Brisbane Rugby League 1936 season
League Table
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wests | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 201 | 114 | 87 | 15 |
| Valleys | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 168 | 96 | 72 | 13 |
| Norths | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 174 | 133 | 41 | 12 |
| Easts | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 124 | 143 | -19 | 10 |
| Brothers | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 113 | 151 | -38 | 8 |
| Souths | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 107 | 250 | -143 | 2 |
Rounds
Finals
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor Semi-Final | 22 August 1936 | Norths vs Easts | Details |
| Major Semi-Final | 29 August 1936 | Wests vs Valleys | Details |
| Preliminary Final | 5 September 1936 | Valleys vs Norths | Details |
| Grand Final | 12 September 1936 | Wests vs Valleys | Details |
Pike Cup
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | 18 July 1936 | Valleys vs Wests | Details |
Of the shadows and a one-armed referee
Late in the 1936 season as Brothers, the defending premiers, faded out of premiership contention, Harry Sunderland, by now writing occasional columns for the Courier Mail, noted that many of the representative ‘stars’ of the local scene weren’t quite pulling their weight at club level, even when they were available.
To be fair, it was a big season of representative football, with an Ashes series on top of the usual intercity and interstate commitments.
Brothers never really got their best team on the same field, and even when a few of them could be cobbled together, they weren’t much good. Easts and Norths had their own representative hangovers, with the Devils also losing gun forward ‘Babe’ Collins to injury for most of the season and goal-kicking fullback Tom Pedrazzini to higher duties – he was appointed Chair of the Brisbane Rugby League. Both clubs managed half a good season as a result.
Valleys had craftily/accidentally pieced together a team of veterans past their representative prime and youngsters, and looked likely early in the season, before muddling their way into the finals and a runners-up medal.
In the end, Wests were the best of a slightly rag-tag bunch. Centre Philpott returned to the scene and was one the league’s best. 37-year-old stalwart Henry Denny was still going strong and wasn’t done yet. Hooker Tom Purtell was, as usual, rock solid, while his brother James emerged as a handy contributor.
And in the shadows, a few unlikely types came of age, including centre/five-eighth Doug Currie who’d been hanging around on the fringes of first grade for years, Frank Lind and Gilbert Gray who’d been back-ups during the 1932 premiership run, and half ‘Setter’ Chambers, formerly on the fringes of Carlton.
Fittingly, it was Currie who scored the premiership-clinching try, swooping on an errant kick by Valleys’ fullback ‘Dinny’ O’Connor to, with the assistance of 1932 premiership-winner Billy Wright, turn an 8-12 deficit into a 13-12 Grand Final victory at the Gabba.
In a season of unlikely heroes, there was a nice moment at the conclusion of the Wests-Valleys game at the Gabba in round seven when long-serving referee Jack Quinlan who’d lost an arm at Pozières during World War I officiated his final game. The match was designated as the ‘Quinlan Cup’, the man himself was chaired from the field by Wests and Valleys players at the conclusion, and the local press provided fitting tributes to his service.
In a league which already had a troubled relationship with referees, a relationship which would get worse over the years, it was a shining moment.
