‘Skinny’, ‘Fatty’ and an old man by the sea
The complete 1931 Brisbane Rugby League season is now live on Redcap’s BRL. See how Valleys won the 1931 premiership, with a summary of every game and all the team lists and point-scorers available by clicking on each round in the 1931 season page.
The return of Valleys to the BRL summit in 1931 was by no means inevitable, but it was clear from early in the 1930 season that this was a team on the up.
The stars of the show were the backline trio of ‘Skinny’ Donovan, ‘Firpo’ Neumann, after whom Neumann Oval (now Allan Border Field) was named, and the prolific point-scorer J Shields. The forwards were a solid unit, while halfback Peter Scott who’d served a lengthy apprenticeship, including a stint at Carlton, was an understated but effective general.
The Diehards cruised through the first half of the season, winning six of seven before a mid-season lull which coincided with representative season. Victory over Wests in the Pike Cup Final on 11 July and a rollicking 27-20 win over the defending premiers Carlton in round 13 signalled they were back on track, though there was a twist not far ahead.
Carlton mounted a strong premiership defence, supplementing their champion team with the return of representative prop Bill Kavanagh and the interesting young fullback Col Webster who they pinched from Wests. But after an efficient dismantling of University in the semi-final, the ‘red and whites’ were halted in their tracks by Grammars in the Final.
Grammars had hung around just behind the leaders for a couple of seasons without quite convincing. The addition of international half and former Diehard, ‘Fatty’ Edwards to an already useful team seemed likely to elevate them at some point, and it did when they shocked Valleys with a 12-11 win in their semi-final at Davies Park, before knocking out the defending champions with a performance described by the Sunday Mail as “controlled fury”.
In the end, it wasn’t enough as ‘Skinny’s’ Diehards returned refreshed after a weekend off and blew away ‘Fatty’s ‘Old Boys’ 27-9 in the Challenge Final to complete the treble of President’s Cup, Pike Cup and Premiership.
Elsewhere, University had their last decent season, Wests had pieced a handy team together from local juniors and a few smart recruits, while Brothers were a rabble. The league also welcomed Wynnum version 2.0, and after a rough start, the ‘Seasiders’ wearing jerseys of all black with white collars were sporadically competitive behind the veteran former Coorparoo centre and premiership-winner, Graham ‘Paddy’ Crouch.
They even gave a couple of starts to 34-year-old former Ipswich, Queensland and Kangaroo winger Bill Paten, 15 years after he last played in the BRL for Ipswich West End, who showed he could still find his way to the try-line with a double against University in round eight. Wynnum 2.0 would be reabsorbed into Easts when districts were formalised in 1933, before re-emerging for good as Wynnum-Manly in 1951.
It was part of a broader contraction. The depression was starting to bite and crowds were well down. One of the main arguments in favour of rationalising the league was essentially saving resources by reducing the number of games per week. Tough times were ahead.
More complete BRL seasons are coming soon on Redcap’s BRL.
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