Southern Districts Rugby Club

Southern Districts Rugby Club
Welcome to the official page of
Southern Districts Rugby Club. This remained the club's uniform until the move to Sylvania.

Formed in 1989 by the amalgamation of St George and Port Hacking rugby clubs, with headquarters at Forshaw Park, Sylvania, south of Sydney. The new club played in red, sky blue, white and black jumpers and fielded 6 grade teams, 3 colts' sides, and an under-19XV. Accommodation is limited at Forshaw Park to 2000 but the club has enjoyed splendid support since the amalgamation. St George, founded in

1906, brought to the mix a long record of figuring prominently in 1st grade finals, but not in living memory and with only one premiership win - in 1957, when St George beat Gordon 21-3 in the Grand Final. St George showed promise of great success when it first came into the Sydney competition but was one of the clubs which suffered heavily from the decision to postpone all football for the duration of World War I. The club was forced to disband in 1915 and did not function again until 1928 when the famous Test forward Harold Judd was instrumental in reforming it. Judd coached St George 1st Grade after the 13-year break from competition and his son Bruce, a Waratah, helped him revive the club. Since winger Dan Carroll became St George's first international when he won selection in the first Wallabies for the tour of England, Wales and North America in 1908-09, 28 players from the club have won international honours, including Mick Clifford, dual international (for Australia and the All Blacks), Owen Stephens, Arthur Buchan, Alan Cameron who played 266 games for the club Eddie Stapleton 236, Terry Casey 105, Ron Graham 167 and Bruce Battishall. St George was relegated to 2nd division in 1979, but won promotion back to 1st division after only one season by beating Sydney University. St George played in single-colour jumpers to save costs, playing in purple in 1928 and in orange during World War II, but when Bill Cerutti became the club coach he recommended that it adopt the red-and-white-striped jumper of the Transvaal Club. At this time Randwick was playing in red-and-white jumpers, but following requests from St George they changed their colours. The myrtle green that Randwick now play in, was adopted from the destination boards of the trams that ran to Coogee. Port Hacking began when a group of lifesavers from Cronulla, North Cronulla and Wanda clubs tried to enter a junior league competition but were rejected because they could only muster one team. They entered the team instead, in the 1957 Whiddon Cup in the competition with Lance Turbet president, Norm Rees secretary and Allan Carruthers treasurer of what was known as the North Cronulla SLSC Rugby Club. They won the Whiddon Cup at their first attempt and the next season won the Burke Cup. After success in 2 nd division competitions over the preceding 9 seasons (the only club to win 4 grand finals), Port Hacking joined a Sydney competition expanded to 12 teams with Warringah in 1971 and won five matches in its first season. Since then Port Hacking's teething problems were overcome through the efforts of an emerging bunch of players, such as Greg Halpin and Michael Netherey, backed by the experience of Graeme MacDougall, Gary Pearse, John Lambie and John Coolican. The location of the club on the southern outskirts of Sydney gave rugby an important foothold in a fast-developing area. There were grumbles from members of both clubs when they were amalgamated but these have been forgotten as the new club moved to improve facilities at Forshaw Park. The club now fields four open Grade teams and three Colts teams competing fiercely in all competitions.

Just over a week until Ladies Day at  Forshaw Park. Ticket link in the comments!
18/06/2026

Just over a week until Ladies Day at Forshaw Park. Ticket link in the comments!

It was a tough weekend for our proud club. But we’ve regrouped and are back at it ahead of a big road trip to Newcastle!
14/06/2026

It was a tough weekend for our proud club. But we’ve regrouped and are back at it ahead of a big road trip to Newcastle!

Colts at home tonight, then we are off to Woollahra tomorrow.
12/06/2026

Colts at home tonight, then we are off to Woollahra tomorrow.

Friday night lights at  Forshaw Park!
10/06/2026

Friday night lights at Forshaw Park!

Congratulations to Lusi Vesikula, her family and everyone involved in her development on the first of many caps for the ...
06/06/2026

Congratulations to Lusi Vesikula, her family and everyone involved in her development on the first of many caps for the . A proud product of , Lusi is only 18 and a name to watch ahead of the RWC in Australia in 2029!

We’ve got a massive Saturday of rugby at  Forshaw Park and the weather looks in our favour. See you at Forshaw!
29/05/2026

We’ve got a massive Saturday of rugby at Forshaw Park and the weather looks in our favour. See you at Forshaw!

Join us from 10:30am this Saturday to clap on Marcel Sampson for his 300th cap for the club. Marcel and his beautiful fa...
28/05/2026

Join us from 10:30am this Saturday to clap on Marcel Sampson for his 300th cap for the club.

Marcel and his beautiful family are like furniture at Forshaw and we can’t wait to celebrate in the sun this Saturday.

Special mentions also go out to James Whelan and Kelly Retallack-Williams who are in line for their 150th and 50th caps respectively.

Things haven’t gone our way of late, but our heads are held high. The sun is due to return just in time for a massive Sa...
26/05/2026

Things haven’t gone our way of late, but our heads are held high. The sun is due to return just in time for a massive Saturday at Forshaw Park, when we take on our mates from the Northern Beaches!

Keep an eye on Landen Walker this weekend! Landen is back in first grade after steering second grade to its best start t...
22/05/2026

Keep an eye on Landen Walker this weekend! Landen is back in first grade after steering second grade to its best start to the season in recent memory.

A product of and De La Salle, Landen spent four seasons in colts before graduating into grade last year.

Team lists are in for our trip to North Sydney Oval. Catch first grade live on 9GEM from 3pm!
22/05/2026

Team lists are in for our trip to North Sydney Oval. Catch first grade live on 9GEM from 3pm!

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Sydney, NSW

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