Please continue your support for the Keep the Jets Flying campaign!

There has been a reasonably good response to this Newtown Jets fund-raising campaign, but we urge you to encourage lots of other people to get on board and help sustain the Newtown RLFC through one of the most critical phases of this old club’s recent history.

Our competition, the Canterbury Cup NSW has been cancelled and there will not be any further games played at all in 2020. This is especially disappointing given our great start. Our players put in an enormous pre-season which was reflected in our Round 1 performance.

The season’s cancellation represents a total wipe-out of the club’s main source of income, revenue from home games played at Henson Park. This enormous financial dislocation represents a genuine threat to the Newtown club’s ability to survive into the future.

Our club is committed to meeting its obligations to our players, suppliers and staff. Our fixed liabilities mostly occur at the beginning of the season and are substantial.

We are currently doing everything we can to minimise expenditure and sincerely thank our loyal sponsors for sticking with us, but now more than ever we need our members, supporters and friends to do the same to help our club survive and ensure we return in 2021!

We call upon Newtown supporters everywhere to contribute $100 to become a Keep The Jets Flying member. You will receive a unique package of memorabilia that will last a lifetime, one that will enable you to relive one of the greatest years in our club’s history. You might not be able to watch games this year but you can relive the glories of last season with this package.  JOIN HERE

The Keep The Jets Flying package includes: –

• WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS streaming access containing the most inspiring rugby league story of last year. The 55-minute documentary produced by Jason Pritchard and Adam Grozdanic, features interviews with Newtown Jets identities such as Greg Matterson, Scott Sorensen and Billy Magoulias as they recall those amazing moments that ended in Premiership and Championship glory. The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Kent described Newtown’s 2019 achievements as being “the rugby league story of the year!”
• A specially-designed Keep the Jets Flying digital print with your name and membership number.
• An iconic Newtown Jets 2019 Premiers and Champions pdf poster.
• Newtown RLFC 2020 Membership

Royal Blue Legends Club, Bluebags Season Pass & Family members will automatically receive the package as part of your membership. All other 2020 members will receive the Keep The Jets Flying Digital Print and be eligible for the whole package by contributing the balance between $100 and your existing membership.

We will also continue to roll out exclusive offers to all our members throughout the year, so get on board!

We recognise not everyone can afford to assist financially during these extremely challenging times but, you can help by encouraging your friends who can to join us.

Our hard-working archivists have come up with another remarkable narrative from Newtown’s storied past for you to watch this Saturday afternoon.

At 3.00pm on Saturday, 16^th May tune in to JETS TV on www.newtownjets.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/newtownrlfc . Marvel as we travel back 39 years to when the fearless Jets headed north into Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland for a midweek Tooth Cup game to take on the might of a Combined Brisbane side that was a virtual Queensland State of Origin team 

The 1981 Tooth Cup was the 8^th year of the NSW Rugby League’s mid-week cup competition that included all the NSWRL first grade clubs, as well as representative teams from the Country Rugby League of NSW, the Brisbane Rugby League, the Queensland Rugby League and the New Zealand Rugby League.

This game was a night match played at Lang Park on Wednesday, 29^th April 1981 between Combined Brisbane and Newtown. Because of an industrial dispute in the airline industry, there were no commercial flights operating between Sydney and Brisbane. The Newtown team and staff flew to Brisbane earlier that day in a privately-chartered rattle-trap DC3 that had reputedly been used in New Guinea in World War II. It was described as the flight from Hell and was hardly the best pre-match preparation for a game against a very strong Brisbane team at home in their infamous Lang Park cauldron!

The Combined Brisbane line-up contained an array of names who would be key players in the Queensland State of Origin teams that dominated the interstate series between 1981 and 1984.

The Combined Brisbane team was:
Smokin’ Joe Kilroy, Brad Backer, Chris Close, Mal Meninga, Bligh Davidson, Steve Cherry, Greg Oliphant, Wally Lewis, Brian Neibling, Chris Phelan, Arthur Beetson (Captain-Coach), Hoffman, Steve Deakin.

Newtown’s team was (with contemporary sponsors names in brackets):
Michael Pobjie (Kris Gale), John Ferguson (Golden Barley Hotel), Mick Ryan (John Cahill and Jennifer Malone), Brian Hetherington (Mark Dewar), Ray Blacklock (Golden Barley Hotel), Phil Sigsworth (Adam Whyte), Ken Wilson (Capt) (The Daaboul Family and Steve Helmich), Graham O’Grady (SMI – Sports Medicine Institute), Mick Pitman (Biofreeze), Steve Blyth (Wayne Leong and Kim Fuller), Paul Akkary (Dave Nelson), Barry Jensen (Manoosh Pizzeria), Steve Bowden (Loudon and Vaughan Private Wealth).
Reserves: Paul Morris (Goodfellows Sports and Socks), Col Murphy (Nifty Foods), TBA (Brasco and Label Plus).
Coach: Warren Ryan.

Many astute judges rated this Jets-Brisbane match as John “”Chicka”” Ferguson’s “breakout” performance in 1981. Remember that “Chicka” had been the last “imported” player permitted to be signed in the imported recruitment quota for 1981. Imagine if Newtown had declined to sign John Ferguson – it would have been a monumental recruitment “howler” on the same scale as Decca turning down the chance to sign the Beatles!

This game was also Paul “Moose” Akkary’s debut first grade appearance with the Jets.

Take special note also of the commentary team trio of Brisbane television’s George Doniger, former Balmain fullback Keith Barnes and ex-Queensland representative Des Morris.

Our members are the cornerstone of this great club. By becoming members they have shown they are more than just supporters and are an invaluable part of the Newtown family.

To thank our members for sticking with us through these unparalleled times we’ve introduced our Members Badge Draw which will be drawn every Thursday.

This week’s prize is a $100 voucher from THE HENSON, a Newtown Jets cap plus two Jets stubby holders.

And the winner this week is: Graeme Wood, Membership Number 26

As always, there are some great buys to be had when you check out the Newtown Jets clothing and merchandise website on:  www.newtownjetsclothing.com.au

You can also purchase Jets merchandise by calling 9052 6980 during ordinary business hours.

The favourably-reviewed and updated Newtown RLFC history, Taking It To The Streets – The Second Life of the Newtown RLFC, can be purchased online by going to:

You can also buy this book by calling 9052 6980 during ordinary business hours.

Through Blue Eyes – A Pictorial History of Newtown RLFC, the 2008 centenary publication authored by Terry Williams, is still in stock and is available at a discounted price on: www.newtownjetsclothing.com.au and by calling 9052 6980.