League Code’s 21st. Birthday

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1021, 11 July 1930, Page 9

League Code’s 21st. Birthday

r£E Rugby League Football code in New Zealand attains its majority, officially, on Sunday week, for it was on July 20, 1909, that a meeting was held in the Auckland Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of forming an Auckland Rugby Football League to play Rugby under Northern Union rules. Twenty-one years ago to a week, the younger code of Rugby football was established in the Dominion, and it is appropriate at this time to look back across the intervening years and recall some of the outstanding incidents in its phenomenal rise to popularity among football patrons of a sport-loving people. There was a large attendance of prospective players and supporters at the first meeting at Auckland, at which Mr. A. E. Glover, M.P. presided. The officers elected to administrate the affairs of tho new game were: President, the Mayor of Auckland, Mr. C. D. Grey; vice-presidents, Messrs. A. E. Glover, M.P.. J. Patterson, W. T. Thompson, W. M. Evans, W. Somers, and J. Bonner; management committee, Messrs. O. A. Wynyard, D. W. McLean, H. G. Jones, J. Endean jun., and F. E. N. Gaudin. The first secretary was Mr. E. Watts, and the first treasurer, Mr. W. Wynyard. At the same meeting Mr. R. Eagleton placed at the disposal of the League the use of three playing grounds at Epsom, near Potter’s paddock of Rugby Union fame, and a practice was held there the following Saturday. At the first meeting of the management committee a match between the North Shore Albions and the City Clubs was arranged, and Mr. W. T. Wynyard was

appointed sole selector tor the season. To go back to the real foundstion of the game in the Dominion however, we must go back a year further in football history to the tour of A. H. Baskerville's men in England i % n 1907. It lost less than a dozen games in a programme of 35. The team broke even in tho tests, losing the first two to England and winning the last two, which were played in London as missionary games. On the return of the team to New Zealand in 1908 a match was played in Wellington—the first game of Northern Union football ’ever played in New Zealand. When the game first took on in Auckland the authorities had innumerable obstacles to overcome, chief among them being the ground problem. Time and again the bogey of professionalism was hurled at the new code, but in the end this was effectively dispelled. Among the prominent Rugby Union players who transferred their affections to the newer code were:—George Smith, Charlie Seeling, G. Gillet, Duncan McGregor, “Massa” Johnston, W. Mackrell, “Bollar” Francis, E. Wrigley, C. Savoury, "Jum” Turtill, A. (“Opal”) Asher, W. Curran, C. Trevarthen, C. Dunning. A. Renwick, W. Taylor, J. R. Wynyard, Lance Todd, H. Rowe, “Yom” Cross, “Con” Byrne and Fred Hughes. The game made phenomenal progress in its early years. In 1909 Auckland had some difficulty in

raising two teams. In 1910, it had four, and the following year there were 13 (five c-enior, four second and four third). There were then a total number of 250 players. In 1912, Auckland had six senior clubs, four junior clubs and five subdistricts affiliated. There were then 29 teams in Auckland city, the playing strength of which totalled 500. The playing strength of districts affiliated to Auckland was 400. In 1912, Mr. D. W. McLean undertook an organising tour throughout New Zealand, and a. provincial league was formed in Wellington in July, 193 2. Tho game was also established in Hawke’s Bay at that time with a playing strength of 150. Wanganui had three senior and two junior clubs, and Taranaki had one club of 20 members. Mr. McLean was responsible for the formation of a provincial League in Christchurch on July 15, 1912. He also visited Dunedin to survey the position there, but no move was made to set the game going there in that year. The same week as the meeting at which the Auckland Rugby League was formed, a meeting was held which resulted in the City and Ponsonby Clubs coming into existence. FIRST AUSTRALIAN TEAM The Newton Rangers Club was formed at a meeting held in the Oddfellows Hall. Pitt Street, in July 1909. Mr. Mat Hooper was the founder of the club, and he also refereed the first game of League football played in Auckland. Lomas’s English team toured New

Zealand in 1910, and in 1912, a New South Wales side came over. New South Wales on that tour defeated Canterbury by 28 to 15. In 1913 tjie game went ahead by leaps and bounds in Christchurch, largely as a result of the enthusiasm of Dr. T. H. Thacker. A New Zealand team paid a visit to Australia in the same year. An incident which aroused much controversy occurred in that year, when C. Savory, the Auckland New' Zealand representative, was reported to the Auckland Rugby League for alleged rough play for Ponsonby in a match against Manukau, and the Auckland League disqualified him for life. Ho appealed to the New Zealand Council successfully, and when the Auckland League stated that it could not see its way clear to recognise the rules under which the council ordered re-instatement of Savory, the New' Zealand League suspended the Auckland League. However, the controversy eventually blew over. POST-WAR BOOM With the war over, the League game in Auckland entered on a boom period which saw it carve out for itself the niche in public favour which it holds today. In 1920 an English side toured the Dominion, and on July 24 went under to the Auckland representatives at the Domain by 24—16. There wer© 30.000 people at the match, and a week later, on the same ground, approximately 35,000 watched the Englishmen inflict a Test defeat

on the New Zealand team by 31 points to 7. The Dominion teams was: W. J. Davidson, J. Sanders, C. Woolley, 13. C. Grey, K. Ifwersen. A. McClymont. ~\l. Poilock, S. Walters, W. Somers. W. Stormont, E. Herring, H. Avery and X. Bass. Mr. A. Ball was the referee. That attendance is a record, not yet surpassed, as the largest attendance at a football match of any of the three codes in New Zealand. It may be beaten when New Zealand meets Britain in the third Rugby Test. 1 It is interesting to note that the code also holds the Australian record, j 65,000 having seen one match in Sydney. The year 3 921 was a big one for the code in Auckland, as on June 25. Carlaw Park was officially opened by the president of the Auckland Rugby League, Sir Arthur Myers. Centrally situated in New Zealand’s largest cityCarlaw Park—once a Chinese market garden—has become one of Auckland’s most popular sports grounds. The name of one man who has done a tremendous iot for the gamo, not only in Auckland, but all through New Zealand. Mr. James Carlaw, has been perpetuated in the name of the code’s headquarters. In 1922, terraces to a. commodate 20,000 were formed, and the League has in view even further improvements yet, in the direction of the erection of a more commodious stand.

From the smallest of beginnings, when it was with difficulty that two teams could be raised, the Auckland Rugby League has built up a great playing strength in its 21 years. Each Saturday, 90 teams embracing approximately 1,400 players take the field under its control, and it continues to maintain its place as the stronghold of the Rugby League game in New Zealand. Twenty one years Is but a short span in the life of a game and there is no reason why the code should not go ahead in the future to even greater heights.