1971 NSWRFL season
| 1971 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |
 South Sydney (20th title) |
| Minor premiers |
 Manly-Warringah (1st title) |
| Matches played | 136 |
| Points scored | 4477 |
| Attendance | 1562338 |
| Top points scorer(s) |
 Graeme Langlands (196) |
| Player of the year |
Denis Pittard (Rothmans Medal) |
| Top try-scorer(s) |
 Paul Cross (18) |
The 1971 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-fourth season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six foundation clubs and another six admitted since 1908, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a Grand Final match for the W.D. & H.O. Wills between the South Sydney and St. George clubs.
The season saw the number of tackles in a set increased from four to six. In addition, the number of points awarded for a field goal was reduced from two to one.
Each side met all others twice in twenty-two regular season rounds, resulting in the top four teams consisting of Manly-Warringah, South Sydney, St. George and Parramatta who fought out three finals for the right to play in the Grand Final.
The 1971 Rothmans Medal was won by South Sydney's five-eighth Denis Pittard while Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to South Sydney's halfback Bob Grant.
This season marked the end of a 23-year run where all but two of the premierships were won by St George or South Sydney.
The 1971 season saw a ban imposed by the NSWRL on TV coverage of games in the Sydney premiership. It was believed that TV coverage was a contributing factor to falling attendances at games. As a result, only the Grand Final was televised, and even then as a one-hour late night highlights package rather than live coverage. The ban was lifted for the 1972 season onwards, as in practice it was shown to have a negligible effect on match attendances.
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