Ponsonby Rugby Club

The 1910s were a hard decade to write about - not because there wasn't much going on for the most part, but because a lot of it wan't discussed in the papers. By now rugby league was well established in Auckland, and proving very popular with the people who mattered most, the players and fans, but it was still more or less frowned upon by the various editors of Auckland newspapers. If you believed some of the things you read, it wasn't much to get excited about.

Yet the game's very existence had been one of the biggest reasons why the District Scheme was abandoned so sharply in 1910. That and the presence of another overpowering club side, and with no chance of players moving between clubs there was no logical counter to the problem. Auckland as a Union was still well placed; the Ranfurly Shield had been in town since 1905 and wouldn't leave until 1913, and the rep team was still very strong. Club days still attracted large crowds for the big games, but something less than a marquee matchup didn't pull the punters they way it used to. League played closer to town, and scooped up a lot of casual spectators.

Clubs with other than district ties began appearing on the scene. In most cases it was the Old Boys Tie that bound the players, but University obviously attracted a different group. Back then one had to be enrolled or a graduate to represent the club, but they quickly built into a force. The club had been founded in 1888 but not seen in Senior ranks for more than the odd game until 1908; it is now the club with the second oldest start date of any current Auckland team.

There was a steady stream of players crossing over to professional ranks (back then they were happy not to lose wages for broken time, and that was about all they were paid, it wasn't a vehicle in which one would drive down Easy Street), and just as importantly, referees were switching too. There was no point having all the best players if you didn't have good refs. League was doing very nicely, thank you, and by 1914 was really challenging rugby as the city's most popular football code.

And if that wasn't enough, a global conflict broke out in August 1914. It created havoc with every aspect of New Zealand life, and the eventual loss among the nation's young men was, on a per capita basis, the highest of any country that got involved. By the time the next rugby season rolled round a lot of players had enlisted and, in a misguided fit of patriotic fervour, the New Zealand Union decreed rugby could only be played by boys under 20, since it assumed they would quickly sign up once they reached military age and be lost to the game. League made no such mistake and so, if you remained at home due to being employed in some essential industry, you had no choice about what you played. It was the 13-man game or nothing.

Auckland was among the first unions in the country to realise what a mistake this was, and tried to change it, but the powers that were in Wellington, not being threatened by league to anywhere near the same extent, ignored them. Auckland reacted far more quickly this time, introducing the Auckland Rules - four changes which were designed to make the game more open and a better spectacle. It almost got them kicked out of the national union, but just how far-sighted they were is realised when you note that more than 50 years later the last of the four, banning kicking to touch on the full from outside your defensive 25, was written into the game's Laws.

As it turned out, the rest of the country's sturdy allegiance to rugby helped Auckland when the troops came home. They had played football overseas (naturally) and the game all knew was rugby, so rugby they played. The national body, waking up to the gilt-edged opportunity they had been handed, offered reinstatement to any returned serviceman and a lot took the offer up. So rugby and league developed along parallel paths in Auckland, each with its own fanbase, And they've remained that way ever since.

Hardly anybody's career spanned the War. Those who started beforehand didn't have huge parts to play afterwards, and younger players, many hardened and/or soured by their battlefield experiences, brought a new mindset to rugby in the 1920s. They were quite used to discipline, and a stern coaching regime was something they responded to. Waiting for those who made Ponsonby home was one of the best, and they responded accordingly. The foundations were laid in 1916-19, but the huge payoff didn't come until the 1920s.

The 1910s - A Hard Decade to Write About