PREMIERSHIPS WON
“Thus the victory lies with the Wallaroo Club, leaving them for this season the premier club of the colony.”
SYDNEY CLUB PREMIERS: 1870 ● 1872 ● 1873 ● 1874 ● 1875 ● 1876 ● 1877 ● 1878 ● 1879 ● 1880 ● 1892 ● 1894 ● 1899
THIRTY YEARS OF WALLAROO FOOTBALLERS DODGINGS AND DUMPINGS
Established as the foundational powerhouse of Rugby football in Sydney, Wallaroo Football Club forged an unrivalled competitive legacy by capturing 13 premiership titles between 1870 and 1899.
Throughout the pioneer “fixture list” era of the 1870s, when the premiership was a highly respected title of merit rather than a trophy, Wallaroo engineered a spectacular decade of dominance, claiming the crown in ten out of eleven seasons. Whether defending their titles on the field or dismissing the post season club room and newspaper letter premiership claims of rivals, Wallaroo was the definitive benchmark of first-class football.
As the sport transitioned into the formal NSWRU structured competition era, Wallaroo proved to be the competitive bedrock of the colony, securing three final premiership victories in 1892, 1894, and 1899.
By the dawn of the rigid 1900 district club scheme that ended the era of social cosmopolitan clubs, Wallaroo stood alone at the pinnacle of the sport with their 13 titles, comfortably clear of their nearest rival, Sydney University, who trailed with nine.
Wallaroo FC did not merely participate in the evolution of Australian club Rugby; for three brilliant decades, they defined it.
A DECADE OF DOMINANCE
(1870 to 1880)
Club Rugby arrived in Sydney with the founding of Wallaroo Football Club in 1870. The city’s Rugby clubs initially organised their matches in much the same way as the great London clubs — Blackheath, Richmond, Harlequins, Wasps, Guy’s Hospital, and others — through a ‘fixture list’ of dates arranged directly between clubs on a friendly basis. Some games were also played against schools, military teams and other institutions. Quite frankly, a club not on Wallaroo’s fixture list could not be considered first-class.
” … when the Rugby was the only style of play recognised here, certain clubs existed who played each other regularly at intervals every season, and the only contests which were looked forward to with any degree of interest were those in which the University, Wallaroo, Waratah, and King’s School were engaged … ”
— Sydney Mail, 10 June 1882
In this era, the ‘Premiership’ was a title of merit, not a trophy in a cabinet. A club’s reputation was built by the strength of its fixture list and the quality of the teams it defeated. Clubs judged their own performance by their results against the strongest opposition and their own view on any contested points or results.
In many cases it was obvious to all at season’s end who held the ‘high honour’ as the ‘premier club’. Sometimes it was not so clear, and while newspapers and the public offered their views, there were no official rankings, league table, points system or knockout cup.
At first (1870-73) the premier club each season was determined solely on the matches between the Sydney University men (SUFC) and the Wallaroos. As the decade progressed the addition of further ‘first class’ clubs and these results were increasingly taken into account. The games by and against the schools however were all excluded.
The 1870s was Wallaroo’s dynasty alone as the preeminent and dominant football club of the colony, winning or holding the premiership each year but one from 1870 to 1880. Across this entire decade, Wallaroo FC consistently emerged on every season’s merits as Sydney’s rightful ‘premier club’.
1870
“… victory remaining with the ‘Wallaroos.’ This is the first season of the above club, and has proved a very successful one, and we trust next winter they will be again in the field…”
— The Sydney Mail, 15 August 1870
1872
“Thus the victory lies with the Wallaroo Club, leaving them for this season the premier club of the colony.”
— Australian Town and Country Journal, 24 August 1872
1873
“… it is mainly by your energy and spirit that it can retain the prominent position which it has hitherto held.”
— The Sydney Mail, 2 May 1874 (WFC annual meeting 28 April 1874)
1874
“the premier club of the metropolis…During the past season, the Wallaroos took a strong lead of all the other clubs … they have never lost a game, and every draw has turned out greatly in their favour.”
— The Sydney Mail, 3 October 1874
1875
“… congratulating you upon the position maintained during the past season, for although not so uniformly successful as during 1874, the club still ranks in a premier position.”
— Australian Town and Country Journal, 27 May 1876 (WFC annual meeting 24 April 1876)
1876
“The Wallaroos have enjoyed a very successful season, and acquired the proud position of the Premiership.”
— Footballer: An Annual Record of Football in Victoria and the Australian Colonies, 1876 edition
1877
“…the premier position is still maintained by the Wallaroo, undoubtedly the best club in the colony, successful in nearly all big matches…“
— Footballer: An Annual Record of Football in Victoria and the Australian Colonies, 1877 edition
1878
“The Wallaroos have fought well for the honourable position they now occupy as premier club … they are therefore entitled to all the honour and glory which appertains to the position of premier club.”
— The Sydney Mail, 10 May 1879
1879
“…the first fifteen succeeded in defeating every club that was opposed to them, thus leaving no doubt as to their right to the title of ‘the premier club of the colony’.”
— The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 1880 (WFC annual meeting 4 May 1880)
1880
“Your committee in presenting their eleventh annual report have again to congratulate you upon the highly successful result of the past season.”
— The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 May 1881 (WFC annual meeting 10 May 1881)
1881
“Which is to be the premier club this season at the Rugby game? I ask the question because it does not appear probable that the once invincible marsupials will be able to hold the pride of place”.
— The Sydney Mail, 18 June 1881
Wallaroo FC were runners-up to SUFC in 1871, 1881 and 1882.
THE NSWRU COMPETITIONS & TROPHIES ERA
(1883 to 1899)
Sydney was not London. As new suburban and working-class clubs emerged through the 1880s, there was growing demand for the NSWRU (then called the Southern RFU) to introduce and oversee scheduled and organised club competitions.
Many of these clubs came and went from the first grade scene like a comet, while the Wallaroos remained the bedrock of the competition and Sydney club Rugby. The Wallaroo club also continued to have its annual matches with the King’s School and other arranged games and country visits, while fulfilling the now competitive formal club season.
Through the 1890s Wallaroo FC played under the growing shadow of the proposed district-club scheme, which eventually arrived in 1900 and brought the demise of Wallaroo and the other social ‘cosmopolitan’ clubs.
Despite these challenges, Wallaroo FC won three further premierships in this era — 1892 (‘Royal Agricultural Society’s Challenge Shield’), 1894 (‘Union Medals’) and 1899 (‘Union Medals’).
1892
“The Royal Agricultural Society’s Challenge Shield was handed to the Wallaroo representative amidst deafening cheers, which clearly proved that the club was considered to have well-earned its position of ‘premier’.”
— The Referee, 28 September 1892
1894
“A meeting of the committee of the Rugby Union was held on Monday, when it was decided that the Wallaroo Club be declared the premiers for season 1894, and be awarded the Union medals.”
— The Daily Telegraph, 31 August 1894
1899
“We may hail Wallaroo as the 1899 premiers, and offer congratulations upon their successes. It is generally admitted that Wallaroo is the finest team of the year; good all round back and forward, and especially strong in attack.”
— The Referee, 6 September 1899
CONTESTED CLAIMS OF OTHERS
“There is an amount of self-glorification about [clubs annual reports] which will perhaps be distasteful to other clubs, who have not the same justification for crowing; but this cannot be helped. Certain clubs must win and others lose, and the victors, as long as they stick to facts and do not clap their wings too noisily, have a perfect right to exalt themselves.”
— The Sydney Mail, 10 May 1879
Acknowledging that there are retroactive claims by supporters of SUFC to 1873 as sole premiers, or at least joint premiers with Wallaroo FC. However, as mentioned above, the premier club each season between 1870-73 was determined solely on the matches between the University men and the Wallaroos. In 1873 there were three such games, all resulting in draws. On that basis, as in boxing bouts or Ashes cricket series, the champion Wallaroo FC retains the title.
Some retroactive compiled lists of premiers include Waratah and Balmain at 1874 and 1875, yet there was no such claims at the time, nor was it yet the role of the fledgling NSWRU to become involved or make any declaration.
Waratah in 1874 did not go beyond stating they were on a par, however in their two meetings Wallaroo defeated them in one game and the other was a goal-less draw with Waratah forced to touch-down 19 times in their own in-goal area.
Similarly the next season, Balmain played two goal-less draws against Wallaroo, and in the second of these gave up 17 forced touch-downs. At a meeting of the Balmain club in 1881 they volunteered that this (1881) was the first season they had yet stood among the leading clubs, making no mention of 1875.
While the SUFC openly asserted after the 1875 season that it was the premier club, Wallaroo FC at its annual meeting of 24 April 1876 publicly declared “the club still ranks in a premier position” and dismantled the SUFC’s claim, which included SUFC disregarding a third match between the two clubs. SUFC had also lost a game against Balmain during 1875.
Wallaroo FC continued to recognise the 1894 premiership as being awarded to them alone, despite the NSWRU later revoking its decision and declaring Randwick the winners based on it winning a trophy final over the Wallaroos — a decision that did not accord with the NSWRU’s own rules that the premiership was to be awarded to the team with the best record over the season. [See The 1894 Premiership Heist }
THE UNRIVALLED LEGACY OF WALLAROO FC
By the dawn of the district-club era in 1900—the precursor to today’s Shute Shield—Wallaroo FC stood alone with 13 premierships. Their nearest rival, SUFC, trailed with nine.
Wallaroo did not just play the game; for three decades, they defined it.
All website text & content © Sean Fagan
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“A great club throughout its entire existence of over a quarter of a century, Wallaroo has done great work for Rugby football in this colony.”
— The Referee, 27 September 1899
