Group 17 Rugby League

Group 17 is a rugby league competition based in the Riverina and Central West regions of New South Wales, Australia which collapsed in 2006 and reformed in 2018.

Group 17 Rugby League
SportRugby league
Inaugural season1955
Ceased2006 (reformed 2018)
Number of teams6
Country Australia
Premiers Rankins Springs Dragons (2018)
Most titles Barellan Rams (9 titles)
WebsiteWestern Riverina Community Cup
Proten Community Cup Rugby League on facebook

History

Rugby league in the district began as an inter-town competition between Hillston, Merriwagga, Goolgowi and Hay. The competition was suspended during World War 2.

It reformed in 1947 as the 'Western Zone' with teams from Hay, Darlington Point, Goolgowi, Carrathool and two teams from Hillston, 'Town' and 'Country'. Tullibigeal joined during the 1950s, and won the 1965 Clayton Cup, the Country Rugby League's highest honour, but later departed to form the TLU Sharks with Lake Cargelligo. Sometime between then and 1965, when Coleambally entered, the league became known as group 17. In 1973, two of the competition's biggest teams, Darlington Point and Coleambally merged and joined the neighbouring Group 20 Rugby League (Griffith and District) competition. Darlington Point had far outgrown the competition, going undefeated in 1968 to win the Clayton Cup.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the competition sustained a high level of competition, with eight clubs participating. More Clayton Cups were won by Group 17 clubs, with Rankins Springs (1993), Barellan (1999 and 2002) and Hillston (2006) all claiming the trophy. But by the 2000s, the Millennial Drought had caused many of the teams to be weakened, due to farming, the primary industry in the region, becoming not only unprofitable, but almost impossible. The competition collapsed after the 2006 season.

The competition was revived in 2018 as the Group 17 ProTen Community Cup, with six teams participating. The format involved at five rounds followed by semi-finals and a grand final. In each round, all three games were played at the same venue.[1]

The competition retained the same format in 2019 (with six rounds instead of five), with the Grand Final being held in Ivanhoe. The 2020 season is in limbo due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clubs
Club Nickname Home Ground No. of Premierships Premiership Years
Hillston Bluebirds Stan Peters Oval, Hillston 8 1979-80, 1983, 1986–88, 1996, 2006
Barellan Rams Barellan Football Ground 9 1973-4, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1999, 2002–03
Goolgowi Rabbitohs Goolgowi Recreation Ground 6 1977, 1985, 1992, 2004–05, 2019
Ivanhoe Roosters Sahara Oval, Ivanhoe 0 None
Rankins Springs Dragons Rankins Springs Recreation Ground 4 1993, 1997, 2000, 2018
Narrandera Lizards Narrandera Sports Ground 0 None

Past participants in the Group 17 competition included:

All statistics are post 1966
Bold indicates that the club fielded a team in the 2006 First-Grade competition.

Grand Finals
Group 17 Grand Finals 1967-2006, 2018–19
Season Premiers Score Runners-Up Coach Report Minor Premiers
1967 Euabalong Tigers 20-13 Hay Magpies
1968 Darlington Point 14-4 Euabalong Tigers
1969 Tullibigeal 27-9 Deniliquin Blue Heelers
1970
1971 Deniliquin Blue Heelers 26-14 Goolgowi Rabbitohs B Cotton
1972 Hay Magpies 26-9 Deniliquin Blue Heelers B. Curtis
1973 Barellan Rams 41-2 Goolgowi Rabbitohs R. Murdoch
1974 Barellan Rams 27-8 Hay Magpies R. Murdoch
1975 Hay Magpies 25-11 Goolgowi Rabbitohs M. Johnston
1976 Barellan Rams 9-3 Goolgowi-Merriwagga Rabbitohs Greg Smith
1977 Goolgowi-Merriwagga Rabbitohs 23-19 Hay Magpies Greg Byrnes
1978 Barellan Rams 9-5 Hillston Bluebirds J. Campbell
1979 Hillston Bluebirds 16-10 Rankins Springs Dragons G. Saddler
1980 Hillston Bluebirds 27-19 Rankins Springs Dragons John Sheridan
1981 Barellan Rams 27-3 Hillston Bluebirds P. O'Brien
1982 Hay Magpies 23-15 Hillston Bluebirds Kevin Goldspink
1983 Hillston Bluebirds 38-36 Weethalle Laurie Townsend TAN[2] Hay Magpies
1984 Barellan Rams 14-2 Goolgowi Rabbitohs Mick Trembath TAN[3] Goolgowi Rabbitohs
1985 Goolgowi Rabbitohs 8-6 Hay Magpies Mick Turner Goolgowi Rabbitohs
1986 Hillston Bluebirds 16-5 Barellan Rams Ray Schaefer Hillston Bluebirds
1987 Hillston Bluebirds 34-29 Ivanhoe Roosters Ray Schaefer Hillston Bluebirds
1988 Hillston Bluebirds 18-6 Goolgowi-Merriwagga Rabbitohs Ray Schaefer Hay Magpies
1989 Hay Magpies 20-18 Goolgowi-Merriwagga Rabbitohs Neil Nesbit Hay Magpies
1990 Hay Magpies 26-14 Goolgowi-Merriwagga Rabbitohs Neil Nisbet Goolgowi Rabbitohs
1991 Hay Magpies 14-6 Hillston Bluebirds Neil Nisbet Hay Magpies
1992 Goolgowi Rabbitohs 14-0 Rankins Springs Dragons John Barzan TAN[4] Goolgowi Rabbitohs
1993 Rankins Springs Dragons 34-16 Hay Magpies Stuart Vearing TAN[5] Rankins Springs Dragons
1994 Hay Magpies 27-18 Hillston Bluebirds Chris Aylett TAN[6] YT[7] Ivanhoe Roosters
1995 Hay Magpies 38-10 Rankins Springs Dragons Jack Byrnes TAN[8] YT[9] Barellan Rams
1996 Hillston Bluebirds 22-8 Whitton Bulls John Townsend TAN[10] Whitton Bulls
1997 Rankins Springs Dragons 50-10 Whitton Bulls Steve Schmetzer TAN[11] Rankins Springs Dragons
1998 Whitton Bulls 20-12 Barellan Rams James Mason and Shane Bamblett TAN[12] Whitton Bulls
1999 Barellan Rams 38-22 Rankins Springs Dragons Barellan Rams
2000 Rankins Springs Dragons 34-20 Barellan Rams Stuart Vearing TAN[13] Barellan Rams
2001 Whitton Bulls 32-28 Rankins Springs Dragons John Pannowitz (Co-coach) TAN[14] Whitton Bulls
2002 Barellan Rams 10-7 Whitton Bulls Clint Halden TAN[15] Barellan Rams
2003 Barellan Rams 22-2 Rankins Springs Dragons Hay Magpies
2004 Goolgowi Rabbitohs 26-12 Barellan Rams Greg Borger TAN[16] Goolgowi Rabbitohs
2005 Goolgowi Rabbitohs 31-28 Hillston Bluebirds Greg Borger TAN[17] Goolgowi Rabbitohs
2006 Hillston Bluebirds 32-0 Rankins Springs Dragons Hillston Bluebirds
2007-17 hiatus due to drought
2018 Rankins Springs Dragons 16-10 Goolgowi Rabbitohs YT[18] TAN[19] Rankins Springs Dragons
2019 Goolgowi Rabbitohs 22-6 Narrandera Lizards TAN[20] Goolgowi Rabbitohs

Sources
YearsItemVia
1967-69, 1971–96 Country Rugby League Annual Report State Library of NSW
1983 to 2005 The Area News Microfilm copies at State Library of NSW
2003 to 2006 Rugby League Week Bound copies at State Library of NSW
2003 to 2006 Rugby League Week eResources at State Library of NSW
2018 to 2019 Various Newspaper Websites As referenced

References
  1. "ProTen Community Cup bringing Rugby League Back to Group 17 after 12 years". Country Rugby League. Daily Advertiser. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  2. "Riverina League Scoreboard". The Area News. 23 August 1983. p. 23.
  3. "Rugby League Scoreboard". The Area News. 28 August 1984. p. 19.
  4. "Goolgowi too strong in wet". The Area News. 3 September 1992. p. 26.
  5. "Dragons slay Magpies to take Group 17 title". The Area News. 6 September 1993. p. 21.
  6. "Hay beats all the odds to win the flag". The Area News. 5 September 1994. p. 22.
  7. "1994 Group 17 Grand Final (Hay Magpies v Hillston Bluebirds)". YouTube. 8 January 2012 [1994]. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. "Hay makes it a double". The Area News. 18 September 1995. p. 28.
  9. "Hay Magpies vs Rankin Springs 1995 Group 17 Grand Final Part 8". YouTube. 25 June 2013 [1995]. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  10. "Hillston picks up the double". The Area News. 9 September 1996. p. 20.
  11. "Springs too good". The Area News. 8 September 1997. p. 24.
  12. "Whitton finally make it - Glory for Bulls as they take out Group 17 premiership". The Area News. 7 September 1998. p. 27.
  13. Stratton, Michael (4 September 2000). "Rankin Springs runs away with Group 17 title". The Area News. p. 20.
  14. "Bulls charge over Dragons". The Area News. 10 September 2001. p. 24.
  15. Stratton, Michael (11 September 2002). "Barellan holds on in thriller". The Area News. p. 28.
  16. Malone, Matt (13 September 2004). "Rabbitohs premiers after 12-year drought". The Area News. p. 24.
  17. Malone, Matt (29 August 2005). "Rabbitohs clinch a three-point victory - Goolgowi scores back-to-back victories". The Area News. p. 28.
  18. "Match Highlights: Rankins Springs Vs Goolgowi - Grand Final, 2018". YouTube. Rankins Springs Dragons RLFC. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  19. Stratton, Michael (22 July 2020). "Rankins Springs defeat Goolgowi in ProTen Community Cup grand final". The Area News. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  20. Stratton, Michael (28 July 2019). "Goolgowi defeat Narrandera in the ProTen Community Cup". The Area News. Retrieved 15 April 2020.


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