Australian Football

Redfern competed in the New South Wales Australian Football League during that competition’s first eight seasons, during which time it was always competitive, but never won a premiership. The closest it came was in 1906 when it reached the premiership play-off against Newtown, but kicked atrociously in losing 1.14 (20) to 9.8 (62).

The 1911 season brought a name change to South Sydney following which the side quickly emerged as a force. After finishing third in 1913 it reached the following year’s grand final where it recorded a 7.7 (49) to 4.15 (39) victory over Sydney. The success was short-lived, however, as the club struggled to field a team during the war years, disbanding temporarily in 1917, and then on a more prolonged basis between 1919 and 1924.

The 1930s were South Sydney’s halcyon years. The club never once missed the finals, and reached the ultimate match of the year half a dozen times for two premierships. The early war years saw the club continuing to perform consistently well without quite managing to add to its premiership tally. It came heart-breakingly close in 1941, losing the grand final against Eastern Suburbs by a point, and was runner up again in 1942 and 1943.

After 1943 the club went into gradual decline, however. Its last finals appearance for a quarter of a century came in 1949, and most of its last two and a half decades in the competition saw it battling to avoid the wooden spoon - a battle it lost on seven occasions.