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NSWRL Jim Beam Cup
Club name Wentworthville Magpies
First Season 1937
Ground Ringrose Park, Wentworthville
Coach Robert "Rip" Taylor
Premierships 10

The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as Wenty, are a Rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963, the club has competed in various Sydney district competitions and, since 2003, the semi-professional NSWRL Jim Beam Cup (now the Bundaberg Red Cup) competition in NSW, Australia. The club also now fields a club in the NSW Cup as part of a joint-venture with the Parramatta Eels.[1][2]

Inter-District/Second Division/Metropolitan Cup

During this period Wentworthville ("The Magpies") was the most successful club at this level of competition, competing in every grand final of the Second Division between 1964 and 1973 (winning all but the 1966 and 1972 grand finals).

The club won a total of 8 premierships during the history of the Second Division (including 5 in a row between 1967 - 1971). Due to their domination of the competition 'Wenty' was widely considered the best candidate for promotion to the NSWRL Premiership when two positions were made available for the 1967 competition. Due to their proximity to Parramatta, where a Premiership club was established in 1946, the Magpies were overlooked.[3]

When the Second Division was reorganised as the Metropolitan League in 1974 the Magpies left the competition to play in the Illawarra Rugby League competition, believing they could find greater competition on the South Coast. They failed to repeat this success in the Illawarra competition.[4]

The club returned to the Sydney competition when it was reorganised as the Metropolitan Cup in 1990, winning premierships in 1998 and 1999.

Their motto is Fairness, Action, Knowledge, Excellence. Both Fans and players have these initials written on their arms followed by the word Magpies.

Wills Cup

Wentworthville had one opportunity to compete against Sydney's first-grade clubs when they were invited, as champi ons of the 1969 Second Division, to compete in the 1970 NSWRL pre-season competition (then known as the Wills Cup). Second Division 1969 runners-up University of Sydney were also invited to participate.

Wentworthville finished 12th (above Penrith Panthers and University) in the competition with 1 win and 3 loses and a points differential of -21. They played games against Parramatta, University, Penrith and Western Suburbs. Their win came against local rivals Parramatta, winning 12 - 8 at Cumberland Oval but they failed to defeat fellow Second Division club, University, narrowly losing 19 - 17.

Despite a promising win against a top-flight side the experiment of inviting Second Division teams to participate in first-grade competitions was not considered a success and was never repeated.

Jim Beam Cup/Bundaberg Red Cup

The Wentworthville Magpies joined the NSWRL Jim Beam Cup in its first year in 2003 and were runners-up to The Entrance Tigers in the 2003 Grand Final.[5] In 2009 they won the Bundaberg Red Grand Final against the Cabramatta 'Two' Blues.

NSWRL State League/Premier League

In 2007, Parramatta Eels announced that they would form a joint-venture with the club to play in the NSWRL Premier League/State League. The Team includes players from both the Eels and the Magpies from the Bundaberg Red Cup. The joint-venture won their first Premiership in 2008, defeating the Newtown Jets in Golden Point Extra Time, with the match duration lasting in excess of 100 minutes.[6]

During the 2008 season, such names as internationals Joe Galuvao, Eric Grothe, and Krisnan Inu all donned the famous black & white jersey of the Wenty club, along with fellow regular first graders Ben Smith, Tim Smith, Junior Paulo, Weller Hauraki & Todd Lowrie among others.

The new NRL season sees 2008 Magpies Justin Horo, Jeremy Latimore, James Grehan and Jonathon Wright all join the extended Eels squad, edging them closer to a maiden NRL berth.

The Magpies and Eels will once again join forces in the NSW Cup in 2009. In addition, the Magpies will also field a team in the Bundaberg Red Cup (formerly the Jim Beam Cup), with both competitions running concurrently.

Joe Galuvao - 2008 Wentworthville Magpies Player of the Year

Notable Juniors

Notable First Grade Players that have played at Wentworthville Magpies include:

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Magpies in deal with Eels, Parramatta Sun, 5 December 2007 Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  2. ^ Wentworthville 2009, www.parraeels.com.au Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  3. ^ Sean Fagan, History of the Cronulla Sharks Retrieved on 11 March 2007
  4. ^ The Mick Alchin Interview, www.kellyskids.info Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  5. ^ Steve Mascord, Send-off adds salt to the wound, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 October 2003 Retrieved on 18 April 2009
  6. ^ Steve Mascord, The Grand Final no one had a clue how to win, Herald Sun, 5 October 2008 Retrieved on 18 April 2009
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