An NRL match 76 years in the making

A Ray Stehr would have set you back around four cents, Australia had just retained the Ashes in England under captain Don Bradman, Britain, France and Czechoslovakia had begun war preparations to combat Nazi Germany and the United Australia Party’s Joseph Lyons was prime minister.

That is a snapshot of Australia the last time South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters last met in a first grade final on August 27, 1938.

Tennis great Rod Laver and TV star Bert Newton had been born just weeks before, unemployment had eased to 11 per cent down from 32 per cent at the height of the Great Depression and Porky Pig had become a hugely popular movie star.

Most importantly to Roosters fans, a crowd of 14,161 attended the SCG to see Eastern Suburbs beat South Sydney 19-10 to progress through to the NSWRFL final which would decide that year’s title.

The world has, of course, changed irrevocably and almost unimaginably since the foundation clubs and NRL heavyweights last clashed in a game of such significance as Friday night’s preliminary final at ANZ Stadium.

It is a game 76 years, or some 27,789 days in the making.

The arch-rivals have clashed every season since that 1938 semi-final, excluding the 2000 and 2001 seasons when the Rabbitohs were excluded from the NRL premiership.

In that time, they have collected 15 premierships between them, nine for Souths and six for the Roosters, without ever crossing paths again in the playoffs.

Coached by rugby league legend Arthur “Pony” Halloway, an Easts side containing some of the game’s then-biggest names in Sid “Joe” Pearce, Dick Dunn and Stehr – whose name was widely adopted as rhyming slang for beer – got the better of their nemesis Souths that afternoon, who were coached by Charlie Lynch and captained by Fred Felsch.

According to From Where the Sun Rises – 100 years of the Sydney Roosters, written by Ian Heads, Geoff Armstrong and David Middleton, “Andy Norval’s slashing try, when he charged unopposed through a confused red-and-green defence in the second half of the semi, was a triumphant hurrah for one of rugby league’s greatest club teams” in Easts’ nine-point win.

Eastern Suburbs lost the final and the 1938 title to Canterbury a week later in the final, 19-6.

One similarity does remain between the two games, the surname Pearce has crossed that 76-year gap.

Halfback Mitchell Pearce will line up for the Roosters on Friday night, however he is not related to “Joe”.

AUSTRALIA IN 1938 WHEN THE ROOSTERS AND RABBITOHS LAST MET IN A NRL FINAL

– a beer cost around four cents

– The United Australia Party’s Joseph Lyons was prime minister

– Tennis great Rod Laver and TV star Bert Newton were just born

– Don Bradman just helped Australia regain the Ashes in England

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