New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1953

Infobox rugby league season
year = 1953
competition = New South Wales Rugby Football League


imagesize = 125px
caption =
teams = 10
premiers =
count = 14th
minor premiers =
mpcount = 13th
matches = 93
points = 3241
attendance =
top points scorer = (152)
top try scorer = (23)
1953's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-sixth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a final between South Sydney and St. George.

Teams

Final

To win the 1953 premiership St George would need to beat minor premiers Souths in both a final and a Grand final, emulating the feats of the Dragons of 1949 from which team only Noel Pidding was still playing. A crowd of 44,581 were at the Sydney Cricket Ground to see the first phase of this attempt.

Souths opened the scoring with a penalty goal in the ninth minute kicked by Clive Churchill from 40 yards. The Dragons threatened Souths' line continuously in the next stanza but bombed three tries and then lost some momentum in the 14 minutes before half-time during the absence of centre Merv Lees while he was off the field having stitches to his lip after driving a tooth through it. Souths scored 13 points in this period. Ian Moir capitalised on a spillage of the ball by Pidding behind his own line after a heavy tackle, Churchill then featured when he firstly sent Threlfo in and then set up Moir for his second try. The score at half time was 15-0.

Early in the second half Pidding kicked a penalty and a few minutes later Wilson & Gallagher were sent off for fighting. With Wilson gone Rabbitoh hard-men Rayner and Donoghue then took control and four Souths tries flowed to Woolfe, Dougherty, Hammerton and Moir's third. Two late Dragons' tries to Brown and Lees made no difference and South Sydney powered to their 14th premiership.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 31 (Tries: Moir 3, Woolfe, Threlfo, Dougherty, Hammerton. Goals: Dougherty 4, Churchill 1.)

St George Dragons 12 (Tries: Lees, Brown. Goals: Pidding 3.)

References

* [http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/1953.html Rugby League Tables - Season 1953] "The World of Rugby League"
* Haddan, Steve [2007] "The Finals - 100 Years of National Rugby League Finals", Steve Haddan Publishing, Brisbane
* [http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/The-Club/Tradition/Results---1951-1960.html Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au]
* [http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1953/j_j_giltinan_shield/index.php 1953 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/competitions/NSWRL_1953.html NSWRFL season 1953 at rugbyleagueproject.com]