Duration May 3 to August 16 Number of teams 8 People also search for 1912 NSWRFL season | Points scored 1344 Start date 1913 Matches played 56 | |
 | ||
League New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiers Eastern Suburbs (3rd title) Minor Premiers Eastern Suburbs (2nd title) | ||
The 1913 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season.
Contents
Season summary
By the start of the 1913 season, the NSWRFL had secured the use of the Sydney Cricket Ground for its games.
As occurred in the 1912 season, the minor premiers were deemed the overall premiers. Eastern Suburbs, who finished top of the table for the second time in as many years, claimed their third straight premiership as a result. The team’s success could be attributed to the talent in the team at the time, with ten players having played for Australia and another three for New South Wales. Of the team’s two losses, one came at the hands of runners-up Newtown midway through the season and the other in the final round to Glebe after the title had already been won.
This Eastern Suburbs side is still considered to be one of the greatest club teams ever assembled, with players including Dally Messenger, Wally Messenger, Sandy Pearce, Larry O'Malley, Les Cubitt, Dan Frawley and Arthur “Pony” Halloway. This season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Dally Messenger.
Teams
The teams remained unchanged from the previous season.
Records set in 1913
On 19 July, South Sydney’s reserve grade team scored 102 points against Mosman, which remains the greatest number of points scored in any grade of NSWRFL/NSWRL/ARL/NRL rugby league. The Rabbitohs scored 49 points in the first half and 59 in the second, conceding only a solitary penalty goal.