The movement at the
University of Sydney to be involved in the new game of
rugby league began in 1919 with a number of players (including seven University Blues from the 1918 season) viewing a game of the new code and deciding to switch codes. As put by
Herbert Vere Evatt (a final year law student and later a politician, jurist and president of the
UN General Assembly) at the time the reasons were: ::"Owing to the general dissatisfaction with the management of the Rugby Union during the 1919 football season, and the fact that University footballers were starting to realise that rugby league was a faster and cleaner game, several leading members of the football club, including seven 'blues' of the past season, took steps to introduce the league game into the University for the 1920 season. A special meeting of league supporters was held and decided to enter three teams, all members to play as strict amateurs."
Anti-rugby league prejudice From the very beginning, the Students (or 'Varsity' as they were also known) struggled to gain acceptance by the University Sports Association who displayed great prejudice toward those who had left the rugby union side to play
rugby league. Indeed, players who participated in
rugby league matches were threatened with disqualification from ever playing rugby union at
Oxford University or
University of Cambridge and the Sports Association forbid the club from training on the University Oval (forcing Varsity to train with
Eastern Suburbs at the Sydney Sports Ground). While public pressure forced the Association to relent, the club never once played a game at the University Oval during its involvement in the
New South Wales Rugby League premiership.
1926 Grand Final The highlight of the Students' 18 seasons in the NSWRL Premiership was their one and only finals appearance (having finished fourth in the
regular season). To get to the Grand Final at the
Sydney Agricultural Ground University had to defeat
Glebe which they did comfortably 29 - 3. In the Grand Final, however, they were defeated 5–11 by
Souths in front of 20,000 people.
Withdrawal from the Premiership Generally, the amateur students struggled to perform against the professional players of the other sides and University enjoyed very little success only winning 44 of its 226 games during its time in the Premiership (and only won 2 games after 1933). The club did not win a single match in 1935, continuing a losing streak that started in round 2, 1934 and which would run till round 14, 1936 and which marked the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42. This run of form, in addition to having spent 12 of its 18 seasons in last place prompted their decision to withdraw from the Premiership at the close of the
1937 season. ==Life after the Premiership==