Fifty Years Ago - Round One, 1971

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George Peterson looks back at the opening round of the 1971 NSWRFL season.

The start of season 1971 saw twelve teams front up for the NSWRFL. It would be the fifth year since Penrith and Cronulla were added to the competition, giving supporters teams to follow in all parts of Metropolitan Sydney.

In a major announcement, the NSWRFL declared that all matches would start at 2.30pm (except for the few night matches). Yes, night football had started in the early 70's. In fact, the season opening match between the Balmain Tigers and Penrith Panthers would be played at the Sydney Sports Ground, at 7:30pm on Friday 26th March. The game would start the season with a bang and a whimper.  

Just 4,437 punters turned up to the match, sending a message to head office that travelling from Penrith to the middle of Sydney to watch their team play on a Friday night might not be a priority for followers of the new team.

Referee Phil McCarroll was the ‘star' of the night sending off three players - both dummy-halves for repeat offences in the scrums, and a third player Geoff Starling for a ‘spear tackle'. Sadly for McCarroll, he was dropped to reserve grade, no doubt as a warning that referees should be seen but not stand out. In the game itself, Balmain won 26-4, scoring four tries to none in a one-sided match. 

The second match was also a dismal affair as 4,852 spectators attended the same venue on Saturday to see Harry Bath's Newtown side lose 19-0 to Eastern Suburbs, coached by Don Furner. Proximity was not an issue for this matches' core supporters, leaving head office to ponder reasons for the poor attendance. According to the report in the Sunday Herald, Coach Bath used "unprintable" adjectives to describe the performance.   

Sunday 28th March completed Round 1 with four matches. South Sydney and St George attracted 26,921 spectators to the S.C.G and put on a display of attacking football praised by ex-referee Col Pearce in his Monday column the next day. Ten tries were scored in the match won 26-20 by Souths.

Home teams dominated the other three matches: At Lidcombe Oval, Western Suburbs defeated Canterbury 55-11 (the 'Berries' played with 12 after one of their forwards was sent off for a head-high tackle); Manly defeated Parramatta 38-9 at Brookvale, and in the Shire, Cronulla defeated North Sydney 42-3. This match at Endeavour Field saw two more players sent off, both for attacking the head of Cronulla captain-coach Tommy Bishop, who held up a tooth to show the referee where he was hit.

Counting those who were sent off in reserve and third grade, eleven players would face the judiciary on a busy Monday night at NSWRFL headquarters. Of the six first grade players, three were suspended and three given cautions. Canterbury's Neville Hornery was suspended for five weeks as this was his second send-off of 1971, having been dismissed in the pre-season cup for a similar offence.

Ed's note: check out the full scoresheets and match details from this round over on Rugby League Project.