Redcap's BRL

Brisbane Rugby League 1930 Season

League Table

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drew	For	Against	Diff	Points
Carlton	11	10	0	1	221	69	152	21
Grammars	11	6	4	1	111	95	16	13
Valleys	11	5	5	1	163	115	48	11
Coorparoo	11	5	5	1	83	106	-23	11
Wests	11	3	8	0	100	156	-56	6
University	11	2	9	0	100	237	-137	4

Premiership Rounds

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6
Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Round 11	Round 12

Premiership Finals

Stage	Date	Teams	Link
Semi-Final	5 July 1930	Valleys vs Grammars	Details
Semi-Final	5 July 1930	Carlton vs Coorparoo	Details
Premiership Final	12 July 1930	Valleys vs Carlton	Details
Challenge Final	16 August 1930	Carlton vs Valleys	Details

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Pike Cup

The 1930 Pike Cup involved a playoff outside the premiership schedule. The Pike Cup Final doubled as the BRL round seven game between Carlton and Valleys.

Stage	Date	Teams	Link
Playoff	17 May 1930	Carlton vs Grammars	Details
Final	24 May 1930	Carlton vs Valleys	Details

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BRL League Cup 1930

Standings

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drew	For	Against	Diff	Points
Valleys	5	4	1	0	114	49	65	8
Grammars	4	4	0	0	78	46	32	8
Brothers*	5	2	3	0	73	86	-13	4
Carlton*	3	1	1	1	44	44	0	3
University	5	2	3	0	61	64	-3	4
Coorparoo	5	1	3	1	59	76	-17	3
Wests	5	1	4	0	39	103	-64	2

Rounds

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6

League Cup Finals

Stage	Date	Teams	Link
Semi-Final	20 September 1930	Valleys vs Brothers	Details
Semi-Final	20 September 1930	Grammars vs Carlton	Details
Final	27 September 1930	Valleys vs Grammars	Details

Skip to 1931 season

Two becoming one

There was plenty of interest within the 1930 season – the sudden rise of a deep and dominant Carlton, the steady ascent of the next great Valleys team, the beginning of the end of University, the extraordinary scenes at the Carlton-Coorparoo semi-final – but really, it was all about détente and then peace between the BRL and QRL.

The treaty was finally signed on 9 July and the season re-jigged as a result, with the premiership curtailed and a ‘League Cup’ tournament, incorporating Brothers, who’d opted to play only in the QRL league, and returning representative players like Vic Armbruster and Alf Cruden, commencing the same weekend as the premiership semi-finals.

The 1930 League Cup is the closest thing the BRL ever had to the NSWRL’s City Cup – a tournament played entirely outside the premiership, a second season. The League Cup games are therefore considered equivalent to premiership games for the purposes of player statistics.

And for this reason, Valleys’ achievements in 1930 deserve some broader recognition. They won the President’s Cup (beating Carlton in the semi-final), beat Carlton in the Premiership Final, and dominated the League Cup. Along with Toombul in 1908, it could be considered one of two quasi-premierships in BRL history.

Which is to take nothing away from Carlton. The southsiders went unbeaten through the regular premiership season. While some cracks were appearing toward the end, most notably losing to Valleys in the Final and struggling in the League Cup, they beat Valleys convincingly in the Challenge Final and were deserving premiers.

Veteran forwards Salmon and Ryan, who’d been part of their last premiership in 1925, provided ballast. They had a quality half in Costello, one of the league’s brightest young talents in Mick Moloney and, importantly, some handy players in reserve for when injury and representative commitments took their toll.

But Valleys had assembled a scary looking team. Future club legends ‘Skinny’ Donovan and Fred ‘Firpo’ Neumann had established themselves. Young forward Eugene Robson was already a representative player and the brothers Little (who really weren’t) were imposing presences. Carlton would take some dethroning, but Valleys were well on their way back to number one.

Skip to 1931 season