Was Glebe Home to Australia’s First Rugby League Club?
From working-class rebellion and a broken arm to the birth of the Dirty Reds, Glebe has been at the heart of Australian rugby league since 1908
By Matt Murphy
Before rugby league, rugby union, and several arguments about which code is better, there was just “football”. The first recorded game in Australia was played at the Sydney barracks in Paddington in 1829. Newspapers reported plenty of excitement among spectators, but frustratingly for historians, they didn't bother to explain exactly what the players were doing. It’s generally presumed the game resembled something closer to modern-day soccer.
Rugby Union officially arrived in 1864, when students at Sydney University took on visiting English sailors. Unlike the earlier version of football, this game involved actually picking the ball up – a revolutionary concept at the time. By 1870, Rugby Union was flourishing, with international tours beginning in 1881.
Amateur Rugby Roots
There was just one problem: it was strictly amateur. For working-class players, that was a serious obstacle. Taking time off work to play was difficult enough; getting injured and losing weeks of wages could be financially disastrous.
Across the world, players began to wonder if getting paid to play sport could be possible. The solution came in Northern England, 1895, with the formation of the Northern Rugby Football Union. Players could be paid, compensated for injuries, and the rules were changed to make the game faster and more practical. Rucks and mauls were removed, with the play-the-ball introduced after a tackle. This new code would eventually become known as rugby league.
The idea travelled south after a New Zealand rugby team toured England in 1905, its players encountered both the new game and its approach to player welfare. Australia was soon paying attention.
Then came a broken arm. In 1907, Glebe player Alex Burdon - reportedly a fiery redhead - suffered an injury that left him facing lost wages and a hefty medical bill. It was the sort of experience that made the shortcomings of amateur rugby rather difficult to ignore.
Transition To Professional Rugby League
On 8 August 1907, a meeting at Bateman’s Hotel in Sydney set the wheels in motion for a new professional code in Australia, drawing on the Northern Union model of player payments and injury insurance. And Glebe was ready to get involved.
On 9 January 1908, a meeting in Glebe resolved to establish a rugby league team, giving the district a strong claim to being the birthplace of Australian rugby league. It is, of course, disputed.
Neighbouring Newtown insists it got there first, claiming its own meeting was held a day earlier. Glebe's response: the Newtown meeting was only a discussion about whether a team should be formed, rather than a formal decision to establish one. According to Glebe, the minutes of Newtown's subsequent meeting on 14 January provide the first clear record So, who was first? More than a century later, the argument is still alive.
Glebe didn't have to wait long to take the field. On 20 April 1908, the newly formed team played its first match at Wentworth Park, captained by Alex Burdon. The Dirty Reds defeated Newcastle 8–5 and finished their first season third out of nine teams. The team became known as the “Dirty Reds”, thanks to their distinctive maroon jerseys.
Burdon went on to become one of the early stars of the new code, representing Australia on the 1908–09 tour of England and captaining the third Test. He later coached the Australian team.
Glebe's best season came in 1911, when the Dirty Reds won the minor premiership. They lost the final to Eastern Suburbs 22–9 but, under the rules of the time, were given another chance. They lost the rematch too, going down 11–8 in front of 20,000 spectators.
The Dirty Reds would never win a premiership.
Glebe's Rugby Decline
Over time, Glebe's fortunes declined. Changing demographics, industries moving out of the area and rules requiring players to live within their club's district all reduced the local player pool.
After three poor seasons, Glebe was expelled from the competition in 1929 in a 13–12 vote by the NSW Rugby League's Boundaries Committee. The decision was not exactly greeted with enthusiasm. The press described Glebe's expulsion as “an act of bastardry”, while accusations circulated that neighbouring Balmain, facing similar problems with its own playing base, had pushed for Glebe's removal. It wasn't the only club to disappear.
Annandale, which joined in 1910, was removed in 1920 after years near the bottom of the ladder. Sydney University joined in 1920 and eventually withdrew in 1937, having finished last in 12 of its 18 seasons.
But Glebe wasn't gone for good. In 2017, the club returned to rugby league's lower grades through a joint venture with Concord and Burwood. Today, Glebe operates as a standalone club, still wearing the traditional maroon – or “dirty red” – jersey.
And the old club still knows how to win. In 2024, Glebe claimed the Massey Cup, defeating Wentworthville 19–6 in the grand final. So, was Glebe Australia's first rugby league club? Newtown might have something to say about that.
But there is no disputing that more than a century ago, Glebe was right at the heart of the game's arrival in Australia - and that the Dirty Reds were there from the very beginning.
