The history of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs stretches from the 1930s to the present day. Based in Belmore, a suburb of Sydney, the Bulldogs in 1935 were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL) competition, a predecessor of the current NRL competition.
The Bulldogs won their first premiership in just their fourth season (1938). At the time it made them the quickest club (barring the founding clubs) to win a premiership after admission to the competition, a record which was only beaten in 1999 by the Melbourne Storm. They won a second premiership in 1942 but then had to wait another 38 years before breaking through for a third title in 1980. During the 1980s, the Bulldogs were a dominant force in the competition appearing in five Grand Finals, winning four of them. In the 1990s they featured in the 1994, 1995 and 1998 Grand Finals, winning the title in 1995 over Manly. Their most recent success was in 2004 when they beat the Sydney Roosters 16–13, the tryscorers being Hazem El Masri and Matt Utai, and the Clive Churchill Medal winner Willie Mason.
Origin The Canterbury-Bankstown region in Sydney's southwest had a thriving rugby league culture and local competition from 1922 onwards,Lester, Gary; From Berries to Bulldogs: Fifty Years of the Cantberury-Bankstown R.L.F.C.; pp. 11-13 By 1930 the club had won the President's Cup competition and afterwards applied repeatedly to join the Sydney senior competition, finally being successful on 24 September 1934. The main barrier had been the lack of a suitable ground, which the NSWRL had set as a condition of entry. The club covered as territory the municipalities of Bankstown and Canterbury, taking them from St George and Western Suburbs. It would share the suburbs of Earlwood and Hurlstone Park with Newtown. It took part for the first time in 1935.
1935: Debut season Canterbury played its first premiership match against North Sydney on Anzac Day, 25 April 1935 at North Sydney Oval. In a match refereed by Tom McMahon, North Sydney won by a margin of 20 points to 5. Scorers for Canterbury-Bankstown were a try to Jack Hartwell Sr. and a penalty goal to Tom Carey. Hartwell was a prop forward, whilst Carey was a halfback or five-eighth who had been a Canterbury junior before playing with St George.
The first Canterbury team was: George Main, Vince Dwyer, Jack Morrison (c), Sid Elliott, Basil Crawford, Harry Brown, Tom Carey, Frank Sponberg, Alan Wellington, Jack McConnell, Jack Hartwell Sr., Bob Lindfield and Fred Chaplin and was coached by Tedda Courtney.
Canterbury's initial season was a remarkable one – for the wrong reasons. Playing without a home ground, the team suffered a number of massive losses, losing in successive weeks during May 6–91 to St George and 7–87 to Eastern Suburbs – the two heaviest defeats in the history of the competition.Rugby League Tables: Biggest Wins The club managed to avoid the wooden spoon by twice defeating the winless University, but still conceded 140 tries in sixteen matches or an average of 8.75 tries per game, which remains the second-highest figure in NSWRFL/NRL history behind the 9.08 tries per game conceded by University in their debut 1920 season.Rugby League Tables: Season Records
1936–1942: Early success After the disastrous 1935 season, Canterbury became determined to achieve success and especially to improve the backline – the chief cause of the 1935 failures.Lester; From Berries to Bulldogs; p. 22 They bought fullback Tom Kirk from Tumut, centre and captain Alan Brady from Western Suburbs, threequarter Joe Gartner from Newtown and ex-Bluebag prop Henry Porter from Goulburn. Along with champion coach Frank Burge, these buys improved the Cantabs from 1935's two wins to nine in 1936, netting a place in the finals.
In 1938, the Cantabs suffered only one loss, and a first title, defeating former nemesis Easts 19–6 in the final. Instrumental in the club's success was the front row combination of props Eddie Burns and Henry Porter and hooker Roy Kirkaldy. The club also won the reserve grade premiership the same year. Canterbury made the grand final again in 1940 but lost to Easts 24–14. After losing their semi-final in 1942, Canterbury finished on top of the ladder with Balmain in 1942, and secured the minor premiership after the NSWRL ruled that a play-off was necessary and they beat the Tigers 40–20. Canterbury were defeated by St George 35–10 in the semis, but as minor premiers had the right to challenge in a grand final which saw them defeat the Dragons 11–9 in wet conditions after the scores were even at half-time.
1943–1966: Decline as a Power Remarkably – though largely due to the influence of World War II which deprived them of stars Porter and Newham, along with Bob Farrar and Bob JacksonLester; From Berries to Bulldogs; p. 42 – Canterbury fell from premiers in 1942 to wooden spooners in each of the following two seasons. As players returned from service in the war, the club did regain its strength, finishing sixth in 1945, third in 1946 and on top of the table in 1947. They finished the competition three points clear of the Balmain Tigers with Newtown and Wests making up the four. They beat Newtown 25–15 in the first semi but lost to Balmain 19–25 in the final. As they had been minor premiers, they had the right of a rematch to force a Grand Final. However, Canterbury were unsuccessful, going down 9–13 after leading 7–4 at half time.
Their loss of the 1947 campaign was, more than the lapse of 1943 to 1945, the end of their first successful period. With the retirement of the famous front three of Eddie Burns, Roy Kirkaldy and Henry Porter (remarkably, none ever played for Australia owing to the war), Canterbury was unable to develop top-line players or attract established stars to its ranks, for the club's budget in this era was largely devoted to the establishment and development of their licensed club.Lester; From Berries to Bulldogs; p. 49 The club's financial position is the late 1950s was so precarious that only a loan from patron Stan Parry prevented the club from closing down.Lester; From Berries to Bulldogs; p. 60
Ron Willey was their sole Australian international between 1948 and 1962, but never played a Test match, whilst long-serving hooker Fred Anderson was the only Canterbury player between 1954 and 1962 to reach even State representation. Even a spell by Australian coach Vic Hey in 1955 and 1956,Vic Hey: Coaching Summary and the presence of other renowned mentors Col Geelan and Cec Cooper did not life the Berries up the ladder.
In 1948 they won only seven games, and after at one point looking like a surprise minor premiership in 1953 collapsed to never win more than six in a season from 1954 to 1959. Between 1952 and 1959 Canterbury were second last on five occasions (only Parramatta denying them the wooden spoon in four cases) but in 1960 under the coaching of club legend Burns they made the semis in an unparalleled four-way play-off. However their finals campaign only lasted one match as they lost to Easts 16–9 in the second semi-final. In the following seasons, they slipped back down the ladder quickly: after beating Easts on 6 July 1963 they did not win again until 25 July 1964. However, the emergence of skillful fullback Les Johns gave them hope, and despite finishing third last in 1966, the next year they made the Grand Final.
In March 1962, the Berries won their first honours since their 1942 premiership, beating Western Suburbs 14–10 in the Preseason Cup final under floodlights at the Sydney Sportsground.
The Berries' most persistent weakness during this long drought lay in attack: Canterbury did not score so many as fifty tries in any season between 1951 and 1969,AFL Tables; Canterbury Season Summary and between 1954 and 1961 the highest season's try tally by any individual Canterbury player was just seven by five-eighth Ray Gartner in 1960.Rugby League Project; Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs seasons The Berries' one potential prolific tryscorer, winger and local junior Barry Stenhouse, suffered a career-ruining leg muscle injury in 1954,'Special Treatment for Stenhouse'; Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1954, p. 8 a season after scoring fourteen tries and sharing a Sydney Morning Herald "Player of the Year" award with Keith Holman.Lester; From Berries to Bulldogs; p. 53
1967: the "intercept" Grand Final In 1967 Canterbury were captain-coached by tough forward Kevin Ryan, who had joined them from St George and helped them break his former club's extraordinary run of eleven straight premierships by beating them 12–11 in the preliminary final after being down 9-0 early on. Prior to this, Canterbury had finished third in the regular season, three points behind South Sydney and four behind minor premiers St George. Their semi-final campaign started well, beating Easts 13–2, before victory over the Dragons. They lost to Souths in the premiership decider, in a match best remembered for Bob McCarthy's intercept try. The match had been a close one, with Souths leading 10–8 at half time, before Canterbury drew level for much of the second half. Souths gained the lead four minutes from full-time with an Eric Simms goal following a penalty for an incorrect scrum feed by Canterbury half Ross Kidd. For the losers, fullback Les Johns, second-rower Kevin Goldspink and centre Bob Hagan all stood out.
1968–1977: Reformation and rebuilding years The following few years saw mixed fortunes for the club on the field, with a sudden decline in 1968 and 1969 followed by a semi-final berth in 1970 (though they immediately bowed out by losing 12–7 to St George) and a return to mid-table in 1971 and 1972. However, off the field the club was developing administrative strength that would restore it to the status of a "power" for the following thirty seasons.
Canterbury made the semis again in 1973, coming fifth in the first year the competition had a final five rather than four. Though they lost to Newtown, this heralded better times as the club made the semis every year for the rest of the decade, apart from 1977 when the team was heavily hit by injuries.
1974 proved more promising, as the club finished third on the ladder behind a runaway Roosters outfit coached by Jack Gibson, and Manly. They then defeated both clubs – Manly 20–14 and Easts 19–17 to be the first through to the Grand Final. However, missed opportunities in an initially tight game lead to a 19–4 defeat. This had been the first Premiership decider Canterbury had played in since 1967.
1978–1983: The Entertainers Peter "Bullfrog" Moore was the administrator at the Canterbury club from 1970 to 1995. During this time the team had consistently good results. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Canterbury-Bankstown, under coach Ted Glossop, acquired the nickname The Entertainers. With halfback Steve Mortimer the linchpin, the Bulldogs (as they were in 1978) played a brand of football that was the envy of the Sydney Premiership.
The arrival of Steve Mortimer and Bob McCarthy in 1976 signalled a new beginning at the Canterbury club. McCarthy only had two seasons with the team but his experience, knowledge and effect left a lasting impression with a new generation of forwards coming through the ranks, which included Steve Folkes, Graeme Hughes and Geoff Robinson.
In 1976, Canterbury just barely made it into the final five, finishing fifth, then beat Easts and St. George before losing to Manly 15–12 at the last hurdle before the Grand Final, with a Bob Fulton field goal late in the match.
Canterbury-Bankstown started off with promise but missed the semis in 1977, losing four out of their last five regular season matches and finishing seventh. They then scraped into fifth position again for 1978, but were the first team out of the playoffs losing 22–15 to Parramatta.