1965 NSWRFL Grand Final
Saturday, 18 September 1965 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales
1965 NSWRFL Grand Final result: St. George def. South Sydney, 12-8, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday, 18 September 1965.
Sourcing caveat: In 1965 a try was worth 3 points and a goal 2 points; the scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 12-8 (St George: Billy Smith and Johnny King tries x 3 = 6, plus Graeme Langlands 3 goals = 6, totalling 12; South Sydney: no tries, plus Kevin Longbottom 3 goals and Eric Simms 1 goal = 8). This was St George's 10th consecutive premiership and Norm Provan's final match — he retired at full-time with a record ten Grand Final wins and ten Grand Final appearances. Exact goal-attempt (made/missed) counts and the reported Kevin Ryan scrum-raking incident on Fred Anderson could not be confirmed from sources found; no bench/reserve players are recorded for either side in the sources checked, consistent with this era's pre-interchange rules.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | St. George | 12 |
| Runner-up | South Sydney | 8 |
Attendance: 78,056
NRL 1965 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. George | 18 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 394 | 142 | +252 | 30 |
| 2 | North Sydney | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 318 | 218 | +100 | 24 |
| 3 | Parramatta | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 243 | 220 | +23 | 23 |
| 4 | South Sydney | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 227 | 205 | +22 | 22 |
| 5 | Balmain | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 223 | 211 | +12 | 21 |
| 6 | Newtown | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 212 | 210 | +2 | 19 |
| 7 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 228 | 235 | -7 | 12 |
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 181 | 244 | -63 | 12 |
| 9 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 18 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 194 | 331 | -137 | 10 |
| 10 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 149 | 353 | -204 | 7 |
Qualified for the finals series — top 4 that season.
Finals series
Minor Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug 1965 | South Sydney Rabbitohs 17–2 Parramatta Eels | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 54,626 |
Major Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sep 1965 | St. George 47–7 North Sydney Bears | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 38,944 |
Preliminary Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sep 1965 | South Sydney Rabbitohs 14–9 North Sydney Bears | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 36,695 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Sep 1965 | St. George 12–8 South Sydney Rabbitohs | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW |
Match officials
| Referee | Col Pearce |
Scorers
| St. George | Tries: Billy Smith — minute unconfirmed; Johnny King — minute unconfirmed Goals: Graeme Langlands (3/unconfirmed) |
| South Sydney | Goals: Kevin Longbottom (3/unconfirmed); Eric Simms (1/unconfirmed) |
Teams
| St. George | South Sydney | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Graeme Langlands | Fullback | Kevin Longbottom | 1 |
| 2 | Eddie Lumsden | Wing | Eric Simms | 2 |
| 3 | Reg Gasnier | Centre | Arthur Branighan | 3 |
| 4 | Billy Smith | Centre | Bob Moses | 4 |
| 5 | Johnny King | Wing | Michael Cleary | 5 |
| 6 | Brian Clay | Five-eighth | Jimmy Lisle (c) | 6 |
| 7 | George Evans | Halfback | Ivan Jones | 7 |
| 8 | John Raper | Lock | Ron Coote | 8 |
| 9 | Norm Provan (c) | Second Row | John Sattler | 9 |
| 10 | Elton Rasmussen | Second Row | Bob McCarthy | 10 |
| 11 | Kevin Ryan | Prop | John O'Neill | 11 |
| 12 | Ian Walsh | Hooker | Fred Anderson | 12 |
| 13 | Robin Gourley | Prop | Jim Morgan | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| — | reserves — not recorded in sources found | reserves — not recorded in sources found | — | |
| Norm Provan | Coach | Bernie Purcell | ||
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 1965 Grand Final remains one of the most storied occasions in Australian rugby league, played before an official crowd of 78,056, the record rugby league attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The ground reached capacity some two hours before the 3pm kick-off and the gates were locked, leaving an estimated 40,000 people outside; thousands were eventually allowed in to sit on the grass inside the fence, and the gate takings set a record for club rugby league in Australia. On the field, St. George were chasing a tenth consecutive premiership under captain-coach Norm Provan, playing the final match of his celebrated career, while South Sydney, captained by Jimmy Lisle and coached by Bernie Purcell, arrived as a rising young side. The match was ferocious, typified by an infamous scrum incident in which Dragons prop Kevin Ryan raked South Sydney hooker Fred Anderson back through the scrum, leaving him bloodied. St. George led just 5-4 at half-time in a grinding arm-wrestle. The Dragons' points came from tries to halfback Billy Smith and winger Johnny King, King thereby extending his remarkable record of scoring a try in six successive Grand Finals, with Graeme Langlands kicking three goals. South Sydney never crossed for a try, their eight points coming entirely from the boot: three goals to Kevin Longbottom, renowned for his prodigious long-range kicking, and one to Eric Simms. St. George's 12-8 victory delivered their tenth straight title, and press reports named the abrasive Ryan man of the match for his relentless work in the forwards. The day belonged above all to Provan, who announced his retirement to the crowd over the ground's loudspeakers at full-time, bowing out with ten premiership victories and ten Grand Final appearances, both records. The tryless defence of the Dragons underlined the suffocating discipline that had defined their era, while for South Sydney the narrow defeat proved a formative experience: within two seasons the young Rabbitohs core would launch a golden era of their own. The 1965 decider is still cited as the high-water mark of Grand Final attendance at the SCG, a benchmark unbroken through the remainder of the ground's tenure as the premiership's home.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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