1926 NSWRFL Grand Final

Saturday, 18 September 1926 · Royal Agricultural Society Grounds, Sydney, New South Wales

1926 Grand Final ▾

1926 NSWRFL Grand Final result: South Sydney def. University, 11-5, at Royal Agricultural Society Grounds, Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday, 18 September 1926.

Sourcing caveat: In 1926 a try was worth 3 points and a goal 2 points; the scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 11-5 (South Sydney: Frank Brogan, Harry Finch and Dave Watson tries x 3 = 9, plus Alf Blair 1 goal = 2, totalling 11; University: Paddy McCormack's try x 3 = 3, plus Jim McIntyre 1 goal = 2, totalling 5). South Sydney's Eddie Root was sent off outright, not sin-binned - temporary sin-bins did not exist in this era, so his dismissal was permanent with no replacement permitted, and South Sydney played the bulk of the match a man short. University's coach, Bill Kelly, is confirmed as coaching all 18 of the club's games that season, though no source explicitly states he coached this specific final - treat as a reasonable inference rather than a directly-sourced fact. Squad numbers reflect standard positional numbering. Exact try minutes and goal-attempt counts could not be confirmed.

Result

	Team	Score
Winner	South Sydney	11
Runner-up	University	5

Attendance: 20,000

NRL 1926 — full season ladder & finals series

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	Pts
1	South Sydney	16	14	0	2	318	146	+172	32
2	Eastern Suburbs	16	9	1	6	207	192	+15	23
2	Glebe	16	9	1	6	188	168	+20	23
4	University	16	9	0	7	198	217	-19	22
5	Western Suburbs	16	8	0	8	252	227	+25	20
6	Newtown	16	7	0	9	189	223	-34	18
6	North Sydney	16	7	0	9	227	271	-44	18
8	Balmain	16	6	0	10	187	184	+3	16
9	St. George	16	2	0	14	169	307	-138	8

Qualified for the finals series — top 4 that season.

Finals series

Semi-Final

Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
4 Sep 1926	University 29–3 Glebe	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW	9,000
11 Sep 1926	South Sydney Rabbitohs 21–5 Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW	15,000

Grand Final

Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
18 Sep 1926	South Sydney Rabbitohs 11–5 University	Royal Agricultural Society Grounds, Sydney, NSW

Permalink to this season's ladder page →

Match officials

Referee	William Neill

Scorers

South Sydney	Tries: Frank Brogan — minute unconfirmed; Harry Finch — minute unconfirmed; Dave Watson — minute unconfirmed Goals: Alf Blair (1/unconfirmed)
University	Tries: Paddy McCormack — early in the second half Goals: Jim McIntyre (1/unconfirmed) Sin bin: Eddie Root — sent off (permanent dismissal, no sin-bin system existed)

Teams

South Sydney			University
1	Alan Righton	Fullback	Hubert Finn	1
2	Alby Why	Wing	Frank O'Rourke	2
3	Vic Lawrence	Centre	Tom Barry	3
4	Harry Finch	Centre	Pat McCormack	4
5	Reg Williams	Wing	Martin Cunningham	5
6	Alf Blair (c)	Five-eighth	Alby Lane (c)	6
7	Frank Brogan	Halfback	Edward Wynter	7
8	Arch Thompson	Lock	Edward Ryan	8
9	Harry Cavanough	Second Row	Ernest Ogg	9
10	George Treweek	Second Row	Frank Benning	10
11	Eddie Root	Prop	Jack Woods	11
12	Alf O'Connor	Hooker	John McIntyre	12
13	Dave Watson	Prop	Bill Flanagan	13
Substitutes
—	no reserve/interchange players recorded — Eddie Root was sent off with no replacement permitted under the rules of the day, leaving South Sydney a man short for most of the match		no reserve/interchange players recorded — no interchange bench existed in 1926	—

Howard Hallett		Coach	Bill Kelly

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 1926 season marked a watershed: after nearly two decades of first-past-the-post premierships punctuated by emergency playoffs, the NSWRFL introduced a formal finals series, with the title to be determined among the leading four teams, the direct ancestor of every finals system since. Reigning premiers South Sydney duly claimed the minor premiership, carrying with it a right of challenge should they fall in the finals, while the most romantic story in the competition unfolded beneath them: University, the all-amateur side of students competing against professional clubs, snatched fourth place. In the semi-finals the students stunned the city, trouncing Glebe 29-3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, while Souths accounted for Eastern Suburbs 21-5 a week later. That set up the inaugural final of the new era on Saturday 18 September 1926 at the Royal Agricultural Society Grounds, the Sydney Showground at Moore Park, where 20,000 gathered to see whether the amateurs could complete one of sport's great upsets. The match was a scrappy, fiercely contested affair; the referee sent off South Sydney's Edward Root, yet even a man down the Rabbitohs' class told. Tries to Brogan, Finch and Watson, with a goal from Alf Blair, built South Sydney's 11 points, while University answered gamely through a try to Paddy McCormack and a goal from Jim McIntyre for their 5. South Sydney's 11-5 victory delivered a second successive premiership; because the minor premiers had themselves won the final, the right of challenge lapsed and the title was settled outright. For University the defeat was still a triumph of sorts: it remains the club's only appearance in a premiership decider and the finest achievement of their eighteen first-grade seasons before they departed the grade in 1937, unbowed amateurs to the last. The occasion's deeper legacy, though, was structural: the 1926 final normalised the idea that the premiership should climax in a single showpiece match, moved the decider to the Showground that would host it for the next three years, and set South Sydney on the road to an unprecedented five consecutive championships.

Sources

Data last verified: 11 August 2026.

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