1955 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition March 2024 1955 New South Wales Rugby Football League 125px 10 16x16px South Sydney 16th 16x16px Newtown 6th 94 3253 16x16px Doug Fleming (185) 16x16px Brian Allsop (18)16x16px Ian Moir (18) 16x16px Western Suburbs 10th 1954 NSWRFL season 1954 1956 NSWRFL season 1956 The 1955 NSWRFL season was the 48th season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the NSWRFL Premiership J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year's Grand Final between the South Sydney and Newtown clubs. Goodman Tom Churchill decides not to play in R.L. Grand Final The Sydney Morning Herald 13 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oIgTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tuQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7293,4049720 2009-11-20 October 2010 H3llBot Season summary Halfway through the 1955 season Souths were in equal 9th place having won just three of ten matches. From that point they didn't lose another game, winning eight season encounters in a row before the finals. Eventually they finished 4th. Had they lost a single one of these games they would have missed the finals. In the second last match of the regular season Souths met Manly-Warringah and were behind 4–7 with moments to go. Clive Churchill had broken his arm early in the game tackling Manly winger George Hugo but refused to leave the field. Souths lock Les Cowie managed to score a try in the corner and Churchill with a broken arm took a sideline conversion attempt that wobbled over the posts and won Souths the game. Churchill would take no part in Souths' 1955 finals campaign. Teams Balmain100px|center 48th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Norm "Latchem" Robinson Captain: Bill MarshCanterbury-Bankstown100px|center 21st seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Vic HeyCaptain: Ray Gartner Eastern Suburbs100px|center 48th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Frank O'Connor Captain: Noel Pidding Manly-Warringah100px|center 9th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Pat DeveryCaptain: Roy BullNewtown100px|center 48th seasonGround: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick PooleNorth Sydney100px|center 48th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Rex Harrison Captain: George Martin Parramatta100px|center 9th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Captain-Coach: Johnny SladeSouth Sydney100px|center 48th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Captain-Coach: Jack RaynerSt. George100px|center 35th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Captain-Coach: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs100px|center 48th seasonGround: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Keith Holman Regular season Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF BalmainMAN+2NEW+4SOU−18PAR−12WES+22STG−3NOR−4CBY+6EAS−4MAN0NEW+4SOU−8PAR+16WES+13STG−2NOR−13CBY+4EAS+8 Canterbury-BankstownWES−9STG−17NOR+2SOU−25EAS−3MAN−17NEW−25BAL+6PAR+5WES+3STG−18NOR−28SOU−34EAS−34MAN−26NEW−10BAL−4PAR−13 Eastern SuburbsPAR+19WES−13STG−4NOR−19CBY+3SOU+3MAN−7NEW0BAL+4PAR+26WES+18STG−7NOR−4CBY+34SOU−11MAN+1NEW−18BAL−8 Manly-WarringahBAL−2PAR+6WES+46STG−18NOR+4CBY+17EAS+7SOU+12NEW−44BAL0PAR−2WES+26STG+3NOR+2CBY+26EAS−1SOU−2NEW+7SOU−2 NewtownSOU+23BAL−4PAR+3WES+17STG+6NOR+10CBY+25EAS0MAN+44SOU+1BAL−4PAR+17WES+26STG+5NOR+7CBY+10EAS+18MAN−7XSTG+3XSOU−1 North SydneySTG−10SOU+8CBY−2EAS+19MAN−4NEW−10BAL+4PAR+7WES+22STG−11SOU−15CBY+28EAS+4MAN−2NEW−7BAL+13PAR+1WES+22 ParramattaEAS−19MAN−6NEW−3BAL+12SOU+9WES−4STG−8NOR−7CBY−5EAS−26MAN+2NEW−17BAL−16SOU−22WES+20STG−29NOR−1CBY+13 South SydneyNEW−23NOR−8BAL+18CBY+25PAR−9EAS−3WES+25MAN−12STG−18NEW−1NOR+15BAL+8CBY+34PAR+22EAS+11WES+11MAN+2STG+10MAN+2XSTG+4NEW+1 St. GeorgeNOR+10CBY+17EAS+4MAN+18NEW−6BAL+3PAR+8WES+13SOU+18NOR+11CBY+18EAS+7MAN−3NEW−5BAL+2PAR+29WES+15SOU−10XNEW−3SOU−4 Western SuburbsCBY+9EAS+13MAN−46NEW−17BAL−22PAR+4SOU−25STG−13NOR−22CBY−3EAS−18MAN−26NEW−26BAL−13PAR−20SOU−11STG−15NOR−22 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 16x16px Newtown181413376179+197292 16x16px St. George181404396247+149283 16x16px Manly181116332245+87234 16x16px South Sydney181107367260+107225 16x16px North Sydney181008345278+67206 16x16px Eastern Suburbs18819342325+17177 16x16px Balmain18819384381+3178 16x16px Parramatta185013258365-107109 16x16px Canterbury184014167414-247810 16x16px Western Suburbs183015186459-2736 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. Team1234567891011121314151617181Newtown 16 Newtown 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 13 15 17 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 292St. George 16 St. George 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 26 28 283Manly 16 Manly-Warringah 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 13 13 15 17 19 21 21 21 234South Sydney 16 South Sydney 0 0 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 225North Sydney 16 North Sydney 0 2 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 206Eastern Suburbs 16 Eastern Suburbs 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 7 9 11 13 13 13 15 15 17 17 177Balmain 16 Balmain 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 7 9 9 11 13 13 13 15 178Parramatta 16 Parramatta 0 0 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 109Canterbury 16 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 810Western Suburbs 16 Western Suburbs 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Semifinals 23x23px Manly-Warringah12–14 23x23px South Sydney27 August 1955Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler35,677 23x23px Newtown11–8 23x23px St. George3 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler34,158 Preliminary Final 23x23px St. George14–18 23x23px South Sydney10 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce41,583 Grand Final 23x23px Newtown11–12 23x23px South Sydney17 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce42,466 Grand Final NewtownPositionSouth Sydney 13. Gordon Clifford FB 15. Don Murdoch 12. Kevin Considine WG 12. Ian Moir 10. Dick Poole (Ca./Co.) CE 11. Martin Gallagher 9. Brian Clay CE 18. Malcolm Spencer 11. Ray Preston WG 29. Dale Puren 8. Ray Kelly FE 14. John Dougherty 7. Bobby Whitton HB 8. Col Donohoe 2. Don Stait PR Denis Donoghue 27. Greg Ellis HK 2. Ernie Hammerton 3. Les Hampson PR 25. Norm Nilson 4. Henry Holloway SR 4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) 5. Frank Narvo SR 5. Bernie Purcell 6. Peter Ryan LK 6. Les Cowie After their incredible eight game end-of-season run and having come from behind in both their semi-finals it looked unlikely that Souths’ fairytale would end happily on Grand Final day. They were without stars Clive Churchill and Greg Hawick. Newtown were the minor premiers and had eleven of their 1954 Grand Final side back for the 1955 decider, all fit, experienced and keen to avenge their 1954 loss. The 1955 Grand Final was very closely fought out. Souths trailed 4–8 at half-time and the Bluebags looked home with an 11–7 lead with ten minutes remaining. In the final moments captain-coach Jack Rayner managed to win a strike in the play-the-ball and toed it through. Newtown lock Peter Ryan fumbled and again Rayner got the boot to it. Souths halfback Col Donohoe won the race and grounded the ball next to the posts, enabling an easy conversion by Bernie Purcell for the Rabbitohs to take a one-point lead. Clarkson Alan The best Grand Finals I've seen The Sydney Morning Herald 77 Fairfax Media 1986-09-26 http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&Page=1&docID=news860926_0120_2297 2010-09-14 A last gasp long-range penalty goal attempt from Bluebags fb Gordon Clifford was unsuccessful (it passed between the posts but fractionally under the crossbar) and Souths won by a single point. Despite being the best performed side for two successive seasons Newtown had nothing in the trophy cabinet to show for it. Souths had timed an extraordinary premiership run to absolute perfection. Jack Rayner's fifth grand final win that day stands along with Ken Kearney's five wins by 1960 as the most number of grand final successes by an individual as captain. As captain-coach for all of those wins Rayner was thus also the first man to coach a side to five grand final victories, a record subsequently matched by Jack Gibson and beaten in 2006 by Wayne Bennett. South Sydney 12 Tries: Moir, Donohoe. Goals: Purcell 3. Newtown 11 Try: Considine. Goals: Clifford 3. Field Goal: Clifford Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18. Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals177St. George Doug Fleming1870168Newtown Gordon Clifford0840140Manly Angus Kellock0700133North Sydney Alan Arkey1641123Balmain Keith Barnes1600 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer18Eastern Suburbs Brian Allsop16South Sydney Ian Moir16Newtown Dick Poole15Newtown Kevin Considine13St. George Kevin O'Brien13Manly Johnny Tenison Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer87St. George Doug Fleming84Newtown Gordon Clifford70Manly Angus Kellock64North Sydney Alan Arkey60Balmain Keith Barnes References External links Rugby League Tables – Season 1955 The World of Rugby League Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au 1955 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1955 at rugbyleagueproject.com Category:New South Wales Rugby League premiership Nswrfl Season