Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Sydney University RLFC AI simulator
(@Sydney University RLFC_simulator)
Hub AI
Sydney University RLFC AI simulator
(@Sydney University RLFC_simulator)
Sydney University RLFC
The Sydney University Rugby League Football Club is a rugby league team currently playing in the Saturday Metro League competition. The University of Sydney was represented in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1920 to 1937 as University, and also in the NSWRL Second Division and Metropolitan League competitions from 1963 to 1976.
The movement at the University of Sydney to be involved in the new game of rugby league began in 1919 with a number of players (including seven University Blues from the 1918 season) viewing a game of the new code and deciding to switch codes. As put by Herbert Vere Evatt (a final year law student and later a politician, jurist and president of the UN General Assembly) at the time the reasons were:
From the very beginning, the Students (or 'Varsity' as they were also known) struggled to gain acceptance by the University Sports Association who displayed great prejudice toward those who had left the rugby union side to play rugby league.[citation needed]
Indeed, players who participated in rugby league matches were threatened with disqualification from ever playing rugby union at Oxford University or University of Cambridge and the Sports Association forbid the club from training on the University Oval (forcing Varsity to train with Eastern Suburbs at the Sydney Sports Ground).[citation needed] While public pressure forced the Association to relent, the club never once played a game at the University Oval during its involvement in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership.[citation needed]
The highlight of the Students' 18 seasons in the NSWRL Premiership was their one and only finals appearance (having finished fourth in the regular season). To get to the Grand Final at the Sydney Agricultural Ground University had to defeat Glebe which they did comfortably 29 - 3. In the Grand Final, however, they were defeated 5–11 by Souths in front of 20,000 people.
Generally, the amateur students struggled to perform against the professional players of the other sides and University enjoyed very little success only winning 44 of its 226 games during its time in the Premiership (and only won 2 games after 1933). The club did not win a single match in 1935, continuing a losing streak that started in round 2, 1934 and which would run till round 14, 1936 and which marked the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42. This run of form, in addition to having spent 12 of its 18 seasons in last place prompted their decision to withdraw from the Premiership at the close of the 1937 season.
Rugby league did not perish at the University of Sydney and sides representing the university continued to play in various competitions. Most notably, Varsity played in the NSWRL Inter-District Competition, Second Division and Metropolitan League (predecessors to the Jim Beam Cup) between 1964 and 1976, finishing as Second Division runners-up in 1969 and 1971, both times to the leading side of the day Wentworthville.
As runners-up in the 1969 Second Division, University (along with Wentworthville) were invited to compete in the NSWRL pre-season competition (the Wills Cup) in 1970.
Sydney University RLFC
The Sydney University Rugby League Football Club is a rugby league team currently playing in the Saturday Metro League competition. The University of Sydney was represented in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1920 to 1937 as University, and also in the NSWRL Second Division and Metropolitan League competitions from 1963 to 1976.
The movement at the University of Sydney to be involved in the new game of rugby league began in 1919 with a number of players (including seven University Blues from the 1918 season) viewing a game of the new code and deciding to switch codes. As put by Herbert Vere Evatt (a final year law student and later a politician, jurist and president of the UN General Assembly) at the time the reasons were:
From the very beginning, the Students (or 'Varsity' as they were also known) struggled to gain acceptance by the University Sports Association who displayed great prejudice toward those who had left the rugby union side to play rugby league.[citation needed]
Indeed, players who participated in rugby league matches were threatened with disqualification from ever playing rugby union at Oxford University or University of Cambridge and the Sports Association forbid the club from training on the University Oval (forcing Varsity to train with Eastern Suburbs at the Sydney Sports Ground).[citation needed] While public pressure forced the Association to relent, the club never once played a game at the University Oval during its involvement in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership.[citation needed]
The highlight of the Students' 18 seasons in the NSWRL Premiership was their one and only finals appearance (having finished fourth in the regular season). To get to the Grand Final at the Sydney Agricultural Ground University had to defeat Glebe which they did comfortably 29 - 3. In the Grand Final, however, they were defeated 5–11 by Souths in front of 20,000 people.
Generally, the amateur students struggled to perform against the professional players of the other sides and University enjoyed very little success only winning 44 of its 226 games during its time in the Premiership (and only won 2 games after 1933). The club did not win a single match in 1935, continuing a losing streak that started in round 2, 1934 and which would run till round 14, 1936 and which marked the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42. This run of form, in addition to having spent 12 of its 18 seasons in last place prompted their decision to withdraw from the Premiership at the close of the 1937 season.
Rugby league did not perish at the University of Sydney and sides representing the university continued to play in various competitions. Most notably, Varsity played in the NSWRL Inter-District Competition, Second Division and Metropolitan League (predecessors to the Jim Beam Cup) between 1964 and 1976, finishing as Second Division runners-up in 1969 and 1971, both times to the leading side of the day Wentworthville.
As runners-up in the 1969 Second Division, University (along with Wentworthville) were invited to compete in the NSWRL pre-season competition (the Wills Cup) in 1970.