This Game Could Be Over
On the 11th of September 2022 I settled into my seat at a beautiful new ground to watch an afternoon semi-final against the Roosters.
There is no rain here and I can see all the action, crystal clear. The game begins and is chugging along quite nicely.
Disaster strikes as Souths have two players sent to the sin-bin and have to survive for 10 minutes with 11 men. I turn to the person beside me and say, “this game could be over in the next 10 minutes”.
Watching the replay later, the commentators were in agreement with me. But not only did Souths survive, they scored a try and went on to win the game!
Surely no other team has survived a big game with only 11 men before? Yes they have and it was the team we all love.
A South Sydney Match To Remember – Souths v St.George – June 19th 1927
Cast your mind back 96 years to 1927. South Sydney is in the middle of a great run. They had already won two premierships and were looking good for three in a row. So yes, we did have a good team.
But on June 19th 1927, we played an excellent team in the match of the year thus far. The Illawarra team, St. George, (no joke, St. George were called the Illawarraites before they adopted the nickname Saints) had acquired the services of Frank Burge and were a hot side that year.
They were to finish runners-up that year. So it was a top level game.
A Game Not To Be Missed
“A wonderful game. I would not have missed it for a fiver”, one punter commented as he left the ground. Five pounds was a lot of money in those days.
On a very muddy field it was a slogging match to begin with. Alf O’Connor was first to be sent from the field. C.J. Davis could not see anything he did wrong.
At half time it was 11-5 in Souths favour.
At the start of the second half the fog thickened and the atmosphere looked like a pea-souper from England. The light was so bad it was hard to see the players. No spotlights to turn on then!
The score went to 15- 5 and Souths looked safe, even with 12 men. However, with 20 minutes to go Ernie Lapham was sent off, dropping the Souths team to 11 men.
Saints now came after them for the last quarter of the game. They pulled the score up to 17-13 but could get no closer. The four Souths forwards held the six husky St. George forwards in a grand display.
Benny Wearing on the wing would throw himself at the legs of the Saints backs when the line was threatened.
A Titanic Battle
Claude Corbett said, “Whenever the Titanic battles of the rugby league are spoken of, the match between South Sydney and St.George at the Cricket Ground must have pride of place”.
Souths and Saints went on to dominate the competition and they again played off in the final- South Sydney winning the premiership.
Invited To The Ball By SG Ball
After the premiership was concluded, players, supporters and officials gathered for the annual ball. Influential people might be lucky to receive an invitation to attend from S.G.Ball.
C.J.Davis of THE REFEREE was one such person. His match reports about rugby league games were consistently brilliant. But that’s another story!
SOUTH SYDNEY 17 (Wearing, Root and Lapham tries, Quinlivan 4 goals) bt ST.GEORGE 13 (Kelly, Traynor and Killibly tries, McCormack and Carstairs goals)
A South Sydney Match To Remember.
By Mark Emery for Bunnies TV.
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