The club was founded on 14th January, 1908 at a public meeting held at
Newtown Town Hall, making it the second
Rugby league football club in
Australia and the oldest now in existence. Known as the "Newtown Bluebags" for most of its lifetime, it adopted the Jets nickname in 1973, perhaps referring to Newtown's proximity to Sydney Airport. The first club,
Glebe, were formed on 9 January, 1908. A Newtown winger,
Jack Scott, was the first to score a try in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. When the 'Dirty Reds' (Glebe) were controversially excluded from the NSWRL Premiership in 1929, Newtown became the oldest Australian club.
Newtown played in the NSWRL competition from 1908-1983. The club won premierships in 1910, 1933 and 1943, finishing second in 1913, 1914, 1929, 1944, 1954-55 and 1981. The 1981 team, which played in the club's final NSWRL premiership grand final, included the legends of game
Tommy Raudonikis and
Phil Gould. It was coached by
Warren Ryan.
The 1973 Wills Cup Final win,
Jack Gibson took over as Newtown coach in 1973. Gibson picked his team solely on form, irrespective of seniority. The great
Brain Moore had been relegated to the reserves bench throughout the preliminary rounds of the tournament, and youngsters like
Ian Satori,
Dennis Gardiner,
Peter Parry and
Warren Snodgrass were all given a chance in the top grade. The Newtown side for the final was:
B. Cox, M. Cohen, D. Oliveri, J. Bonham, J. Bradstock, K. Wilson, D. O'Connor (c), N. Pringle, G. Sullivan, P. Parry, T. Melville, M. Robertson and D. Gardiner.
The
St George line up was:
G. Langlands, G. Carr, E. Goodwin, R. Clapham, J. Clapham, A. Branson, M. Shulman, L. Drake, P. Fitzgerald, R. Reddy, I. Toga, C. Rasmussen, M. Welborn and H. Eden.
The match was played under floodlights at the old Sydney Sports Ground on St Patricks day before a crowd of 13,180. At half time St George were up 15-2 and looked certain to win. In the second half the Newtown forward pack gave the Saints a taste of their own medicine which helped gain tries for Melville and Robertson, both converted by Ken Wilson which reduced the St George lead to 15-12. Brian Moore, brought on at half time, scored the final try, converted by Ken Wilson which sealed victory for Newtown in the last minute, making the game one of the most exciting comeback wins in Rugby League history.
[edit] Oldest club controversy
There is some argument over whether or not Newtown was actually the first Rugby league club in Australia, formed on 8 January 1908 (one day earlier than Glebe).
The club's website stands by this claim however other sources, most notably Terry Williams' book "Out of the Blue (The History of Newtown RLFC)", refute this claim. Rugby league historian
Sean Fagan similarly holds that the date of 14 January 1908 is the correct foundation day.
**** This was good too mate ***
