New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1960

Infobox rugby league season
year = 1960
competition = New South Wales Rugby Football League


imagesize = 125px
caption =
teams = 10
premiers =
count = 7th
minor premiers =
mpcount = 7th
matches = 98
points = 3084
attendance = 1032655
top points scorer = (193)
top try scorer = (25)
1960's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fifty-third season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Eastern Suburbs.

eason summary

With four teams finishing on equal second place at the end of the regular season, and no weight given to the "for" and "against" points differential, minor premiers St. George watched Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown go through a four-match series of play offs before the real finals commenced.

Also in 1960, NSWRFL president Henry "Jersey" Flegg passed away and Bill Buckley took up the position.

This season the Western Suburbs Magpies won the NSWRFL Club Championship.

Teams

Grand Final

St. George had lost to Eastern Suburbs late in the regular season and expected them to be a finals force. But due to the playoffs for the minor premiership placements the Roosters were playing their sixth match in four weeks, including an extra-time tussle in the minor semi against Canterbury.

For the first grand final in four the defending premiers left their strongarm tactics in the locker room and let their skilled backline excel. Five minutes into the game Bob Bugden toed a loose ball through and fell on it to open the scoring. At 23 minutes the second try was set up by Brian Clay who beat his opposite Billy McNamara and passed to Reg Gasnier who dazzled the opposition with a change of pace that left them flatfooted.

Prop Kevin Ryan may have been in his rookie St. George season but he had already represented for Australia at rugby union and for Queensland in boxing. He had fit into the tough St. George pack with ease and featured on Grand Final day in setting up firstly fellow newcomer Johnny King for a first half try, then Gasnier after the break for his second before being sent off at the 60 minute mark, along with Easts forward Brian Wright, for fighting.

Norm Provan and Dave Brown also scored in the second half and two minutes before the bell an interplay between Provan and Brian Graham resulted in King getting his second try. Only a few weeks earlier Johnny King had been the third grade fullback, having been declined a contract offer early in the season from South Sydney.

Although they were on the wrong side of a 17-6 penalty caning, St. George scored seven tries to nil, walloping Eastern Suburbs 31-6.

Ken Kearney became the oldest player to appear in a grand final (36 years 123 days) and also equalled Jack Rayner's record of five grand finals won as captain.

St. George 31 (Tries: Gasnier 2, King 2, Bugden, Brown, Provan. Goals: Graham 5.)

Eastern Suburbs 6 (Goals: Landers 3.)

References

* [http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/1960.html Rugby League Tables - Season 1960] "The World of Rugby League"
* Writer, Larry (1995) "Never Before, Never Again", Pan MacMillan, Sydney
* [http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/The-Club/Tradition/Results---1951-1960.html Results:1951-1960 at rabbitohs.com.au]
* [http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1960/j_j_giltinan_shield_and_wd__ho_wills_cup/index.php 1960 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/competitions/NSWRL_1960.html NSWRFL season 1960 at rugbyleagueproject.com]
* [http://www.showroom.com.au/dragons/dragonshistory/history_stgeorge4b.htm#1960 1960 Final at Dragons History site]