My South Sydney Rabbitohs

A General Introduction

South Sydney is the greatest ever club to come from Sydney. They have the records to prove it with 20 first grade premierships. South Sydney was the 3rd club founded in Australia after Glebe and Newtown. Souths won the inaugural Sydney premiership beating Eastern Suburbs 14-12 in the final and backed it up the following year in extraordinary circumstances when opponents Balmain refused to show up in protest of the final being played as a prelude to a Kangaroos v Wallabies match. South Sydney kicked off to no one and were declared premiers.

After premierships in 1914 and 1918, Souths enjoyed the first of three golden premiership eras they would enjoy winning seven out of eight premierships from 1925-32, only missing out in 1930 where Wests broke through for their maiden premiership. Star players in Souths first golden era included 5/8 Alf 'Smacker' Blair, point scoring freak Benny Wearing and second row forward George Treweek.

Premiership success avoided Souths between 1933-49 despite being runners up on four occasions before a new breed of Rabbitohs would make their mark on the game. Souths 12th premiership came in 1950 where they won five of the next six titles, missing out in 1952 in a very controversial final against Western Suburbs where Souths had a fair try disallowed. It was Wests 4th and final premiership. Leading the charge for Souths was Jack Rayner and also featuring in Rayner's side included Chic Cowie, Johnny Graves, Ian Moir and Bernie Purcell.

But the heart and soul of the Rabbitohs in the 1950's was undoubtably Clive Churchill. "The Little Master" as he was nicknamed by admirers was a courageous and genious fullback from Mereweather in Newcastle. Souths signed him up as a youngster and he would be central figures in both of Souths golden eras and also the start of Australia's dominance at Test level to where it is at embarrassing proportions today. Churchill captained Austraila in a record 24-Test matches but strangely didn't captain Souths to a premiership, but his contribution to South Sydney can't be spoke highly enough. When people think of South Sydney, Clive Churchill is one of the first games mentioned. After being the main player in Souths golden run between 1950-55, Churchill was back as coach in 1967 to help end the dominance of St.George and steer the Rabbitohs to their final four premierships as a coach. Just about everyone except a loud mouth self publicist universially regards Churchill as the greatest ever Australian Rugby League player. He is one of the six immortals but if you asked anyone, he is THE Immortal. Churchill lost his battle with cancer in 1985 aged 58. In memory of Churchill, a stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground was named after him, a place where he achieved many of his finest feats and acts of courage for South Sydney and Australia and on grand final day, the best performed player in the grand final is awarded the "Clive Churchill Medal". It's an award with prestige and honour and is an award with a rare touch of tradition in a world dominated by corporate takeovers. Churchill was a special man and his achievements in Rugby League will ensure South Sydney holds a special place with pure League followers.

Souths second golden era ended in 1955 and their final golden era started in 1967 with the remarkable St.George era of 11 consecutive premierships in between two special periods in the history of South Sydney. Churchill came back to coach the Rabbitohs and built around a tough pack of forwards of Ron Coote who was Australia's 2nd best ever lock after John Raper, Bob McCarthy who scored over 100 first grade tries, Gary Stevens, John O'Neill, Elwyn Walters and inspirational captain John Sattler, Souths would win four of the next five premierships between 1967-71 but lose the 1969 grand final 11-2 to Balmain who devised a plan to effect Souths play. Souths backline also had plenty of class including goal kicking freak Eric Simms who is the 4th highest all-time point scorer after Michael Cronin, Daryl Halligan and Graham Eadie, lightning fast Michael Cleary, Paul Sait, Ray Branighan, Denis Pittard and Bob Grant. Only Arthur Branighan didn't achieve International status of the 1971 grand final side that beat Manly 23-12.

Souths was a team of plenty of courage and that was highlighted by captain John Sattler in the 1970 grand final when in the early minutes he was hit late and unexpected by Manly prop John Backnall. It broke Sattler's jaw but he continued to play on the full match and leading by example.

Financial problems started to hit Souths and most of the 1971 grand final side headed to either Manly or Easts where both those clubs achieved some success after buying the champions Souths produced. Manly were winless until 1972 while Easts hadn't won a premiership since 1945. Souths doors were closed in 1973 but a Save Our Souths campaign ensured the Rabbitohs survived. They went through tough times but always found a way to get by through tremendous spirit and hard workers.

Souths made the semi-finals in 1984 coming from behind to beat Manly in the first semi final but knocked ou the following week by St.George but their best two years were 1986 and 1989 under the leadership of Mario Fenech. The Rabbitohs just missed out on the minor premiership in 1986 and sadly lost both semi finals to Canterbury and Balmain to be bundled out. Souths led from basically start to finish in 1989 remarkably not losing a single match away from the SFS. Come finals time, they lost a classic semi-final to Balmain and Canberra a week later powered home to end Souths best chance of getting back to the glory years.

More troubles hit Souths in the 1990's where they went from minor premiers in 1989 to wooden spooners in 1990. It was tough times but led from the front by George Piggins, Souths again just did enough to survive in the competition but much of the time made up the bottom of the ladder. They played some enterprising footy at times and in 1994 took out the pre-season competition defeating two-time premiers Brisbane 27-26 in the final. The outbreak of Super League was going to affect the future of Souths with the vision clear to cut Sydney sides with Souths in the firing line. Refusing to merge or drop out, the NRL (a merger of Super League and ARL) cut South Sydney from the premiership for the 2000 season in what could be described as a low act. The NRL set a bar of 14-teams and with 15 applicants, Souths were the team to miss out. Souths were finally starting to show some promise and strong management in 1999 when the cut came. In true Rabbitoh spirit, they won't give up without a fight and with the public support behind them, Souths will fight all the way in courts and emotionally to get back into the major Rugby League premiership. What happens with Souths next year is something no one knows but if I was a betting man, I be backing Souths to be selling out the SFS for round one next year.......

South Sydney: Pride of the League by Tom Brock.

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