The graveyard, the ghost and the Diehards
The complete 1941 Brisbane Rugby League season is now live on Redcap’s BRL. See how Valleys won yet another title, despite everything. A summary of every game, the teams and point-scorers are available by clicking on each round in the 1941 season page.
The 1941 season was book-ended by unpleasantness; not for the first time unpleasantness directed at match officials.
After Wests beat Valleys in a wild President’s Cup (pre-season cup) Final in late April, referee Merv Taylor was seriously assaulted by a then-unknown assailant, later revealed to be Valleys centre George Sokell. Sokell who’d made a promising start to his career in 1940 was subsequently banned for life.
The Grand Final between Valleys and Norths was an ugly affair on and off the field, with the worst incident an assault on a touch judge perpetrated by Brothers centre J Vinson who was among the crowd (what was going on there?). Vinson received just a 12-month ban.
In between the ugliness, a few interesting things happened.
Despite everything – the career-ending folly of Sokell, the departures of Ivan Blow and Gordon Robson and Billy Whyte and the Ebbern brothers, Bob Williamson’s interrupted season (he missed a game due to a wedding at one point), the disappointment of the previous few seasons, especially the loss to Norths in 1938 – the Diehards won.
The omnipresent and omnipotent Firpo Neumann had attempted to join the army but was still there, masterminding things. By all accounts he terrorised Norths centre Hugh Melrose and winger Leo Donovan (brother of Valley legend ‘Skinny’) in the decider, facilitating three tries for Jack Bates who was back from rugby union and a brief spell at Souths.
Norths had their own issues – ‘Babe’ Collins and Jack Reardon left for Brothers, Alby Nilsson went to Souths and talismanic five-eighth Charlie Ryan was only available when he could get leave from RAAF Base Amberley.
Souths, who were starting to build an interesting team and were close to finally contending, had a similar problem, with a few of their players spending more time playing for Army and Air Force teams than they did their club.
With Norths and Brothers in flux, Wests snuck through the middle and into the major semi-final with a bits and pieces team of veterans, youngsters and castaways from the fringes of Souths, Brothers and Easts – Norm Paxton, Joey Houghton, Bob Shelton and George Twist. They bowed out of the finals in straight sets and they were about to lose most of their team and any semblance of premiership aspiration for the next few seasons, but their 1941 campaign was significant in BRL history.
A patch of dirt at Milton called Lang Park, which had been the North Brisbane Cemetery before becoming an athletics and football ground, hosted its first top-grade rugby league game in round two of 1941.
At the time, the idea seemed to be that it would become a home for Wests, though not necessarily the home ground of its first-grade team, much like Norths and Oxenham Park at Nundah. Home grounds weren’t really a thing in the BRL until the 1970s.
The BRL didn’t go back to Lang Park until 1950, and it didn’t become a regular venue until 1955, but the sequence which led to the world-class stadium which now exists there started on the afternoon of 17 May 1941. Wests beat Easts 39-13 at the graveyard that afternoon, and the very first try-scorer was none other than Eric ‘the Toowoomba ghost’ Harris. How delightfully fitting!
Milestone men
Two more players joined the 100-game club in 1941: Brothers fullback Reg Stanton and champion Norths half Jack Stapleton. Firpo Neumann moved up into second place overall, just behind Charlie Ryan of the RAAF, while Brothers prop Bill ‘Porky’ Law finished the season on 98 games and would get his pork on again in ’42.
As at the end of the 1941 season, members of the 100-game club (premiership fixtures only) were:
| Player | Teams and seasons | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Ryan | Coorparoo (1929), Grammars (1930-32), Norths (1934-41) | 138 |
| Fred Neumann | Valleys (1929-41) | 134 |
| Graham Crouch | Bulimba (1920), Coorparoo (1922-29), Wynnum (1931-32) | 124 |
| A. Jeavons | Coorparoo (1921-30) | 116 |
| Tom Purtell | Wests (1931-41) | 116 |
| Mike Kennedy | Coorparoo (1923-31), Wynnum (1932) | 112 |
| Jack Stapleton | Grammars (1931-32), Norths (1933-41) | 109 |
| Eugene Robson | Valleys (1929-36), Norths (1937-38) | 107 |
| Henry Denny | Wests (1929-32 & 1934-40) | 104 |
| Bill Thompson | Coorparoo (1925-32), Easts (1933 & 1937-38) | 102 |
| Reg Stanton | Brothers (1931-41) | 100 |
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