Ponsonby Rugby Club

The District Scheme was basically forced on the Auckland Rugby Union, because little stability had been achieved in the eight years of that body's existence. Clubs had come and gone at a bewildering speed, which was hardly surprising as most were one-team affairs comprised of mainly young men, and when the organiser couldn't spare the time to carry on, the team folded. Most knew the tipping point was coming, and in 1891 when Auckland club, the oldest in town, advised it was unable to continue the Union's hand was rather forced.

Plans for a District Scheme - the option of choice among the executive - had been on the board for a while. Given the dominance of Ponsonby through most of the 1880s - and, when the westerners weren't winning, either Grafton or Gordon filled the void - trying to compete could be a dispiriting experience for the rest. Scores were getting large and most of the good players were drifting towards one of these leading three clubs. By limiting a player's options to one - the club in whose area he lived - it was hoped to even the sides.

The Districts were clearly defined and only Grafton, North Shore and Ponsonby of the old clubs remained. Naturally they weren't best pleased, although North Shore had less to complain about than the other two because its area was the entire North Shore, much as it had been before, and they hadn't been a force for years anyway. Ponsonby and Grafton knew they stood to lose a lot of players, and they did.

New clubs in City, Newton, Parnell and Suburbs were formed to make the plan work. Three grades were sanctioned, a much better arrangement that the existing one, and clubs were encouraged to enter a team in each. All did so. The one whose chances of survival were slimmest was Suburbs, whose vast, basically ungovernable, territory stretched from Helensville in the north to Hunua in the south and trying to make that work was impossible. The best they could hope for was that the players would keep themselves fit and they could work out some form of combination on Saturdays. It worked for a while, but by 1905 it was just too hard and Suburbs folded.

Fortunately for the scheme's drivers, its biggest and most obvious flaw took a while to kick in. In fact, the perfect result took place between 1895 and 1901, when every club except Suburbs had a turn atop the pile. This included North Shore's only Auckland championship, in 1899, and helped create the fertile grounds for an exceptional rep team that remained unbeaten for six years. When the Governor, The Earl of Ranfurly, was going to present his shield to the best-performed provincial team, there was no doubt as to who was going to receive it.

But eventually the flaw simply had to be exposed, and in the first decade of the 20th Century it was - brutally. The inability for players to choose their club meant the strong, and the weak, were going to be static entities for a while. If you didn't have the horses, there wasn't much you could do about it; and it needs to be remembered that in those far-off days one tended to live close to one's workplace, since walking was the main way anybody got anywhere. It was no surprise that one of the inner-city clubs became a powerhouse; it was just a case of which one of the two it was going to be.

The answer to that question was City, who won five titles out of six between 1902 and 1907, losing one match (there were eight draws) in the process. Each year they scored more tries than the opposition scored points, a remarkable state of affairs. And then, as that dynasty wore down, another one blossomed, this time in Ponsonby. It's hard to say which of the two groups was the more formidable; suffice to say either was the strongest club in the land by a mile. Both were invited to Sydney (City in 1906, Ponsonby in 1909) to take on the best over there, and each completed their mission with three wins and a loss.

By the end of 1909 another menace made it imperative the Union do something to put interest back into the competition as Ponsonby, like City beforehand, had just completed back-to-back unbeaten seasons. Rugby league had rapidly gained a strong foothold in Auckland and the clubs were being picked over by every scout who was looking to snare the best players. Just before the 1910 season kicked off, the only logical decision was made and the District Scheme was scrapped.

It had done its job, and given rugby in the city a huge boost. Oddly enough, it was abandoned for the same reason it started - the overwhelming strength of Ponsonby - but it was time to move on.

The District Scheme 1891-1909

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