Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs rivalry

The rivalry between the Sydney Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Teams is the longest surviving in the current National Rugby League competition. The two teams are the only remaining "foundation clubs" in the league, that is, they were both participants in the inaugural season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. Between them, the two clubs have managed to secure 32 premierships and 33 minor premierships, almost all of which were won between 1908 and 1975. The Rabbitohs however have secured a total of 20 premiersihps as opposed to the 12 won by the Roosters.

The two clubs neighbour each other in the inner suburbs Sydney and over the years have often been in bitter dispute over numerous issues. Despite being the two teams to have dominated the early seasons of the premiership and in fact being the two clubs to contest the first Grand Final, the last time the two clubs met in a finals match was in the 1938 season.

Incidents

The Roosters and their fans have built up rivalries with other clubs, particularly the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the other remaining foundation club. The Roosters and the Rabbitohs share inner-Sydney territory, causing a strong rivalry since 1908. The rivalry increased after 1950 due to conflict between junior territories, and escalated once more in the 1990s with the increased financial success of the Roosters eclipsing the decreasing funds of the Rabbitohs. In 2005, the Rabbitohs broke a ten-year, thirteen-game losing streak to the Roosters in a close 17–16 match.

Although the Rabbitohs drew key Roosters players to the Redfern-based club in previous years, the Roosters signed Rabbitohs captain Ashley Harrison and former South Sydney junior Braith Anasta from the Bulldogs; whom the Rabbitohs also heavily pursued—in 2005.

Late in 2007 former Rabbitohs turned Rooster Craig Wing signed on to return to South Sydney for the 2008 season. The signing was highighted by an event in which Craig Wing turned up to a Rabbitohs press conference in front of teams sponsorship logos while still under contract by the Roosters. Roosters chairman Nick Politis publicly criticised the press conference for the use of a player still contracted to the Roosters. In the last game of the regular season in 2007, both teams met in a fiery encounter in which the Roosters went on to win. The victory however was overshadowed by incidents in the game in which South Sydney second rower David Fa'alago was sent off for punching Braith Anasta after the Rabbitohs No 12 was held in a grapple tackle. Anasta-who was later sin-binned in the match for 'striking' Rabbitohs halfback Jeremy Smith-stated after the game that Fa'alago was a "weak human being".

In 2008 the rivalry hit boiling point in the lead up to their opening clash, which also was used to open the 2008 Centenary NRL season. Coming off a much improved 2007 season, the South Sydney Rabbitohs appeared to have one of their most competitive teams for the better half of two decades in which the Roosters have dominated most clashes against the Rabbitohs. Leading up to the match, the South Sydney Rabbitohs released their 'Book of Feuds', in which the author claimed the Roosters club "had no soul". Both Roosters coach Brad Fittler and player Willie Mason added their own views, stating they "hate Souths".

Management of South Sydney expressed their feelings for the Roosters by allocating poor seating to the Roosters officials and players families for the round 1 clash. NRL protocol dictates that the hosts of the game are to provide seating for the visiting teams officials and players families, there have been no other reported incidents of teams providing poor seating allocation for visiting teams.

The game itself proved just as controversial, in the 7th minute Rabbitohs recruit and former Rooster Craig Wing was severely injured after being shoulder charged on by hooker Riley Brown. While the incident did not receive any punishment and referral by the NRL Judiciary, the incident did not escape public scrutiny and mixed opinions are shared about the legality and integrity of the tackle, given Craig Wing was sidelined for close to 22 weeks. The Roosters went on to win the match 34–20.

Statistics

Statistics correct as of 1 January, 2008.

Other rivalries

The Bulldogs

The Sydney Roosters have a long-standing rivalry with fellow Sydney team, the Canterbury Bulldogs. Whilst both teams had crossed premiership paths in Grand Finals on four occasions, the most significant chapter came when the Sydney Roosters won the 2002 NRL Premiership on the back of a 10-game winning streak. This was the same year the premiership favourite Bulldogs were stripped of 37 points due to systematic breaches of the salary cap in the 2001 and the 2002 seasons. The following year, the Bulldogs prevailed in both regular season matchups with the Roosters; however, the Sydney Roosters retaliated by defeating the Bulldogs 28–18 in the Grand Final qualifier. In 2004, both teams met up in the Grand Final itself; the Bulldogs prevailed 16–13.

After the 2004 Grand Final the rivalry between both teams settled down. However since 2006, the rivalry has once again re-ignited with players and officials from both clubs trading blows against each other. The Roosters during this time acquired four of the Bulldogs first grade players; Braith Anasta (2006), Nate Myles (2007), Mark O'Meley (2008) and Willie Mason (2008). All four have played representative rugby league and all except Nate Myles were apart of the 2004 Bulldogs premiership winning team.

In leading up to their first game against each other in the 2008 season, the Bulldogs released a t-shirt with the label 'Bred not bought' with a cartoon depicting a Bulldog attacking a Rooster. The t-shirt which was considered a taunt at the Roosters recruiting techniques and was subject to media scrutiny and led to Roosters great and former recruitment manager Arthur Beetson criticising the release of the t-shirt and also questioning the merits of the Bulldogs' recruitment policies. The match itself, played in round 4 of the 2008 NRL season was the subject of much media hype. The Roosters won comfortably, 40-12, with former Bulldog Willie Mason featuring strongly, scoring two tries.

St George Illawarra Dragons

The two sides' rivalry started back in 2001 when these two sides drew 20-all at WIN Stadium halfway through that season. Since 2002, the two sides have clashed on ANZAC Day, the Roosters winning the first ever match by 24-20. However the Dragons did win the 2003 ANZAC Day match by the same margin. 2004 saw an eventful 11-8 win to the Roosters before the Dragons won the next two clashes. In 2007, the Roosters ended their worst ever start to a season by winning 18-4 - in the process notching up their 1000th win in their 100 year history. This year, the Roosters put in a shocker losing 29-0.

The Roosters won the 1975 Grand Final which is now the second biggest ever Grand Final winning margin - 38-0 (8 tries, 7 goals) against St George (even though the scoreline was only 5-0 at halftime).

Brisbane Broncos

The two teams' rivalry stems back to 1998 when the Roosters famously upset the eventual premiers 26-12 at the former ANZ Stadium during the regular season. However, in the preliminary final that year the Roosters were smashed 46-18 at the same venue.

The two teams met in the last daytime Grand Final way back in 2000 with the Broncos winning 14-6. Since 2001, the two teams have clashed on Good Friday, however the Roosters have only won 2 from 8 clashes which are always held at the Sydney Football Stadium. The Roosters avenged their 2000 Grand Final loss by defeating the Broncos 16-12 in the preliminary final in 2002, and then went on to win the title.

In 2003 the Roosters were the Broncos' only Suncorp Stadium victims; despite leading 8-4 at halftime they lost 10-8. However they got one back in 2005, winning 17-10. That was the Roosters' first win at the old ground since 1991 and have not played there since.

Good Friday Clashes