The 1967 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 60th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. The introduction of the Cronulla-Sutherland and Penrith clubs saw a total of twelve teams from across the Sydney area compete for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between South Sydney and Canterbury-Bankstown. This was also the first live televised broadcast of a football grand final of any code in Australia.
Season summary The 1967 season was the first played under the limited tackle rule, replacing the unlimited tackle rule previously used since the code's 1908 inception. The number of tackles was four and would remain at that number for only four years before being increased to six in 1971.
Also this season Lidcombe Oval became the Western Suburbs club's homeground.
The twelve sides met each other twice in twenty-two regular premiership rounds before the top four teams battled out four finals. For the sixth consecutive season St. George finished as minor premiers. The two newcomers to the premiership, Penrith and Cronulla-Sutherland, finished the season second last and last respectively.
In 1967 the Nine Network reached agreement with the NSWRFL for a fee of $5,000 for TV broadcasting rights for the grand final.
South Sydney won their seventeenth premiership, defeating Canterbury-Bankstown in their first grand final since 1947. This finally spelled the end for St. George's monopoly on Grand Final wins which lasted over a decade, and commenced a new period of South Sydney dominance, during which they would win four premierships in a five-year period.
The 1967 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Reg Gasnier.
Teams 1967 saw the NSWRFL expand to twelve teams with the introduction of the Penrith Panthers and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks clubs. This was the first time the number of clubs had increased since 1947 and the first time ever the number of clubs competing totalled more than ten. Balmain 60th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Captain-coach: Keith BarnesCanterbury-Bankstown 33rd seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Captain-coach: Kevin RyanCronulla-Sutherland 1st seasonGround: Sutherland Oval Coach: Ken KearneyCaptain: Monty PorterEastern Suburbs 60th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Jack GibsonCaptain: Jim Matthews Manly-Warringah 21st seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Wally O'ConnellCaptain: Ken Day, Fred JonesNewtown 60th seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Dick PooleCaptain: Brian GrahamNorth Sydney 60th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Billy WilsonCaptain: Colin Greenwood Parramatta 21st seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Captain-coach: Brian HamblyPenrith 1st seasonGround: Penrith Stadium Coach: Leo TrevenaCaptain: Tony Brown→ Laurie FaganSouth Sydney 60th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive ChurchillCaptain: John SattlerSt. George 47th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Captain-Coach: Ian WalshWestern Suburbs 60th seasonGround: Lidcombe Oval Captain-Coach: Noel Kelly
Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 St. George221615437267+170332 South Sydney221606422271+151323 Canterbury221417349269+80294 Eastern Suburbs221327269219+50285 Manly221228365271+94266 Balmain221228344258+86267 Western Suburbs2210210269255+14228 North Sydney228113297370-73179 Parramatta228014309322-131610 Newtown227213274406-1321611 Penrith225215203352-1491212 Cronulla223118208486-2787
Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Semi-finals Canterbury-Bankstown13–2 Eastern Suburbs26 August 1967Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce47,186 St. George8–13 South Sydney2 September 1967Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce51,915 Preliminary Final St. George11–12 Canterbury-Bankstown9 September 1967Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce49,941 Grand Final South Sydney12–10 Canterbury-Bankstown16 September 1967Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce56,358
Grand Final South Sydney RabbitohsPositionCanterbury-Bankstown Kevin Longbottom FB Les Johns 2. Michael Cleary WG 2. Barry Reynolds3. Bob Moses CE 3. Bob Hagan 4. Eric Simms CE 4. Johnny Greaves 5. Brian James WG 5. Clive Gartner 6. Jim Lisle FE 6. Bob Doyle 7. Ivan Jones HB 7. Ross Kidd 13. John Sattler (c) PR 13. Kevin Ryan 12. Elwyn Walters HK 12. Col Brown 11. John O'Neill PR 11. Kevin Ryan(c/coach)10. Bob McCarthy SR 10. Kevin Goldspink 9. Alan Scott SR 9. George Taylforth 8. Ron Coote LK 8. Ron Raper Clive Churchill Coach Live television broadcast coverage of grand finals commenced in 1967 with the match being shown on all four Sydney channels. As a result, the crowd of 56,358 was the lowest seen at a grand final since the rainy 1962 St George and Wests decider.Big League, 13 July 2006 p.7
South Sydney, led by new skipper John Sattler, began their period of dominance by downing Canterbury in a torrid 80 minutes played in bleak conditions with a light rain throughout. Taylforth and Eric Simms opened accounts with early goals, before John O'Neill barged over for a close-range try from dummy half. Canterbury's Ron Raper responded with a field-goal kicked from halfway and then Taylforth punished Souths with two successful penalty goals after firstly a clash between Kevin Ryan and O'Neill and then a scrum infringement. Canterbury led 8–5.
A turning point came just before half-time when Rabbitohs second rower Bob McCarthy swooped on a lofted pass from Canterbury's Col Brown intended for Johnny Greaves and ran the length of the field to take Souths into the break with a 10–8 lead.
Taylforth kicked his fourth goal to take the scores level nine minutes into the second-half but from that point on the match became a tight arm wrestle. With five minutes remaining Canterbury's Ross Kidd was penalised for an incorrect scrum feed and Simms kicked the Rabbitohs to a two-point lead which they held to give them their 17th premiership title.
It marked the beginning of a new golden period for Souths and Ron Coote, Mike Cleary, Bob McCarthy, O'Neill, Sattler and Simms would win four premierships in the next five seasons and figure prominently in representative squads of that period.
South Sydney 12 (Tries: O'Neill, McCarthy. Goals: Simms 3)
Canterbury-Bankstown 10 (Goals: Taylforth 4. Fld Goal: Raper)
Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals219 Eric Simms39312186 George Taylforth2900151 Dennis Preston5680139 Terry Hughes1671135 Bob Batty7561 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer16 Les Hanigan14 Brian James14 Ken Irvine12 Johnny King11 Bob McCarthy11 Reg Gasnier
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer93 Eric Simms90 George Taylforth68 Dennis Preston67 Terry Hughes56 Bob Batty
References
External links Rugby League Tables - Season 1967 The World of Rugby League Big League, News Magazines for the National Rugby League 13 June 2006 Results:1961-70 at rabbitohs.com.au 1967 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1967