Much of the credit for the formation of Souths belongs to William “Jerry” Bailey (former 1908-09 Kangaroo tourist)

Bailey convinced his former rugby union club South Newcastle to change over to the new game of rugby league, the club changed over to the new game with the now famous “red and white” colours. He also brought with him seven players, who had played with the original Newcastle team in the 1908 and 1909 Sydney competition.

Four clubs competed in the original 1910 competition they were Souths , Wests, Norths and Central. Because of the high costs of ground rentals, and the massive power of the rugby union officials that owned and run the coal mining and manufacturing industries they had a lot of obstacles to overcome.

The rugby league officials found a parcel of land owned by the Australian Agricultural Company , which the company leased to the rugby league.

Everyone connected with rugby league worked tirelessly to have the ground ready for kickoff of the 1910 season, the ground was situated in Hamilton off Belford street towards Gregson park.

On Saturday 14th May 1910 the Newcastle competition began, with a double header at the new ground, first game Souths verse West followed by Central verse North. A good crowd was on hand to watch the matches, South Newcastle won the first match against West 18-0 ,with Souths winger R. “Cud” Lawson scoring the first ever try and Jerry Bailey kicking the first ever goal. West played the match with 12 men, they had trouble fielding a side in that first season.

The final of the 1910 season was between Souths and Central with Central running out winners 13-4 in front of a crowd of 2500.