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1917 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1917
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
teams	8
premiers	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain
count	3rd
minor premiers	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain
mpcount	3rd
wooden_spoon	North Sydney
wooden_spoon_count	2nd
matches	56
points	1280
top point scorer	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Charles Fraser (67)
top try scorer	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] Harold Horder (17)
prevseason_link	1916 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1916
nextseason_link	1918 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1918

The 1917 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the tenth season of Sydney's professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season and Balmain finished on top of the ladder to claim the premiership.

Season summary

After nine seasons with only nineteen wins and two draws from 115 matches, Western Suburbs finally made a significant impact on the league, finishing a respectable third behind the traditionally strong sides of Balmain and South Sydney. Their advance was almost entirely due to centre Herb Gilbert, who moved from Easts, Hull F.C. and South Sydney to add skill and knowledge to team crying out for guidance, besides scoring nine of the team's thirty-four tries.

Balmain ultimately won their third consecutive premiership finishing eight points ahead of second placed South Sydney. The Balmain side only failed to win one of their games during the season against Newtown in round 8. In fourteen games Balmain’s secure defence allowed a mere 61 points and just nine tries to be scored against them, a statistic indicating their dominance and rivalled since only by St. George in 1963. Annandale managed to avoid bottom spot thanks to Glebe surrendering their two points to them following a 31–5 win for Glebe in round 8. The points were moved over to Annandale due to Glebe fielding Dan “Laddo” Davies – an ineligible player under the residential criteria of the time.

As well as losing Davies, fourteen of Glebe’s first grade players were suspended for a year after the players boycotted a match against Balmain. The NSWRFL changed the venue of the game from the Sydney Cricket Ground to Birchgrove Oval in Balmain, drastically reducing spectator numbers and, in doing so, cutting Glebe's share of the big gate takings expected at the SCG. A team consisting of lower grade players was fielded and Glebe lost heavily, 40–9. The NSWRFL suspended all the footballers who refused to play, including Frank, Laidley and Albert Burge.

Balmain also won the three round City Cup played in the late season. Members of the Balmain premiership winning side included Bob Craig, Bill Schultz and E. Burnicle.

Teams

The teams remained unchanged from the previous season.

Annandale
Balmain, formed on 23 January 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
Eastern Suburbs, formed on 24 January 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
Glebe, formed on 9 January 1908
Newtown, formed on 14 January 1908
North Sydney, formed on 7 February 1908
South Sydney, formed on 17 January 1908 at Redfern Town Hall
Western Suburbs, formed on 4 February 1908

[[Image:Newtown Jersey 1915.png	100px	center]]Newtown
10th season
Ground: Erskineville Oval
Coach:
Captain: Felix Ryan	[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1916.png	100px	center]]North Sydney
10th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach:
Captain: Sid Deane	[[Image:South Sydney Jersey 1917.png	100px	center]]South Sydney
10th season
Ground: RAS Showground, S.C.G.
Coach:
Captain: Roy Almond	[[Image:Western Suburbs Jersey 1917.png	100px	center]]Western Suburbs
10th season
Ground: St Luke's Oval
Coach:
Captain: Herb Gilbert

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1917 premiership across Sydney.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	14	13	0	1	269	61	+208
2	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	14	9	0	5	236	143	+93
3	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	14	7	1	6	162	160	+2
4	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	14	7	1	6	114	123	-9
5	[[Image:Glebe colours.svg	16x16px]] Glebe	14	8	0	6	207	165	+42
6	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	14	7	0	7	131	145	-14
7	[[Image:Annandale colours.svg	16x16px]] Annandale	14	1	2	11	71	214	-143
8	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	14	2	0	12	90	269	-179

Glebe were stripped of two competition points due to fielding an ineligible player in one game.

References

[http://www.rl1908.com/clubcomps/Honours.htm Premiership Roll of Honour] {{webarchive. link. (2011-05-14 at ''rl1908.com'')
"Western Suburbs: Season Summary".
Lester, Gary; ''Clouds of Dust, Buckets of Blood: the Story of the Western Suburbs Rugby League Magpies''; p. 46. {{ISBN. 0949853526
http://afltables.com/rl/teams/all/overall_sr.html [http://afltables.com/rl/teams/all/overall_sr.html AFL Tables – Rugby League Season Records]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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