50pxSt. George 50pxBalmain STG St. George 16 BAL Balmain 16 14 9 23 4 0 4 17 September 1966 Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney Man of the Match John Raper (STG) Col Pearce 61,129 ABC, Network Ten 1965 1967 Teams Balmain had to replace John Spencer (broken hand) and George Piper (knee) in the days before the match after they suffered injuries in their win over Manly the previous week.Goodman Tom Youth v Experience in R.L. Grand Final The Sydney Morning Herald 17 September 1966 Sydney, New South Wales 22 Ken Maddison, Dick Huddart, and Trevor Levin made their Grand Final debuts for St. George. Brian Clay equalled Norm Provan's record of ten Grand Final appearances, having played two with Newtown before joining St. George. n center St. George red white red Balmain black #f60 black 15 s y Graeme Langlands 1 Eddie Lumsden 2 Bruce Pollard 3 Ken Maddison 4 Johnny King 5 Brian Clay 6 Billy Smith 7 Kevin Ryan 13 Ian Walsh (captain-coach) 12 Robin Gourley 11 Elton Rasmussen 10 Dick Huddart 9 Johnny Raper 8 Replacement Trevor Levin 21 Harry Bath Keith Barnes (c) 1 Paul Cross 3 Kevin Yow Yeh 2 Laurie Moraschi 4 Bob Mara 5 Peter Jones 6 Dave Bolton 7 Gary Leo 13 Bob Boland 12 Brian Sullivan 11 Dennis Tutty 10 Arthur Beetson 9 Peter Provan 8 Dave Cooper 15 Replacement Sid Williams 16 NSWRFL 1966 – Grand Final https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/seasons/nswrfl-1966/grand-final/st-george-dragons-vs-balmain-tigers/summary.html Rugby League Project 26 June 2025Hauser Liam The Great Grand Finals – Rugby League's Greatest Contests 2022 New Holland Wahroonga, Australia 9781760794736 57–59 2022 Match details Balmain had beaten St. George twice in the regular season and in their coach Harry Bath, who had helped design the Dragons win, had a tactician well placed to counter it. They had a number of young players in Arthur Beetson, Kevin Yow Yeh and Dennis Tutty who could trouble the Dragons, plus the experience of Dave Bolton, Peter Provan and the goal-kicking expertise of captain Keith Barnes. The opening skirmishes on the day of the decider were balanced. Balmain took an early lead when Barnes kicked a penalty goal, while Graeme Langlands levelled the scores with a penalty goal a few minutes later following an injury break when Balmain hb Dave Bolton needed medical attention. Bolton limped back into position, but was hampered by a leg injury. A couple of minutes later St. George's Billy Smith struck back when he set up a run around movement with Brian Clay, which led to a try to Bruce Pollard. Langlands kicked the conversion from the sideline to take the Dragons lead to 7–2. The turning point of the match came soon after when the Dragons' English import Dick Huddart and Ian Walsh put on a set move as the Tigers' defence rushed up too early. Walsh bust through the line and with only the fullback to beat and passed the ball to Huddart who raced 30 yards to score. Due to the injury he sustained earlier in the match, Balmain halfback Dave Bolton left the field following the Huddart try receiving a pain-killing injection, but did return with bandages around his leg a few minutes later.Goodman Tom "Best Display of the Season" The Sydney Morning Herald 18 September 1966 Sydney, New South Wales 56 Trevor Levin came on after halftime for St. George in place of Robin Gourley, while for Balmain Sid Williams and Dave Cooper came on for Bolton and Brian Sullivan. After about 12 minutes of the second half, Dragons halfback Billy Smith sliced through and found Johnny Raper who got to the Balmain 25-yard line before finding pr Kevin Ryan in support. It was a spectacular run from the evergreen forward who out-raced his pursuers and dived through the air to score and put the match beyond doubt. Balmain had tried to slow down the Dragons with stifling tactics but this backfired and resulted in a lopsided penalty count. Classy Dragons fb Graeme Langlands capitalised on this, kicking seven goals from 13 attempts, including 10 penalty goal attempts. Huddart was dominant for the clinical Saints who did not concede a try for a staggering seventh time in eight grand final victories. He had been niggled early in the game by the Balmain forwards and responded by running freely all match and crashing the Tigers with fiery tackles. With the full-time siren St George had won their 11th successive Grand Final, setting a recordSydney Cricket Ground Magic Moments sydneycricketground.com.au Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust http://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/MM-SCG.html https://web.archive.org/web/20070816141520/http://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/MM-SCG.html dead 2007-08-16 2009-09-02 that is unlikely to be ever broken in first grade rugby league. It was their most convincing Grand Final win since 1961.Holman Keith Saints still the master of League The Sydney Morning Herald 18 September 1966 65 It was the last game played for the club by Dragons enforcer Kevin Ryan after seven Grand Final wins and also the farewell match for wg Eddie Lumsden who had appeared in nine of the victories. After the match Balmain coach Harry Bath said "I knew we were gone after 15 minutes. Lack of experience... was a big factor."Goodman Tom Saints coast, win 23-4 The Sydney Morning Herald 18 September 1966 Sydney, New South Wales 53 Scoreboard 1966 NSWRFL Grand Final Saturday, 17 September 15:00 AEST (UTC+10) St. George St George 16 3Pollard 12Huddart 19Ryan 54 7Langlands pen 6 13 20 pen 32 pen 51 55 pen 78 (7/13) 23 – 4 14-4 9-0 Balmain 16 Balmain 2Barnes pen 3 pen 38 (2/2) Sydney Cricket Ground 61,129Attendance Originally published as 60,079 during the television broadcast, but published sources state 61,129. Col Pearce John RaperDampney James The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) Greats to get man-of-match awards http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,24429346-5006066,00.html 3 January 2008 1 October 2008 dead 24 September 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200924164338/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/Campton Nick NRL grand final: Betting tips, history and facts on the Clive Churchill Medal https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/cowboys/nrl-grand-final-betting-tips-history-and-facts-on-the-clive-churchill-medal/news-story/010acf389f4f7ddc2334c34e3b5a7201 news.com.au 26 June 2025 2 October 2015 Other matches South Sydney won the reserve grade Grand Final 12–5 against Balmain. Souths scored two converted tries and a penalty goal, while Balmain scored one converted try. It was Souths first reserve grade premiership in 10 years.Clarkson Alan Title regained after 10 years The Sydney Morning Herald 18 September 1966 Sydney, New South Wales 56 In the third grade Grand Final, St. George convincingly defeated South Sydney 12–4, scoring two tries in the first half.Saints easily The Sydney Morning Herald 18 September 1966 Sydney, New South Wales 65 Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18. Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals168Newtown Bob Lanigan2810167Manly Bob Batty5760120Balmain Keith Barnes0600113North Sydney Fred Griffiths3520110St. George Graeme Langlands6460 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer13North Sydney Ken Irvine11St. George Johnny King11Manly Alec Tennant11South Sydney Michael Cleary10Western Suburbs John Mowbray10Parramatta Fred Pickup Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer81Newtown Bob Lanigan76Manly Bob Batty60Balmain Keith Barnes52North Sydney Fred Griffiths48Canterbury George Taylforth Notes References External links 1966 Grand Final replay at NRL.com Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney Rugby League Tables - Season 1966 The World of Rugby League Results:1961-70 at rabbitohs.com.au 1966 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1966 at rugbyleagueproject.org St. George 1966 season at showroom.com.au https://web.archive.org/web/20080721145127/http://www.showroom.com.au/dragons/dragonshistory/history_stgeorge4c.htm#1966 2008-07-21 Category:New South Wales Rugby League premiership Nswrfl season