The history of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs stretches from the 1930s to the present day. Based in Belmore, a suburb of Sydney, the Bulldogs in 1935 were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL) competition, a predecessor of the current NRL competition. The Bulldogs won their first premiership in just their fourth season (1938). At the time it made them the quickest club (barring the founding clubs) to win a premiership after admission to the competition, a record which was only recently beaten in 1999 by the Melbourne Storm. They won a second premiership in 1942 but then had to wait another 38 years before breaking through for a third title in 1980. During the 1980s, the Bulldogs were a dominant force in the competition appearing in five Grand Finals, winning four of them. In the 1990s they featured in the 1994, 1995 and 1998 Grand Finals, winning the title in 1995 over Manly. Their most recent success was in 2004 when they beat the Sydney Roosters 16–13, the tryscorers being Hazem El Masri and Matt Utai, and the Clive Churchill Medal winner Willie Mason. Origin The Canterbury-Bankstown region in Sydney's southwest had a thriving rugby league culture and local competition from 1922 onwards, By 1930 the club had won the President's Cup competition and afterwards applied repeatedly to join the Sydney senior competition, finally being successful on 24 September 1934. The main barrier had been the lack of a suitable ground, which the NSWRL had set as a condition of entry. The club covered as territory the municipalities of Bankstown and Canterbury, taking them from St George and Western Suburbs. It would share the suburbs of Earlwood and Hurlstone Park with Newtown. It took part for the first time in 1935. Debut season Canterbury played its first premiership match against North Sydney on Anzac Day, 25 April 1935 at North Sydney Oval. In a match refereed by Tom McMahon, North Sydney won by a margin of 20 points to 5. Scorers for Canterbury-Bankstown were a try to Jack Hartwell Sr. and a penalty goal to Tom Carey. Hartwell was a prop forward, whilst Carey was a halfback or five-eighth who had been a Canterbury junior before playing with St George. The first Canterbury team was: George Main, Vince Dwyer, Jack Morrison (c), Sid Elliott, Basil Crawford, Harry Brown, Tom Carey, Frank Sponberg, Alan Wellington, Jack McConnell, Jack