Redcap's BRL

Brisbane Rugby League 1939 Season

League Table

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drew	For	Against	Diff	Points
Norths	10	9	1	0	225	105	120	18
Brothers	10	8	2	0	242	124	118	16
Valleys	10	7	3	0	281	92	189	14
Wests	10	3	7	0	113	179	-66	6
Souths	10	2	8	0	107	255	-148	4
Easts	10	1	9	0	98	311	-213	2

Rounds

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

Finals

Stage	Date	Teams	Link
Minor Semi-Final	19 August 1939	Valleys vs Wests	Details
Major Semi-Final	26 August 1939	Norths vs Brothers	Details
Preliminary Final	2 September 1939	Brothers vs Valleys	Details
Grand Final	9 September 1939	Brothers vs Norths	Details

Pike Cup

Stage	Date	Teams	Link
Final	17 June 1939	Brothers vs Norths	Details

Skip to 1940 season

Kings of the north side

As I write this, it’s almost exactly 200 years since Lieutenant Henry Miller sailed around Kangaroo Point, spotted the wedge of land (now the Brisbane CBD) bounded by the river and defensible from hills to the north and west, and thought something along the lines of ‘that’ll do nicely’.

Miller had been in charge of the convict settler colony at what is now Redcliffe, but all concerned had concluded that the peninsula was unfit for human habitation (not much has changed) and set off looking for a more humane location.

This is all by way of saying that Greater Brisbane’s demographic, social and economic centre of gravity has mostly been creeping south for two centuries now.

But rugby league has never quite conformed to this trend. As well as the omnipotent Valleys and hegemonic Norths, another club which would become highly successful in the BRL and go on to become part of the modern-day NRL was established just after the war at, of all places, Redcliffe.

In the late 1930s, Souths were still struggling to make an impact, while Easts and Wests were in the process of bottoming out as the war years took their toll. It was all about the north side – Valleys, Norths and, to a lesser extent until 1939, Brothers.

While the Brethren were always of the north side, they weren’t necessarily constrained by geography. Unlike the others, they didn’t have a fixed catchment area and could recruit from the old boys of their extensive catholic school network.

In 1939 they put together a scary team. Kangaroo winger Len Dawson moved north from Newcastle. Hooker Jack Little and back-rower Bill Dall defected from Valleys. Prop Jack Ryrie came from Easts and prolific winger ‘Snowy’ Gollan scaled the pass to join from Wests. Quite how – or by how much – they did this is unclear. Around the time there was more discussion about how rugby union was managing to recruit so many good players. Yeah, what a mystery!

So, Brothers had a bit of money and had no compunction about flashing it. For example, late in the season, their centre Dick Roser injured his elbow and was sent to Sydney to receive specialist treatment so he might be ready for the finals. He didn’t end up playing in the finals but at least they were looking after their talent.

On the field, after a perfect first half of the season, Brothers did stumble, losing to Norths and Valleys in the second half, finishing second overall and dropping the major semi-final to ‘Babe’ Collins’ and the defending champs. Then, facing elimination in the preliminary final against Valleys, Brothers fell behind 0-19.

Perhaps they weren’t a super team; just atoms bound together by nothing more than uniform fabric. Or maybe they were. The fightback began midway through the second half when Jack Ryrie scored. From there, it was an avalanche, with Brothers piling on a further 18 unanswered points to book another date with Norths and the ‘Babe’ in the Grand Final.

The decider wasn’t much of a game – Gollan scored the winning try with about 20 minutes to go, Babe was denied one of his own and Brothers hung on for an 11-9 win. It was the beginning of a golden period for the Brethren, and the three-way battle of the north which had come to define BRL would continue throughout the war years until the balance finally shifted back toward the south side in the late ’40s.

Skip to 1940 season