Western Suburbs Red Devils

The Western Suburbs Red Devils (Wests Illawarra, Wests Wollongong, Wests Red Devils or simply Wests Devils) are an Australian rugby league football team based in Figtree, a suburb of Wollongong. The club is a member of the Country Rugby League and compete in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership. The club play out of Figtree Oval, Figtree. Wests wear red and blue jerseys and have won 16 premierships. Wests Illawarra Leagues club is a thriving club in Unanderra.

This article is about the rugby league club based out of the Illawarra, New South Wales. For the Sydney team, see Western Suburbs Magpies.
Western Suburbs Red Devils
Club information
Full nameWestern Suburbs Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)Red Devils
Short nameWests
ColoursRed
Blue
Founded1949 (1949)
Websitehttp://www.westsdevils.com.au/home
Current details
Ground(s)
CompetitionIllawarra Rugby League
Records
Premierships16 (1957, 1959, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1989, 1991, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018)
Runners-up10 (1958, 1973, 1979, 1983, 1993, 1995, 2005, 2012, 2016, 2022)
Minor premierships9 (1977, 1978, 1983, 1991, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018)

History

Wests formed in 1949 with the amalgamation of clubs in the district (primarily Unanderra and Mount Keira). The Leagues Club was established in Unanderra and opened in 1956. The Red Devils won the premiership the following year with a 22–6 win over Wollongong. They repeated this effort in 1959 when they defeated Northern Suburbs 12–6 in the Grand Final.[1]

With Don Parish at the helm as captain-coach, Wests took back-to-back titles in 1969–70. Warren Ryan continued this trend the following two seasons when he took over, defeating Thirroul (18–11 in 1971, and 23–9 in 1972). Cronulla Sharks legend, Tommy Bishop also guided the team to a premiership in 1978.[1]

Wests were again premiers two years later, winning in 1980 and 1981. The following year the Illawarra Steelers were accepted into the NSWRL premiership, thus all the sides in the league became feeder clubs to this side. Being premiers, a large portion of the Red Devils were contracted to the Steelers. This made life difficult in the 1982 premiership for the Red Devils, but within three years they won another premiership. They followed this up with another in 1989 and 1991.

The Red Devils went through a dry spell from here, not winning the premiership for 18 years. They came close during Brendon Reeves' reign in 2005. They did eventually break the drought in 2009 when they defeated reigning premiers, Thirroul, 14–4 under coach Paul McGregor in his first season.[2] They went back-to-back with a 24–0 win in 2010, again over the Butchers. In 2011, Wests made it a treble of grand final wins with a 34–24 victory over Helensburgh. The Red Devils were unable to match the team of the 60-70s that won four consecutive premierships when they lost 20–16 to finals rivals Thirroul in the 2012 grand final.

In 2018 Wests found enough to hold off Thirroul 18–16 to claim their first Illawarra League crown in eight seasons. The Devils ran in four first-half tries to lead 18–0 at the break before a second-half fightback saw the Butchers get within two with 18 minutes to play.[3]

Players

Notable former players
Player Country Firsts City Firsts Country Origin New South Wales Australia
Years Apps Years Apps Years Apps Years Apps Years Apps
Bob Fulton[4] 1967–1978 9 1971–72, 1974 6 1968–78 51
Graham Lye 1969–70
David Waite[5] 1973 1 1973–74 2 1973–74 6
John Dorahy[6] 1972–73 2 1980 1 1988 1 1979 2 1978 2
Royce Ayliffe[7] 1982 3 1981 1
Garry Jack[8] 1986 1 1984–85 2 1987 1 1984–89 17 1984–88 29
Steve Roach[9] 1986-86 2 1984 1 1988, 1990 2 1984–86, 1988, 1990–91 17 1985–86, 1988–91 27
Jason Ryles[10] 2001, 2003, 2005 3 2002–05 8 2001–02, 2004–05 15
Brett Stewart[11] 2007 1 2007–12 8 2007 1
Glenn Stewart[12] 2008, 2010–11 3 2009, 2012 5 2008–09 5
Bruce Olive 1959–62 1958
Al Maddelena 1969
Brian Hetherington[13] 1977, 1984 2 1986 1 1984, 1986 2
Brett Rodwell[14] 1991, 1993, 1995 3 1995 1

Players in bold represent current NRL players.

Honours

Team
1957, 1959, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1989, 1991, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018
  • Illawarra Rugby League Reserve Grade Premierships: 8
1985,1964, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011
  • Illawarra Rugby League Under-18's Premierships: 7
1962, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2016, 2018

See Also

References
  1. Western Suburbs History
  2. Gandon, Mike (7 September 2009). "Red Devils cap off year of domination – Local News – Sport – Rugby League". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  3. "Gutsy Devils tackle their way to 2018 title". 9 September 2018.
  4. "Bob Fulton – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  5. "David Waite – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  6. "Search results for "john dorahy" - Rugby League Project".
  7. "Royce Ayliffe – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  8. "Search results for "garry jack" - Rugby League Project".
  9. "Steve Roach – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 24 August 1962. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  10. "Jason Ryles – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 17 January 1979. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  11. "Brett Stewart – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 27 February 1985. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  12. "Glenn Stewart – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 11 January 1984. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  13. "Brian Hetherington – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 14 January 1954. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  14. "Brett Rodwell – Career Stats & Summary". Rugbyleagueproject.org. 23 May 1970. Retrieved 14 October 2011.


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