The 1910 Auckland Rugby League season was the first season where a full organised competition was played following the 1909 season where several exhibition club matches were played. The competition celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010 and is currently in its 109th season. The 1910 season commenced on 14 May, with the start of the competition for the Myers Cup. It involved four teams, City Rovers, Newton Rangers, North Shore Albions, and Ponsonby United. Only Ponsonby United (now known as Ponsonby Ponies) still survive to the present day.
Two venues were used. Victoria Park, in downtown Auckland hosted 12 matches, and Takapuna Racecourse which no longer exists, hosted 4 matches.
At the Auckland Rugby League annual meeting the following committee was elected:Chairman, Mr B Brigham; Hon Secretary, Mr A. J. Powley; hon treasurer, Mr Percy Usher; hon auditors, Mr D. W. MacLean and E. W. Watts; president, Mr C. D. Grey; vice-presidents, Mr F. E. N. Gaudin, M. Molloy, W. T. Thompson, J. Patterson, W. M. Evans, T. Craig, A. E. Glover MP, T. Buxton. At the meeting information was received that two new clubs were forming, one in the city and the other at a marine suburb.[1]
City Rovers Establishment
On 12 April a meeting was held at the Waitemata Hotel with a view to forming a club. There were 23 people in attendance with Mr. D. W. MacLean occupying the chair. It was decided that a club would be formed called City Rovers. The following were elected as officers: president, Mr. J Endean; vice-presidents, Mr F. E. N. Gaudin; Graham, A. J. Parker, and W. M. Evans; hon secretary, Mr L. E. Hinton; hon treasurer, Mr Ernest Asher; hon auditor, Mr B. Brigham. Players for the team were requested to travel to the North Shore on the following Saturday to practice with the North Shore Albions team.[2] The match resulted in a draw with both teams scoring three tries each.[3]
Newton Rangers
On the evening of 5 May Newton held a meeting at the Caledonian Hotel with Mr. W. Mulholland presiding. Twenty one playing members were present "and much enthusiasm was shown". The following officers were elected:- President, Mr. J.J. Molloy; vice-presidents, Messrs. W. Jones, J.E. Hunt, J. Fernandez, H. McNeil, R. Gordon, E. Hall Skelton, R. Robinson, J. Boonstra, D. Simpson, F.E. Baume, M.P., and A. Raynes; captain, Mr. William Mackrell; vice-captain Samuel B. Houghton; hon. secretary, Mr. G. Smith; treasurer, Mr. W. Mulholland; auditors, Messrs. M. Hooper and E.W. Watts; management committee, Messrs. Bradburn, Hooper, Samuel Houghton, Farrant, Winter, Smith, and Mulholland; delegates to Auckland league, Messrs. Linkhorn, Smith, and Mulholland; delegate on management committee of Auckland league, Mr. P. Linkhorn; selectors, Messrs. Mackrell, Houghton, and Bradburn. The club decided to adopt the colours of maroon and white. Samuel Houghton was the son of Joseph Houghton, the former chairman of Northern Union before the family migrated to New Zealand.[4]
Northcote Ramblers join the Northern Union Code
On 15 April a meeting was held at Northcote to form a rugby league club there. There were 37 players and supporters present. Mr. D. W. MacLean chaired the meeting. 21 players enrolled at the new club. Mr Lepper was appointed hon secretary, and Mr A. Jackson treasurer. The club was initially to be called the Northcote Warriors however within a week this was changed to the Northcote Ramblers which they were known as for decades afterwards. Today the club is known as the Northcote Tigers.[5] The team played their first ever match on 23 April when they took on a combined Newton Rangers and Ponsonby United junior team in Northcote. The home team won by 18 points to 8 with Jack Stanaway refereeing.[6]
Myers Cup (First Grade Championship)
Sixteen matches were played until the final round on 20 August where City Rovers defeated Ponsonby United to become the inaugural champions of Auckland club Rugby League (which at this time was referred to as 'Northern Union' in the media).[7] The Round 4 match between North Shore and City won by City 12–6 did not have the point scorers reported. In the Round 6 match between Ponsonby and City the match was abandoned after Albert Opai Asher led the City team off the field after protesting the non awarding of a 'try' to the City team. After an inquiry by the league during the week Asher apologised.
Takapuna Racecourse to the left.The North Shore v City match was played on the Takapuna Racecourse. Bob Mitchell likely made his debut for City in the 0-0 draw at the ground. He went on to play 29 games for Auckland over 5 years and also 8 games for New Zealand from 1912 to 1914.
14 May
Newton
12–6
Ponsonby
Victoria Park
Try: William Winter, Hugh Gordon Haswell, Len Farrant 2
Future Kiwi, Joe Bennett was on debut for Newton Rangers. He had played a few seasons of rugby for Waiuku and club teams in that area before moving to Auckland. After one match for the City Rugby Club weeks earlier he switched codes.
Claude Culpan scored in his second match for Ponsonby. His brother Nelson would later be on the New Zealand Rugby League board, while another brother, Ivan, was the long time secretary of Auckland Rugby League.
2 July
Ponsonby
26–2
Newton
Victoria Park
2:00
Try: King, Fred Lynch 2, Henry Bettis, Claude Culpan, Charles Dunning Con: Sydney Cole 4
Alfred Gault, who had been playing for the City Rovers 2nd grade team was named in the starting side for the first grade. It is uncertain if he actually played or not. He was a well known boxer in this period and would later go away to World War 2 where he was killed on 26 September 1916 in France.
The Round 4 match between North Shore and City won by City 12–6 did not have the point scorers reported so the following lists are unlikely to be 100% complete with Charles Brett and George Harrison possibly adding to their point scoring.
A second grade competition was also played, however it received little coverage in the news media. It featured second teams from City Rovers, North Shore Albions and Ponsonby United, as well as a team from Northcote named the Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers. Northcote were to go through the season undefeated to win the grade.[25] On 6 June Northcote beat Ponsonby by default and North Shore beat City 12–6. On 25 June Northcote beat City 5–3. City beat Ponsonby 15-0 on July 2. The points table was published in The New Zealand Herald on 3 August. There had been two rounds of play scheduled for 13 and 20 August however it appears they were not played and the final table remained as follows.
On 9 July a trial match was played between an A and B team selected in preparation for the visit of the British team and refereed by R.J. Sharrock but no result was given. A further trial match was played on 16 July which the A team won by 20 points to 18.
On September 3 an Auckland trail was played at Devonport Domain to help the selectors choose the team for the Southern Tour. The match was one-sided and the Auckland Star said that the A Team scored nearly 50 points while the B Team only scored 15. There were no scorers mentioned.
For the Auckland B side Tom Avery and Charles Brockliss scored tries. Both players were included in the touring side. It is unknown if other members of the touring side played for the B team as there was no team list published. This was the first time rugby league had been played on the Auckland Domain.
Remarkably George Seagar after scoring 4 tries then went on to compete in the annual September boxing tournament at the Municipal Theatre later that evening where he beat J O'Shea of Invercargill with loud applause from many of his teammates who were in attendance. He then beat F. Moir of Winton in three rounds.[34] The following day he then played for Auckland again against Southland and scored another try. Unfortunately he injured his arm and was unable to compete in that night's boxing.[35]
Tour Match v Southland
28 September
Southland
12–17
Auckland
Queens Park, Invercargill
3:00
Try: H McDermott, Ogg Con: H McDermott Pen: H McDermott 2
For Nelson, W Doyle scored a try while Charles James scored 2 tries and kicked 2 conversions. James was later killed in action in France during World War I in 1917.
Auckland representative matches played and scorers
Matches include the match versus the touring Great Britain side and the seven tour matches made by the Auckland team. The Dannevirke match did not have a team list reported and therefore only the point scorers are included in the 'played' statistics (Mitchell, Carlaw, Dunning, Nolan, Riley, Cole, and Dunning) meaning there are 6 players with unattributed games played.
Auckland representative matches played and scorers
