1908 NSWRFL season

The 1908 NSWRFL season was the inaugural season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League's premiership, Australia's first rugby league football club competition, in which nine clubs competed from April till August 1908. The season culminated in the first premiership final, for the Royal Agricultural Society Challenge Shield, which was contested by Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney. In 1908 the NSWRFL also assembled a New South Wales representative team for the first ever interstate series against Queensland, and towards the end of the season, the NSWRFL's leading players were absent, having been selected to go on the first Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.

Background

Early in the 20th century in Sydney, the game of rugby football was contested in competitions that were affiliated with the Rugby Football Union based in England. In 1895 the breakaway Northern Rugby Football Union was formed and its own version of rugby football started to evolve. The reasons for this split were ultimately based on the fact that clubs had wanted to compensate their players for time away from work due to injuries and travelling. After the Rugby Football Union denied the clubs' requests for compensation, many northern English clubs broke away and formed a new league, which implemented gradual rule changes to the football it played in an attempt to make a more attractive game for crowds. When crowd numbers started to rise, clubs were able to afford to pay players benefits as a direct result of increased gate takings.
In 1906 in Sydney, crowd numbers for football matches began to increase significantly following the emergence of an especially talented player, Dally Messenger, whose skill was considered a pleasure to watch. It was around this time that the discontent of players with their clubs for failing to shift away from the amateur culture of the Rugby Football Union was starting to show. Even though bigger crowds had brought increased revenue to the game, footballers did not see any of the increased revenue going back to them. On 8 August 1907 a group of leading players and supporters met at Bateman's Hotel, George Street, Sydney and resolved to form the New South Wales Rugby Football League. In the latter half of 1907, and unknown to the general public, Dally Messenger secretly agreed to sign on to play in a breakaway professional competition that would start the following year, run by the NSWRFL. It would turn out to be Messenger's popularity that would ensure the success of the new competition.
Early in 1908, a number of Rugby Football Union clubs held meetings across Sydney and Newcastle to decide whether or not breakaway clubs should be formed in preparation for the new Rugby Football League's premiership that was to start in the following months. The popularity amongst players in support of the new competition was overwhelming, with only some players deciding to continue playing in the traditional amateur Rugby Football Union competition. The Rugby Football League clubs that were formed were essentially breakaway clubs, and in most instances, teams continued the use of their team colours into the new competition. A key aspect of the new code was that players would be paid for playing the game. Adopting the playing rules of the rebel Northern Union of England, the new competition began on Easter Monday, 20 April 1908.

Touring parties

The 1907–08 All Golds arrived back in Australia on 9 April. They spread themselves around the eight clubs that were preparing for the season. They helped advise them on the rules of rugby league. The team watched the first round of the competition before heading to Newcastle and playing the first game of rugby league in that city. They then played matches against New South Wales and Australia before heading north to Queensland. The final test was held on 6 June and Australia defeated New Zealand 14–9 for their first test win.
A New Zealand Māori side had arrived in Sydney in the first week of June and watched the All Golds' final test. They played four matches in New South Wales before also heading north to Queensland. On their return they played three more matches, including one against Australia, before financial and legal disputes ended the tour.

Teams

Eight teams contested the first round of the season; seven teams from Sydney and one team from Newcastle. Another Sydney team, Cumberland, joined the competition in the second round, making it nine teams in total, however the club exited the League at the end of the season.

			-	-
Balmain Formed on 23 January 1908 at Balmain Town Hall Ground: Birchgrove Oval Captain-Coach: Bob Graves	Cumberland Formed on 20 April 1908 at Horse and Jockey Hotel, Homebush Ground: RAS Showground Captain: Harry Bloomfield	Eastern Suburbs Formed on 24 January 1908 at Paddington Town Hall Ground: RAS Showground Captain: Albert Rosenfeld	Glebe Formed on 9 January 1908 Ground: Wentworth Park Captain: Alex Burdon	Newcastle Formed on 8 February 1908 at Pike's Rooms, Bolton Street, Newcastle Captain: Stan Carpenter
Newtown Formed on 8 January 1908 Ground: RAS Showground Captain: Harry Hamill	North Sydney Formed on 7 February 1908 Ground: Birchgrove Park Captain: Albert Broomham	South Sydney Formed on 17 January 1908 at Redfern Town Hall Ground: RAS Showground Coach: Arthur Hennessy Captain: Arthur Conlin	Western Suburbs Formed on 4 February 1908 Ground: Wentworth Park Captain: Jim Stack	-

Season summary

All four games of the premiership's opening round were played on 20 April 1908. Two games were held at Wentworth Park and the other two at Birchgrove Oval. In total, 3000 people attended at each venue for the back-to-back matches, with Glebe, Balmain, South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs winning their respective matches over Newcastle, Western Suburbs, North Sydney and Newtown. In all, ten regular-season rounds were played, to be followed by two semi-finals and then a final.
The season was a financial disaster for the New South Wales Rugby Football League. The competition had a distinct lack of star players, was hurt by a number of refereeing problems and suffered from a lack of exposure from the conservative press. Many players who had switched over from rugby union were sacked from their weekday jobs and were no longer allowed to enter the Sydney Cricket Ground, home of the New South Wales Rugby Union. The five captains that had moved from rugby union were also publicly ostracised.
The season's highest crowd came in the second round when South Sydney beat Cumberland in front of 20,000 people. Due to Cumberland having just been admitted into the premiership, this match was played 2 weeks after the other 3 games of round 2 had been completed. South Sydney consequently played their second match of the "round" because of this.
At the end of the season, Eastern Suburbs' Horrie Miller was the competition's top points scorer and top try scorer.

Results

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	South Sydney	9	8	0	1	1	194	53	+141	18
2	Eastern Suburbs	9	8	0	1	1	183	90	+93	18
3	Glebe	9	7	0	2	1	106	63	+43	16
4	North Sydney	9	6	0	3	1	155	66	+89	14
5	Newcastle	9	4	0	5	1	151	116	+35	10
6	Balmain	9	3	1	5	1	86	113	−27	9
7	Newtown	9	1	1	7	1	70	148	−78	5
8	Western Suburbs	9	1	0	8	1	47	190	−143	4
9	Cumberland	8	1	0	7	1	38	191	−153	4*

Cumberland's final position in the 1908 ladder has long been debated due to the inconsistent number of byes that each team received during the season. Ian Collis and Alan Whiticker stated in The History of Rugby League Clubs that Cumberland had received two byes. Shawn Dollin of Rugby League Project wrote the following about this irregularity:
As of 2025, Cumberland is officially listed as the holder of the 1908 wooden spoon by the National Rugby League, contradicting the extra bye theory.

Ladder progression

Green indicates top 4 teams
- indicates the team entered the competition late.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	South Sydney	2	6	6	6>	8	10	12	14	16	18
2	Eastern Suburbs	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18
3	Glebe	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	16	16
4	North Sydney	0	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	14
5	Newcastle	0	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	10	10
6	Balmain	2	2	3	3	5	7	7	7	7	9
7	Newtown	0	0	1	3	3	3	5	5	5	5
8	Western Suburbs	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4
9	Cumberland	–	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	4