Redcap's BRL

The 1963 Brisbane Rugby League season is live on Redcap’s BRL. A season summary and all match results and details are on the 1963 season page.

The 1963 season was another overshadowed by a monstrously bloated representative season. I know I keep banging on about this, but looking back, it does seem wildly and extravagantly out of control.

There was an intercity cup tournament played before – yes, before – the premiership season and it wasn’t even part of the Bulimba Cup, which was played later. There was the usual slew of state trial games (Queensland’s version of city-country, just longer) and the Courier Mail’s rather indulgent ‘state championship’ later in the season.

There were tours by New Zealand and South Africa, including Test matches and tour games. The Kiwis played Brisbane and Queensland. South Africa played Queensland and South Queensland. At one stage, there were multiple Brisbane representative teams in action. The interstate series was finally completed on the weekend before the BRL finals commenced.

There wasn’t a single round of the premiership season which didn’t clash in some way. Many players backed-up on 24 hours rest, others simply couldn’t be there for their clubs. Resources were so stretched late in the season that two non-playing coaches, Wynnum-Manly’s Ray Paulsen and Brothers’ Frank Mellit, were forced to don their playing boots.

Wests brought prop Darcy Mitchell out of retirement in the last round and then had to start him and rookie half Warren Chambers in the Minor Semi-Final after Barry Muir and Ken Day departed for the Kangaroo Tour. Plus ça change!

Despite the inconvenience, the BRL rolled on. And so did the Norths juggernaut. The ‘Nundah wonders’ won another clear minor premiership and a fifth-straight major premiership.

Jim Hannam, Fonda Metassa and Henry Hegarty all missed time with injury, but it mattered little. Teenage winger Howard Whitaker filled the breach and ended up scoring a try in the Grand Final. Stand-in half Glen Strathearn did a job while Hannam was hurt. Brian Cook, who’d flitted around first-grade for a while, realised his potential. Former Wynnum five-eighth Bob Cook came back from North Queensland and was so good that he forced captain Bill Pearson back to the centres.

There were two challengers to the Norths hegemony, though they didn’t challenge at the same time and both ultimately fell from grace.

Wynnum-Manly already had the great Lionel Morgan, Queensland centre Bill McDermott and a giant forward pack headed by Trevor Niebling and goal-kicking lock Alan Monaghan. They were joined by champion Toowoomba five-eighth John Gleeson and the Seasiders shot out of the blocks, winning nine of their first eleven games, including a valiant one-point loss to Norths in the President’s Cup Final.

Wynnum looked genuine premiership contenders. What happened to them is hard to pinpoint beyond basic regression – they won most of their close games early in the season and lost most of them later on.

All in all, the Seasiders won just two of their last ten and missed the finals, with a couple of narrow and unlucky defeats on the run-in, including a one-point loss to Souths in round 19 which could’ve gone either way. Wynnum also just couldn’t seem to cope with Wests, who beat them three times and pipped them to a spot in the finals by a single point.

Heading in the opposite direction were Souths, who after a slow start emerged as contenders in the second round. Internationals Frank Drake and Mick Veivers, state hooker Reg Webster and flying Brisbane winger Dennis Farrell were joined by Mackay five-eighth Garth Budge and goal-kicking back-rower Bruce Bond, who came up from Sydney.

Despite defeat to Norths in the Peter Scott Trophy Final in July, the south-siders entered the finals in fine form and proceeded to lace Norths 23-3 in the Major Semi-Final. It was a thrashing and the Norths hegemony hung by a thread.

The thread held. Norths beat Redcliffe in the Preliminary Final and produced a thoroughly professional performance in the Grand Final, gradually wearing down the Souths forward pack, riding their luck at times, but ultimately taking their opportunities and prevailing 18-8.

While the hegemony was far from over, it was the end of an era for Norths, with captain and now five-time premiership winner Pearson leaving for Bundaberg. For Souths, it was a missed opportunity. Veivers and Drake left after ’63. They wouldn’t play finals again until 1970.

By progressing to the Preliminary Final in ’63, Redcliffe went further than they’d gone before and were building. Kevin Yow Yeh came down from Gympie and portly former Souths prop Henry Holloway came back to Brisbane from the bush. A hefty centre called Arthur Beetson would debut in ’64. A new power was rising…

Milestone men and data limitations

In 1963, Norm Pope moved into new territory, becoming the first player in BRL history to play 200 games. He was also well past 1800 total points, more than twice as many as any other player at this point in BRL history.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site that there are issues with games data after the early 1950s, primarily due to the local newspapers switching to a narrative style and away from reporting detail. The data will gradually improve from the early 1970s, in part because of better reporting, in part because of the greater availability of hard copy editions of Rugby League News, and in part because of a man called Roger Waite.

Pope’s 200-game milestone was reported late in the season, and based on the timing the 204 games I can credit Pope with at the end of ’63 is right on or at least very close to the mark. This is because Pope was a high-profile player and a goal kicker. His name was invariably mentioned in reports, sometimes even when he wasn’t playing.

It was also reported that Brothers back-rower Vince Nicholas reached 100 games late in the season. He was a worker, a guy who wasn’t necessarily mentioned unless he scored a try or was judged one of the best on ground. I have him on 76 games at the end of the ’63 season.

My figure is wrong – I already knew that – but I can only go on what I can confirm. The gap between Nicholas’s two numbers isn’t necessarily typical (how would I know?), but it does give you an idea of the data limitation. He would’ve played between 25 to 30 more games over the six seasons from 1958 to ’63 than I’m able to credit him with.

More complete BRL season are coming soon on Redcap’s BRL.