1911 NSWRFL Grand Final
Saturday, 16 September 1911 · Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney, New South Wales
1911 NSWRFL Grand Final result: Eastern Suburbs def. Glebe, 11-8, at Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday, 16 September 1911.
Sourcing caveat: Sources frame the sequence slightly differently: the Rugby League Project describes the 16 September match as a deciding final forced because Easts' win in the earlier Final drew them level with Glebe on competition points, while Wikipedia describes Glebe, as minor premiers, exercising a 'right of challenge' after losing that match. The decider itself (16 September, Easts 11-8, approx. 20,000) is agreed by both. In 1911 a try was worth 3 points, a goal 2 points, and a field goal also 2 points. The scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 11-8 (Eastern Suburbs: Charlie Lees' try x 3 = 3, plus Dally Messenger 3 goals x 2 = 6, plus Messenger's field goal x 2 = 2, totalling 11; Glebe: Charles Cubitt x2 tries x 3 = 6, plus Les Cubitt 1 goal x 2 = 2, totalling 8). The two send-off players are confirmed by name: Larry O'Malley (Eastern Suburbs) and Sid Pert (Glebe), both dismissed in the first half following a touch judge's report, after which scrums were played with only four forwards per side. Eastern Suburbs' captain, Dally Messenger, was also the team's coach. Squad numbers reflect standard positional numbering. Exact try minutes and goal-attempt counts could not be confirmed.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Eastern Suburbs | 11 |
| Runner-up | Glebe | 8 |
Attendance: 20,000
NRL 1911 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glebe | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 244 | 88 | +156 | 22 |
| 2 | Eastern Suburbs | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 208 | 129 | +79 | 20 |
| 3 | South Sydney | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 188 | 117 | +71 | 20 |
| 4 | Newtown | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 154 | 120 | +34 | 15 |
| 5 | Annandale | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 113 | 184 | -71 | 11 |
| 6 | North Sydney | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 138 | 209 | -71 | 9 |
| 7 | Western Suburbs | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 116 | 189 | -73 | 9 |
| 8 | Balmain | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 130 | 255 | -125 | 6 |
Finals qualification not shown for this season: an irregular early-era challenge/playoff format, not a fixed top-N.
Finals series
Playoff
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Sep 1911 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters 23–10 South Sydney Rabbitohs | Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney, NSW | 14,000 |
Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Sep 1911 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters 22–9 Glebe | Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney, NSW | 16,000 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Sep 1911 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters 11–8 Glebe | Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney, NSW |
Match officials
| Referee | Tom McMahon |
Scorers
| Eastern Suburbs | Tries: Charlie Lees — minute unconfirmed Goals: Dally Messenger (3/unconfirmed) Sin bin: Larry O'Malley — first half, following a touch judge's report |
| Glebe | Tries: Charles Cubitt — minute unconfirmed; Charles Cubitt — minute unconfirmed Goals: Les Cubitt (1/unconfirmed) Sin bin: Sid Pert — first half, following a touch judge's report |
Teams
| Eastern Suburbs | Glebe | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fred Kinghorn | Fullback | Roy Algie | 1 |
| 2 | Barney Dalton | Wing | Dave Garlick | 2 |
| 3 | John Campbell | Centre | Mick Muggivan | 3 |
| 4 | Dally Messenger (c) | Centre | Tom Gleeson | 4 |
| 5 | Eddie White | Wing | Charles Cubitt | 5 |
| 6 | Herbie Collins | Five-eighth | Les Cubitt | 6 |
| 7 | Leslie Cody | Halfback | Fritz Thiering | 7 |
| 8 | William Dalton | Lock | Frank Burge | 8 |
| 9 | Charlie Lees | Second Row | Alby Burge (c) | 9 |
| 10 | Eddie Griffiths | Second Row | Sam Griffiths | 10 |
| 11 | Mick Frawley | Prop | Jack Redmond | 11 |
| 12 | Sandy Pearce | Hooker | Harry Brighton | 12 |
| 13 | Larry O'Malley | Prop | Sid Pert | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| — | no reserve/interchange players recorded — no interchange bench existed in 1911 | Jim Farrelly — listed as brought in; whether he took the field is unconfirmed | 14 | |
| Dally Messenger | Coach | Chris McKivat | ||
Clive Churchill Medal
The Clive Churchill Medal was first awarded in 1986; no official best-on-ground medal existed for this Grand Final.
Match context
The 1911 season produced the longest road to a premiership in the founding era, and the biggest crowd the young code had ever drawn. Glebe topped the table as minor premiers, while Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney could not be separated in second place, forcing a play-off on 2 September that Easts won emphatically, 23-10, before 14,000 at the Sydney Sports Ground. A week later Eastern Suburbs met Glebe in the Final at the Royal Agricultural Society Showground and thrashed the minor premiers 22-9 in front of 16,000, but with premiership points attached to finals fixtures under the rules of the day, that victory only drew Easts level with Glebe on the table, forcing one further winner-take-all meeting; contemporary framing also cast it as the minor premiers exercising a right of challenge after their defeat. So on Saturday 16 September 1911, the two clubs returned to the Agricultural Ground before a crowd reported at 20,000, an extraordinary attendance for the era and proof of how completely the League had won Sydney's footballing public in four seasons. Conditions were blustery, the wind swirling across the ground all afternoon, and the referee was forced to send a player from each side from the field early in a spiteful opening. The contest that followed turned on the greatest drawing card in Australian sport: Dally Messenger, the champion whose defection from rugby union in 1907 had made the League viable, produced an immaculate kicking display in the difficult conditions. Eastern Suburbs' points came from a try to Charlie Lees and three goals from Messenger's boot, while Glebe answered through two tries to Charles Cubitt and a goal, keeping the decider in the balance deep into the second half. Six minutes from the bell, with the game still there to be won, Messenger struck the decisive blow, a field goal that stretched the margin to 11-8 and broke Glebe's resistance. It was Eastern Suburbs' first premiership, the launching point of three consecutive titles from 1911 to 1913, and a personal triumph for Messenger as captain of the club he had made famous. For Glebe the defeat was crueller than anyone then knew: the foundation club never did win a premiership before being controversially excluded from the competition after the 1929 season, making the windswept afternoon of 1911 the closest the Dirty Reds ever came.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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