On this day, in 2002 and after two years exclusion from the competition, the South Sydney Rabbitohs took the field for their first game back in the NRL competitions.
The match was played against what would be the 2002 Grand Final winners, the Sydney Roosters, before a crowd of 35,316 people at Sydney Football Stadium.
The re-instatement was marked by the ringing of the timekeeper's bell which was used to mark the start and finish of the Rabbitohs' first match in 1908. The bell was rung by former Souths player, official and the original Rabbitohs mascot in 1968, Albert Clift and Russell Crowe.
The bell was once again rung at the start of the 2014 Grand Final where the Rabbitohs won their 21st premiership.
