- Wentworthville Magpies
The Wentworthville Magpies are a
Rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963, the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions and, since 2003, the semi-professionalNSWRL Jim Beam Cup competition in NSW, Australia. Their colours are black and white. They are one of the two best clubs in the Parramatta Competition. The other club is Cabramatta Leagues.Inter-District/Second Division/Metropolitan Cup
During this period Wentworthville ("The Magpies") was the most successful club at this level of competition, competing in every grand final of the Second Division between 1964 and 1973 (winning all but the 1966 and 1972 grand finals).
The club won a total of 8 premierships during the history of the Second Division (including 5 in a row between 1967 - 1971). Due to their domination of the competition 'Wenty' was widely considered the best candidate for promotion to the NSWRL Premiership when two positions were made available for the 1967 competition. Due to their proximity to Parramatta, where a Premiership club was established in 1946, the Magpies were overlooked. [ [http://rl1908.com/articles/Cronulla-Sharks.htm Sean Fagan, "History of the Cronulla Sharks"] Retrieved on
11 March 2007 ]When the Second Division was reorganised as the Metropolitan League in 1974 the Magpies left the competition to play in the
Illawarra Rugby League competition, believing they could find greater competition on the South Coast. They failed to repeat this success in the Illawarra competition.The club returned to the Sydney competition when it was reorganised as the Metropolitan Cup in 1990, winning premierships in 1998 and 1999.
Wills Cup
Wentworthville had one opportunity to compete against Sydney's first-grade clubs when they were invited, as champions of the 1969 Second Division, to compete in the 1970 NSWRL pre-season competition (then known as the Wills Cup). Second Division 1969 runners-up University of Sydney were also invited to participate.
Wentworthville finished 12th (above
Penrith Panthers and University) in the competition with 1 win and 3 loses and a points differential of -21. They played games against Parramatta, University, Penrith and Western Suburbs. Their win came against local rivals Parramatta, winning 12 - 8 at Cumberland Oval but they failed to defeat fellow Second Division club, University, narrowly losing 19 - 17.Despite a promising win against a top-flight side the experiment of inviting Second Division teams to participate in first-grade competitions was not considered a success and was never repeated.
Jim Beam Cup
The Wentworthville Magpies joined the
NSWRL Jim Beam Cup in its first year in 2003 and have yet to win the Jim Beam Cup competition. They were runners-up to The Entrance Tigers in the 2003 Grand Final.NSWRL State League/Premier League
In
2007 ,Parramatta Eels announced that the Magpies would run as their Feeder Club in the NSWRL Premier League/State League from now onwards. The Team will have players from both the Eels & the Magpies from theNSWRL Jim Beam Cup . They won their first NSW Cup in 2008, defeating the Newtown Jets in Golden Point Extra Time, with the match duration lasting in excess of 100 minutes.Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.nswrl.com.au/jbc/index.php NSWRL Jim Beam Cup Site]
* [http://www.wentyleagues.com.au Wentworthville Leagues Club Site]
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