Brisbane Rugby League 1951 season
League Table
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Souths | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 325 | 172 | 153 | 18 |
| Easts | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 336 | 211 | 125 | 16 |
| Norths | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 244 | 171 | 73 | 16 |
| Wests | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 266 | 205 | 61 | 16 |
| Brothers | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 287 | 309 | -22 | 10 |
| Valleys | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 181 | 368 | -187 | 4 |
| Wynnum-Manly | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 175 | 378 | -203 | 4 |
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 | Round 13 | Round 14 |
Finals
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor Semi-Final | 25 August 1951 | Wests vs Norths | Details |
| Major Semi-Final | 1 September 1951 | Souths vs Easts | Details |
| Preliminary Final | 8 September 1951 | Easts vs Wests | Details |
| Grand Final | 15 September 1951 | Souths vs Easts | Details |
Pike Cup
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | 8 August 1951 | Norths vs Souths | Details |
The Magpies soar in the year of the rooster
Whatever else happened, 1951 was the year of the rooster. The French national team, Les Chanticleers toured Australia for the first time and made quite an impression.
Not only did Robert Puig-Aubert’s men win the test series against Australia, they “played a unique style of free-flowing football never before seen in this country – one that both amazed and enthralled the thousands of Australian spectators who flocked to its matches” . It was reported that many of the french team also played basketball, and they apparently threw the rugby league ball around in a not dissimilar fashion.
The influence of the all-conquering French filtered down to the local level. Easts, the defending premiers, decided they’d like to take things to a new level and attack line Frenchmen. They announced as much mid season and did succeed in scoring more points than anybody else, with goal kicker Bruce Baker setting a new record for points scored in a BRL season with 147 and Les Tigres going on to qualify for a sixth-straight grand final. Très bien!
But in their way was a formidable Souths outfit. The Magpies, as they would come to be known, won a tight minor premiership battle ahead of Easts, Norths and Wests with a team which nicely blended youth and experience. Forward enforcer Harold Crocker, half Bob White and prop Jack Veivers were joined by smart young half Val Fraser, boom centre Leo Fallon and new rake Len Johnson. Bill Tyquin was gone but his younger brother Tom was a more than adequate replacement.
Souths beat each of the eventual finalists in the first half of the season to qualify for the Pike Cup Final, which doubled as their round twelve fixture against Norths. But by this point, some cracks were starting to show.
Easts beat Souths in a hard-fought encounter in round nine, then a few weeks later Norths took the Pike Cup with a 23-11 win over an out-of-sorts Magpies outfit.
Any doubts about Souths’ credentials were swept away by an impressive victory over Wests in round 13, before a 62-0 demolition of a terrible Valleys team clinched the minor premiership.
From there, Souths swept to the title. Easts were dispatched 27-16 in the Major Semi-Final, and then 20-10 in the Grand Final. While the Tigers pulled close at 12-10 midway through the second half, tries to Harold Crocker and centre Nev Wilson quickly extinguished Easts’ hopes and took Souths to their third title in seven seasons.
Elsewhere, the season was notable for the reemergence of Norths after a few years in the wilderness. Classy five-eighth George Atherden and young forwards Les Wilson, Stan Hassum and Tom Curran took the Devils to the Pike Cup and third place. It would take until the end of the decade for Norths to taste premiership success again, but the hegemony they were building toward would be worth the wait.
Aside from Norths and Easts, the only other team who managed to beat Souths was, surprisingly, Wynnum-Manly, their first victory back in the top grade. They were led by former Wests prop Charlie Roff and featured promising centre Henry Seaton, father of Gary who would play in their first premiership team in 1982. It would take the ‘Seasiders’ 30 years and a lot of losing before they finally tasted success, but this time they were at least back for good after the aborted experiments in 1914 and 1931-32.
While Wynnum were back in the league, they didn’t manage to make it to every game. The round 12 fixtures were scheduled on the Ekka holiday Wednesday in early August. While it was a holiday, it was evidently still a working day for many of Wynnum’s number who were employed as fishermen, were unable to make it to Oxenham Park for their 3pm kick-off against Wests, and had to forfeit.
They were, quite literally, all at sea.
