25/09/2026
West Maitland Seniors - The Red Dogs, are celebrating 115 year of Rugby League history in 2026. This milestone is an achievement our club is extremely proud of.
NSW Rugby League was formed on the 8th August 1907 at a meeting at the Bateman's Hotel in Sydney. Rugby League split from Rugby Union after disagreements about whether to pay players and the first competition began in 1908.
Newcastle Rugby League broke away from the NSWRL in 1910 to form a local competition and the Hunter District Rugby League competition was born in 1911 when it was the decided the new football code would be introduced in Maitland. Until then, the locals played Rugby Union - mostly with the Blacks because their club began in 1877.
From 1911 until today, many changes to the competition have become apart of our history. Disruptions occurred throughout the past 115 years not only when the Great Depression hit in 1930, but also with local boys going away and serving in WW1 and WW2, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan, and the sacrifice these men made for our future, is something we today, could never understand. They left home and some never returned.
Rugby League is a game that brings local communitys together on so many levels, and celebrating the history, the lives of our fathers and grandfathers, and the highs and the lows of the teams before us is not only an honour, it is a pleasure to be apart of.
The history of our footy club deserves to be celebrated and 115 years of footy in Telarah is something we want you all to be apart of. Too many times we hear as we get older that we wish we could have taken the time to reconnect with our mates before it's too late and this event is the opportunity for so many to do that.
Tickets are available from Telarah Bowling Club, you can purchase individual tickets or book a table of 10. So get your team mates together again for a well overdue catch up and celebrate everything the club meant to you.
Please share far and wide so as many members can We hope to see the club packed with as many past and present members of the West Maitland Rugby League Football Club.
GO THE RED DOGS!
