Wests supreme in Sunderland’s strange super league – the 1920 Brisbane Rugby League season
The 1920 Brisbane Rugby League season is now live on Redcap’s BRL. See how Wests won the premiership undefeated in a peculiar season which saw two largely unrelated phases and two mid-season mergers.
After Redcap’s untimely passing in 1927, Harry Sunderland took over his column in the Brisbane Courier. Where Redcap was all pith, perspective and incisive analysis, Sunderland’s work read like what you’d hear if you were standing next to him at a game, with plenty of tangents along the way. His passion shone through, but it could be long-winded, messy and confusing. The 1920 season was certainly those things.
In part, it was due to expansion. With the dismal game (rugby union) on its knees, the league welcomed Grammars, University and Christian Brothers-proper. Bulimba was back too, with Valleys once again split.
But rather than let this new ten-team league settle and evolve naturally, Sunderland organised (using the term loosely) a two-phase competition in which four of the teams merged into two after the first phase. After nine games (the first phase), West End and Grammars became one, as did Railways and Bulimba. The remaining teams played a series of games over seven match-days in phase two.
There were a couple of problems with this: First, the results from phase one seemingly meant nothing other than Wests winning the right of challenge; second, phase two was asymmetrical. It was suggested in the press that a further round of fixtures was planned for 18 September, but they never happened. There was also a notice in the papers about an important meeting of the Coorparoo club on the eve of the semi-finals. The ‘Roos would’ve had every right to be furious at their exclusion.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter – Wests were clearly the league’s best team. And Coorparoo did crumble in the second phase. Valleys were their usual solid selves, but not quite on Wests’ level. Norm Potter, Jim Bennett, Bill Dunne and the veteran Charlie Meekin led a formidable forward pack which trampled the rest of the league.
More seasons will soon be posted on Redcap’s BRL. Stay tuned…
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