1963 NSWRFL Grand Final
Saturday, 24 August 1963 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales
1963 NSWRFL Grand Final result: St. George def. Western Suburbs, 8-3, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday, 24 August 1963.
Sourcing caveat: In 1963 a try was worth 3 points and a goal 2 points; the scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 8-3 (St George: George Evans and Johnny King tries x 3 = 6, plus Reg Gasnier's goal = 2, totalling 8; Western Suburbs: Gil McDougall's try = 3, no goals). CORRECTION to this page's earlier prose: the St George try-scorer named alongside Johnny King was previously given as "Barry 'Bunny' Evans"; two independent sources confirm no player of that name existed in St George's 1963 squad or this match's lineup, and that the scorer was George Evans (full name George Kenneth Evans), St George's regular halfback across all four premierships from 1962 to 1965 — the prose has been corrected accordingly. Squad numbers for St George (21, 24) and Western Suburbs (14) are reproduced as recorded in the primary source rather than in strict ascending order. St George five-eighth Bruce Pollard and lock Johnny Raper swapped positions mid-match after Pollard was blinded by mud. Exact goal-attempt counts and the reported Peter Dimond disallowed-try detail could not be confirmed from sources found. Attendance is disputed: Wikipedia's 1963 NSWRFL season and Grand Final articles state 69,806, while rugbyleagueproject.org, the St George Illawarra Dragons' official club history, and Wests Archives all state 69,860. The 69,860 figure (used here) has majority support, but the discrepancy is unresolved across sources.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | St. George | 8 |
| Runner-up | Western Suburbs | 3 |
Attendance: 69,860
NRL 1963 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. George | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 434 | 95 | +339 | 31 |
| 2 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 256 | 160 | +96 | 28 |
| 3 | Balmain | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 246 | 183 | +63 | 24 |
| 4 | Parramatta | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 186 | 165 | +21 | 22 |
| 5 | North Sydney | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 272 | 236 | +36 | 20 |
| 6 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 158 | 217 | -59 | 14 |
| 6 | Newtown | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 206 | 331 | -125 | 14 |
| 8 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 170 | 277 | -107 | 13 |
| 9 | South Sydney | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 170 | 298 | -128 | 8 |
| 10 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 116 | 252 | -136 | 6 |
Qualified for the finals series — top 4 that season.
Finals series
Minor Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Aug 1963 | Parramatta Eels 9–7 Balmain Tigers | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 39,408 |
Major Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Aug 1963 | Western Suburbs Magpies 10–8 St. George | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 42,065 |
Preliminary Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Aug 1963 | St. George 12–7 Parramatta Eels | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 57,973 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug 1963 | St. George 8–3 Western Suburbs Magpies | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW |
Match officials
| Referee | Darcy Lawler |
Scorers
| St. George | Tries: George Evans — minute unconfirmed; Johnny King — minute unconfirmed Goals: Reg Gasnier (1/unconfirmed) |
| Western Suburbs | Tries: Gil McDougall — minute unconfirmed |
Teams
| St. George | Western Suburbs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monty Porter | Prop | Don Parish | 1 |
| 2 | Ian Walsh | Hooker | John Mowbray | 2 |
| 3 | Kevin Ryan | Prop | Bob McGuinness | 3 |
| 4 | Norm Provan (c) | Second Row | Gil McDougall | 4 |
| 5 | Elton Rasmussen | Second Row | Peter Dimond | 5 |
| 6 | Johnny Raper | Lock | Arthur Summons (c) | 6 |
| 7 | George Evans | Halfback | Don Malone | 7 |
| 21 | Bruce Pollard | Five-eighth | Kevin Smyth | 8 |
| 9 | Eddie Lumsden | Wing | John Hayes | 9 |
| 24 | Billy Smith | Centre | Kel O'Shea | 14 |
| 11 | Reg Gasnier | Centre | Denis Meaney | 11 |
| 12 | Johnny King | Wing | Noel Kelly | 12 |
| 13 | Graeme Langlands | Fullback | Jack Gibson | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| — | no reserve/interchange players recorded — pre-rolling-interchange era | no reserve/interchange players recorded — pre-rolling-interchange era | — | |
| Norm Provan | Coach | Jack Fitzgerald | ||
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
No Grand Final of the St. George dynasty is more mythologised than the 1963 decider, played unusually early on 24 August before a then-record crowd of nearly 70,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Facing Western Suburbs in a third straight Grand Final, the Dragons prevailed 8-3 for an eighth consecutive premiership, but the afternoon is remembered as much for mud, controversy and a single photograph as for the result. Torrential rain in the lead-up turned the SCG into a quagmire; the famous white St. George jerseys were unrecognisable within minutes as players slid through the ooze, and Saints five-eighth Bruce Pollard became so blinded by mud that he could barely pass or catch, swapping positions with the great Johnny Raper mid-match. Amid the slop, tries from George Evans and the inevitable Johnny King, his fourth successive Grand Final try, plus a Reg Gasnier goal, outweighed Gil McDougall's try for Wests. Yet the Magpies left convinced they had been robbed. Referee Darcy Lawler awarded penalties 18-7 in St. George's favour, disallowed a Peter Dimond try, and allowed King's decisive score even though Wests players insisted he had been clearly held before regaining his feet and diving over; Lawler retired immediately after the match, and years later Wests' Jack Gibson was among those who alleged the referee had been paid, a claim always hotly disputed by Lawler's family and never proven. It proved Western Suburbs' final Grand Final appearance. At full-time came the moment that transcended the game: newspaper photographer John O'Gready captured mud-encrusted rival captains Norm Provan, the towering St. George captain-coach, and Wests' diminutive Arthur Summons in a weary, congratulatory embrace. The award-winning image, dubbed 'The Gladiators', became Australian rugby league's most iconic photograph, and since 1982 a bronze sculpture of the Provan-Summons embrace has formed the premiership trophy itself, today's Provan-Summons Trophy lifted by every NRL premier. Few sporting images anywhere have been so completely woven into a competition's identity, and it ensured that a grim, bitterly disputed 8-3 slog in the mud became perhaps the most culturally significant Grand Final ever played.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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