The history of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league football club stretches back to the pre-schism (1908) days of rugby football in Australia to the present. The club's history is one of the longest of any Australian rugby league club and they are one of the National Rugby League's last two extant foundation clubs along with the Sydney Roosters.
Early years South Sydney was the third rugby league football club founded in Australia after Glebe and Newtown. In 1908 a rugby league competition began in Sydney with working-class clubs, including the South Sydney Rugby Union Club, leaving rugby union to play by the new rules adopted by the New South Wales Rugby League. The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club was founded on Friday 17 January 1908 at Redfern Town Hall when J J Giltinan was joined on the podium by cricketer Victor Trumper and politician Henry Clement Hoyle before a large crowd of supporters.
Souths took part in the first game of the inaugural competition when it started on Easter Monday, 20 April 1908. They defeated North Sydney 11–7 at Birchgrove Oval. Souths won the inaugural Sydney premiership beating Eastern Suburbs 14–12 in the final and backed it up the following year in extraordinary circumstances when opponents Balmain refused to show up in protest of the final being played as a prelude to a Kangaroos v Wallabies match. South Sydney kicked off to no one and were declared premiers.
During these early years Arthur Hennessy was considered the founding father of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and he was assisted in administration by S. G. Ball. A hooker and prop forward, Hennessy was Souths' first captain and coach. He was also New South Wales' first captain and Australia's first test captain in 1908. He played 26 games for Souths between 1908 and 1911. South Sydney played in the grand final of the 1910 NSWRFL season, drawing with Newtown who were named premiers by virtue of being the League leaders.
South Sydney's playing jerseys sported cardinal red and myrtle green colours. Some sources have suggested that this combination of colours was due to the local rugby union club being nicknamed the "Redfern Waratahs". The suburb is named after surgeon William Redfern, who was granted 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land in this area in 1817 by Lachlan Macquarie. Red and green dominate the colours of the waratah and hence, possibly, the South Sydney Rugby League Football Club adopted these colours for their jerseys. Prior to the establishment of the rugby league club in 1908, the earlier South Sydney rugby union club (which included Arthur Hennessy, South Sydney Rugby League club's first captain and coach), originally sported the famous red and green colours.
The most famous story of how the club got the "Rabbitohs" nickname comes from their rugby union days at the turn of the 20th century. During that period, players wearing their cardinal red and myrtle green football jumpers, earned some extra money on Saturday mornings by hawking rabbits around the district with the traditional cry of "Rabbitoh!" echoing through the narrow streets. As they made a sale, they would sling the bunny from their shoulder and skin it on the spot, inevitably accumulating some of the fur and blood on their jerseys as they did so. When they played in those blood stained jumpers that afternoon, opponents from wealthier rugby clubs did not always appreciate the aroma and would mockingly repeat the "Rabbitoh!" cry.
After further premierships in 1914 and 1918, Souths enjoyed the first of three golden premiership eras they would enjoy winning seven out of eight premierships from 1925–32, only missing out in 1930 where Wests broke through for their maiden premiership. Star players in Souths first golden era included Alf "Smacker" Blair, Eddie Root, try scoring , Benny Wearing (144 career tries), Alf O'Connor and , George Treweek.
In 1925 Souths won 15 games straight to go through the first grade season undefeated. The 1925 team is still the only Souths team to go through the first grade season undefeated.
Such was Souths' dominance in the early years of the rugby league competition that the Rabbitohs were labelled "The Pride of the League".
Premiership success evaded Souths between 1933-49 despite being runners up on four occasions before a new breed of Rabbitohs would make their mark on the game.
In 1948 Souths began playing their home games at Redfern Oval. Their first match there was a 19-all draw with Easts.
The 1950s golden era After missing the semi-finals for the previous four years, the Rabbitohs finished on top of the ladder at the end of the regular home and away season in 1949 ahead of Wests, St George and Balmain. However, they were beaten by St George twice: 16–12 in the first semi, then 19–12 in the grand final. In a rough game the Dragons had scored five tries to two. What followed, however. was a run where they won five of the next six titles. Souths' twelfth premiership, their first in almost two decades, came in 1950, when they again finished as minor premiers. They disposed of Newtown 30–4 before beating Wests 21–15 in the final.
1951 was a remarkable year as Souths finished the regular season 11 points clear of nearest rivals Manly, whom they dispatched in a devastating display 42–14 in the premiership decider. The 42 points remains the highest score by a team in a grand final.
Souths were beaten in 1952 in a very controversial final against Western Suburbs 22-12 where Souths had a fair try disallowed. It was Wests' fourth and final premiership. Leading the charge for Souths was captain Jack Rayner, whose side included Denis Donoghue, Les 'Chicka' Cowie, Johnny Graves, winger Ian Moir, Greg Hawick, Ernie Hammerton, goal-kicking forward Bernie Purcell and the great Clive Churchill.
In 1953, the Rabbitohs were once again minor premiers and narrowly beat Norths 5–4 in the first semi before a resounding victory over St George 31–12, with Churchill dominating the game. 1953 saw Newtown finish top of the ladder but they were beaten by Souths in the grand final 23–15.
The story of what Souths achieved in the season of 1955 is among the most famous in Australian sport. "The miracle of '55" was an epic fight in which the Rabbitohs won 11 virtual sudden-death matches in a row to steal the premiership. After the first match of the second round they had been equal second last on the ladder. In their incredible run home they came from behind in no less than five matches to win and earn themselves fourth spot and a place in the semi-finals. Mid season, stars Greg Hawick and Clive Churchill were injured and played no further part in the season. They beat Manly 14–12 in a desperate semi-final. They were down 14–11 in the final against St. George when in the dying minutes a try by winger Ian Moir and a pressure goal kicked by Bernie Purcell got them home.
The grand final against Newtown was a fitting finale after such a season. Newtown led 11–7 with six minutes to go. But the never-say-die Souths scrambled a try to halfback, Col Donohoe and converted it through Purcell to complete the fairytale with a 12–11 last gasp victory.
1956 was the beginning of the Dragons premiership era (finished 1966)– Souths finished third on the ladder but their season came to an end one match short of the Grand Final with a loss to Balmain 36–33. The pattern continued in 1957 as they finished third again and finished their season in the final, this time losing to Manly 15–11. After this they missed the semis for almost a decade.
"The Little Master"
The heart and soul of the Rabbitohs in the 1950s was undoubtedly Clive Churchill. "The Little Master", as he was nicknamed by admirers, was a fullback and is regarded by many as the greatest Australian Rugby League player. Originally hailing from Newcastle, he was signed by Souths as a youngster and he would be a central figure in two of Souths' golden eras.
Rabbitoh altered the traditional tactical approach to the fullback position during his playing era. Despite his smaller physical stature, he is recognized as one of the most influential players in the history of the sport.
Churchill also captained Australia in a record 24 Test matches but strangely didn't captain Souths to a premiership. Churchill played 34 Tests for Australia and the 1954 World Cup series. For six years he was Australia's captain, including three series against Great Britain. Churchill played his final test for Australia on the 1956-57 Kangaroo Tour. He finished playing with South Sydney after being captain-coach for the 1958 season.
After being the main player in Souths' golden run between 1950–55, Churchill was back as coach in 1967 to help end the dominance of St. George and steer the Rabbitohs to their final four premierships.
He died of cancer in 1985 aged 58. In his memory, a stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a place where he achieved many of his finest feats and acts of courage for South Sydney and Australia, was named after him. On grand final day, the best performed player in the grand final is awarded the prestigious "Clive Churchill Medal".
The 1960s and 1970s glory years
After their second golden era ended in 1955, the club had to wait a decade before making another premiership decider in 1965, and premiership in 1967. The remarkable St. George era of 11 consecutive premierships was sandwiched in between two special periods in the history of South Sydney. Churchill came back to coach the Rabbitohs and built a premiership team around a tough pack of forwards including Ron Coote (who is regarded as Australia's second best ever , after Johnny Raper), Bob McCarthy (who scored over 100 first grade tries), Gary Stevens, Bob Moses, John O'Neill, Jim Morgan, Elwyn Walters and inspirational captain John Sattler.
In February 1966 at Redfern Oval a record crowd of 18,701 saw Souths defeat premiers St George.
Souths would win four of the next five premierships between 1967 and 1971. In the 1967 grand final Souths beat Canterbury 12-10 following a spectacular intercept try by second row forward Bob McCarthy. In 1968 Souths defeated Manly 13-9 featuring a solo length of the field try by winger Mike Cleary. Souths lost the 1969 grand final 11–2 to Balmain who devised a controversial plan of "go slow" tactics in order to successfully disrupt Souths play. Souths convincingly beat Manly in the 1970 grand final with halfback Bob Grant starring with two tries. Souths' last grand final victory in 1971 saw them beat back a determined comeback by St. George in the second half to take out the game 16–10. This was their last grand final for 43 years ago. During this golden era Souths' backline also had plenty of class, including goal kicking legend Eric Simms, dual rugby internationals Michael Cleary and Jimmy Lisle, Paul Sait, Bob Honan, Brian James, brothers Ray and Arthur Branighan, Dennis Pittard and Bob Grant. Of the 1970 grand final side that beat Manly 23–12, only Arthur Branighan did not achieve International status. Souths was also a team of plenty of courage, highlighted by captain John Sattler in the 1970 grand final who in the early minutes was "king-hit" late and unexpectedly by Manly prop John Bucknall. The hit broke Sattler's jaw but he continued to play on for the full match and to lead by example.
Goal-kicking fullback Eric Simms broke many point-scoring records during this period, scoring a total of 1,841 first grade points (23 tries, 803 goals, 86 field goals) for the club by the end of his career. In 1969 Simms broke the record for the most points scored in a premiership season with 265, previously held by Dave Brown of Eastern Suburbs. Simms was such a great exponent of kicking field goals (including five in one game against Penrith in 1969) that in season 1971 the game's authorities eventually reduced the value of the field goal from two points to one.