1918 Auckland Rugby League season

The 1918 Auckland Rugby League season was its 10th since its inception in 1909. It was again severely affected by the ongoing war with several hundred players serving overseas and 44 killed who were named in the annual report. ^[1] North Shore Albions withdrew from the competition early in the season and on other occasions teams played short-handed. There was also a truncated representative program with only a trial match and one full Auckland representative match versus Canterbury, which was played at the Auckland Domain in front of 10,000 spectators.

Ponsonby United, the 1918 first grade champions

The senior grade featured six teams. Ponsonby United won their second consecutive title with an 8-win–1-loss record. Ponsonby then travelled to Christchurch to play Sydenham for the Thacker Shield and they won 11 points to 0. City Rovers won their second Roope Rooster title with a 6–3 win over Maritime following their first win in 1916.

Senior games still regularly attracted strong crowds. The round 4 matches at Victoria Park drew an estimated crowd of 6,000. ^[2] While 4,000 attended the round 5 matches, 5,000 the round 7 clash between City Rovers and Grafton Athletic at the same venue, ^{[3] [4]} and 6,000 witnessed the round 9 match between City Rovers and Ponsonby United.

At the season end many one-off matches were played between various teams. One of the more notable ones was a match between the Auckland Star staff and The New Zealand Herald staff. The game was won by the Auckland Star by 8 points to 4. ^[5] These company type fixtures were to become a regular feature of Auckland Rugby League for decades to come.

Preceded by 1917

10th Auckland Rugby League season 1918

Succeeded by 1919

News

Epidemic deaths

At the conclusion of the year the Auckland Rugby League took out an advertisement acknowleding the deaths of people associated with the game from the recent influenza epidemic. They included Matthew Winter Maddison of the Ponsonby club, and Montrose (Monty) Stanaway who had represented Auckland in 1915 while with the Otahuhu club before later transferring to City in 1917. And also H. Iles, Arthur Winnall, B Evans, P. Sheenan, and Francis Caulam also being mentioned along with "all others who have lost their loved ones". ^[6]

Parnell Club

Although the Parnell club did not officially form until 1921 they were belatedly registered in 1918 and fielded two teams. They had a side in the 4th grade, and another in the 6th grade. Prior to the start of the season they asked the Auckland Rugby League if they could affiliate with Grafton. It was decided to leave the arrangement to the Grafton club. ^[7]

The reason they had asked to affiliate was that they had been late to register as a club. They then tried to affiliate with Newton Rangers. The Auckland Star in reporting on the matter wrote the “Parnell Club requested permission to affiliate with Newton. Owing to nominations being closed, thus barring Parnell from entering teams, the Northcote Club offered to forego their nominations in the 4th and 6th grade, so as to allow the Parnell Club to participate in the competitions. Affiliation was then granted to the Parnell Club, and the offer of Northcote for the transference of nominations was referred to the Junior Advisory Board”. ^[8] The New Zealand Herald said that the league granted affiliation with the Newton club. ^[9]

Competition news

Club teams by grade participation

Team	1st Grade	2nd Grade	3rd Grade	4th Grade	5th Grade	6th Grade	Total
City Rovers	1	1	1	0	1	1	5
Ponsonby United	1	1	0	1	2	0	5
Otahuhu Rovers	0	1	0	1	1	1	4
North Shore Albions	1	0	1	0	1	1	4
Richmond Rovers	0	0	0	1	1	1	3
Telegraph Messengers	0	0	0	1	1	1	3
Grafton Athletic	1	0	0	1	0	0	2
Newton Rangers	1	0	0	1	0	0	2
Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
Manukau Rovers	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Parnell	0	0	0	1	0	1	2
Maritime	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Māngere Rangers	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Thames Old Boys	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Sunnyside	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Big Store	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Total	6	4	5	9	11	6	41

Maritime, Mangere, and Big Store football clubs form

The 'Maritime Football Club' applied to join the Auckland Rugby League with the nomination of a senior team. This was accepted by the league. ^[10] They finished the season with a 1 win, 7 loss record.

The Māngere club applied for affiliation and the registration of 23 players at the Auckland Rugby League meeting on 17 April. This was granted by the league. They were to play in maroon and gold originally as requested but before the season started asked to wear blue instead.

The Big Store Football Club nominated a team to play in the league which was accepted and their colours of blue and white were approved. ^[11]

New league rooms

At the conclusion of the season the league opened their own league rooms on Swanson Street. The rooms were used for the first time with the Auckland Rugby League executive meeting on 23 October. The rooms consisted of "a large billiard room and League office, and a room for clubs to hold their weekly meetings in". It was stated that players did not formerly meet "their fellow players during the summer time, but with this club now on a sound footing they will be able to meet each other and spend enjoyable evenings which should bring about a better feeling between the different teams". ^[12]

Death of George Cook in World War 1

On January 14, 1918 George Cook died in France during World War 1. Originally he was a rugby player who played for many seasons for Horowhenua before moving to Wellington where he played representative rugby there too. He switched to rugby league in 1912 playing for Wellington and there gaining selection for New Zealand to play New South Wales. Cook moved to Auckland in 1913 and joined the Newton Rangers. He played in 9 matches for them and scored 33 points making him the second highest scorer. He was selected for Auckland and played in 6 matches scoring 4 tries. In 1914 he joined the Otahuhu Rovers club where he played 9 games and scored 29 points which was the 3rd most in the competition. Cook enlisted in the New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion in 1917. Cook died on October 12, 1918, from broncho-pneumonia while at the No. 7 Canadian General Hospital in the field in France. ^[13] He was buried at Étaples Military Cemetery in Étaples, near Boulogne in north-west France.

Representative match

Auckland played a representative match for the first time in a few seasons. They had taken a hiatus during the war years but they played a trial match between and A and B team before a match with Canterbury at the Auckland Domain. The match attracted an enormous crowd of 10,000 and Auckland won easily by 45 points to 9.

First grade championship

The 1st grade championship had been competing for the Myers Cup from 1910 to 1914 but after the beginning of the war the league decided to not award trophies though the grade competitions were still competed for as normal. The season began with 3 preliminary rounds before the competitions began proper on 18 May. Around 5,000 spectators attended the first round matches at Victoria Park and Devonport Domain. North Shore Albions played the preliminary rounds, round 1, and defaulted their next two matches before withdrawing from the competition.

Teams

The competition featured 6 teams.

• City Rovers (red and black)
• Grafton Athletic (black and white)
• Maritime (red, white, and blue)
• Newton Rangers (red and white)
• North Shore Albions (green and white)
• Ponsonby United (blue and black)

Preliminary rounds

Round 1

Charles Gregory

Ernie Herring debuted for Grafton as did Charles Gregpry. Former All Black, Dougie McGregor kicked 2 penalties for Grafton in their 27-4 loss to City. His brother Eric scored twice for Ponsonby in their 16-6 win over Ponsonby. For Newton, Wally Somers and George Iles both scored in a 23-9 win over Maritime.

	27 April	City	27-4	Grafton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Unknown	[14]	Pen: Dougie McGregor 2	Referee: Archie Ferguson

	27 April	Ponsonby	16-6	North Shore	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: Artie Rae, Eric McGregor 2, Wren Con: A Maddison 2	[14]	Try: Stone, unknown forward	Referee: Tyson

	27 April	Newton	23-9	Maritime	Victoria Park 3
	3:00	Try: Wally Somers, Arthur Iles, George Iles, Ivil 2 Con: Arthur Iles, P Castles 3	[14]	Try: Pitman Pen: Dufty 3	Referee: William Wynyard

Round 2

North Shore was struggling to field a team owing to the impact of the war on their playing numbers. They only managed 11 players for their match with Maritime who were also fielding a weakened forward pack.

	4 May	Newton	15–8	City	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Pitman, Bill Williams, George Iles Con: Phil Castles 2 Pen: Phil Castles	[15]	Try: Bill Davidson, Jim Rukutai Con: Bill Davidson	Referee: T Hill

	4 May	Grafton	12–2	Ponsonby	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: Karl Ifwersen, Nicholson, A G Campney Pen: Karl Ifwersen 2	[16]	Try: Artie Rae	Referee: A Vause

	4 May	Maritime	4–2	North Shore	Victoria Park 3
	3:00	Pen: Dufty 2	[16]	Pen: Parker	Referee: John Henry Eddowes

Round 3

North Shore defaulted their match with Grafton. Ponsonby achieved a milestone of sorts becoming the first club to reach 1,000 first grade points during their match with Newton. They began the game with 983 points all time and progressed to 1,004 by the end of the match. It had taken them 72 matches to reach the mark.

	11 May	City	8–3	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: C Mitchell, Bill Davidson Pen: M Stanaway	[17]	Try: A Cross

	11 May	Ponsonby	21–3	Newton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: A Maddison, Dougie McGregor 2, Artie Rae 2 Con: A Maddison Pen: A Maddison Drop: J Minogue	[18]	Try: Wally Somers	Referee: Frank Thompson

	11 May	Grafton	WBD-LBD	North Shore	Victoria Park 3
	3:00		[18]

First Grade standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Ponsonby United	9	8	0	1	103	53	16
Newton Rangers	9	7	0	2	123	37	14
City Rovers	8	5	0	3	73	85	10
Grafton Athletic	8	2	0	6	94	125	4
Maritime	9	1	0	8	45	110	2
North Shore Albions	3	0	0	3	2	30	0

Ponsonby and Maritime both had default wins over North Shore Albions. Newton had a default win over Maritime (R9). These results are included in the standings.

First Grade results

Round 1

	18 May	Ponsonby	17–9	Grafton	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: Jim Clark, Eric McGregor, Thomas McClymont Con: A Maddison 2 Pen: A Maddison 2	[19]	Try: Tremain Pen: Karl Ifwersen	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: A Ball

	18 May	City	15–13	Maritime	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: Bill Davidson, C Mitchell, Doran Con: Bill Davidson Pen: Jim Rukutai 2	[20]	Try: Hutton Con: Dufty Pen: Dufty 3 & 1 mark	Attendance: 5000 Referee: Bill Murray

	18 May	North Shore	2–30	Newton	Devonport Domain
	3:00	Pen: Parker	[21]	Try: Phil Castles, Jack Keenan, Ronald Lovett, A Thomas, unknown x 4 Con: Len Farrant, unknown x 2	Referee: William Wynyard

Round 2

North Shore lost by default to Maritime. In the City v Grafton match the City player Mitchell was ordered off by referee Vause for disputing a decision. He wrote a letter of apology during the week and the league ordered him to appear on Saturday to receive a “severe citation” ^[22]

	25 May	Ponsonby	8–7	Newton	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: William Southernwood, Eric McGregor Con: A Maddison	[23]	Try: Jack Keenan Con: Bill Williams Pen: Phil Castle	Referee: Archie Ferguson

	25 May	City	11–10	Grafton	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: Tom Haddon, (Huatahi or George) Paki, J Hogan Con: M Stanaway	[24]	Try: Dougie McGregor, H Simpson Con: Karl Ifwersen Pen: Karl Ifwersen	Referee: A Vause

	25 May	Maritime	WBD-LBD	North Shore	Victoria Park
	3:00		[25]

Round 3

North Shore once again defaulted and the withdrew from the first grade competition leaving 5 teams.

	1 June	Newton	18–2	City	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: George Iles, Leonard Newdick, W Miller, Jack Keenan Con: Arthur Isles 3	[26]	Pen: Ernie Asher	Referee: Frank Thompson

	1 June	Grafton	28–2	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: H Simpson 4, Dougie McGregor 2 Con: Karl Ifwersen 3, Dougie McGregor 1 Pen: Karl Ifwersen	[26]	Pen: Dufty	Referee: T Hill

	1 June	Ponsonby	WBD-LBD	North Shore	Victoria Park 3
	3:00		[26]		Referee: E Dempsey

Round 4

	8 June	Ponsonby	20–7	City	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: William Hanlon, Eric McGregor 2, Arthur Cadman Con: A Maddison 3 Pen: A Maddison	[27]	Try: G Reid Pen: Jim Rukutai 2	Attendance: 6000 Referee: William Wynyard

	8 June	Newton	16–0	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: Wally Somers 2, A Thomas, Arthur Mansill Con: Arthur Isles Pen: Bill Williams	[28]		Attendance: 6,000 Referee: F Tyson

Round 5

Sheehan was ordered off for Maritime in their match with Ponsonby for striking Matthews.

	22 June	Newton	13–2	Grafton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Jack Keenan, George Iles, Arthur Isles Con: Arthur Isles, Phil Castles	[29]	Pen: Karl Ifwersen	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Bill Murray

	22 June	Ponsonby	21–6	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: Arthur Matthews 2, Eric McGregor 2, unknown 1 Con: A Maddison 3	[30]	Try: George Davidson, Hogg	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: A Ball

Round 6

	29 June	Ponsonby	18–7	Grafton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Laurie Cadman 2, W Hanlin, Thomas McClymont Con: A Maddison 3	[31]	Try: Tremain Con: Karl Ifwersen Pen: Karl Ifwersen	Attendance: 5000 Referee: A Ball

	29 June	City	11–7	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: C Mitchell 2, Robert Clark Con: Jim Rukutai	[32]	Try: Kent Pen: Dufty (and 1 mark)	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Archie Ferguson

Round 7

Remarkably the match between Newton and Ponsonby at the Domain was recorded with footage of the game surviving and being archived on The New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga website. ^[33]

	6 July	City	25–15	Grafton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Bill Davidson, Ivan Stewart, Robert Clark 2, Tom Haddon Con: Bill Davidson 2 Pen: Bill Davidson 2, Jim Rukutai	[34]	Try: Karl Ifwersen, Dougie McGregor, Tremain Con: Karl Ifwersen 3	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: A Vause

	13 July	Newton	11–10	Ponsonby	Auckland Domain
	3:00	Try: George Iles, Jack Keenan, Ronald Lovett Pen: W Miller	[35]	Try: William Southernwood, W Edwards Con: A Maddison 2	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Hill

Round 8

	20 July	City	2–0	Newton	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Pen: Harry Francis	[36]		Attendance: 4,000 Referee: William Wynyard

	20 July	Grafton	12–11	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00	Try: Tremaine, Pullen Con: Karl Ifwersen 2 Pen: Karl Ifwersen	[37]	Try: A Cross, Dufty, penalty try Con: Dufty	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: E Dempsey

Round 9

	27 July	Ponsonby	2–0	City	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Pen: A Maddison	[38]		Attendance: 6,000 Referee: A Ferguson

	27 July	Newton	WBD-LBD	Maritime	Victoria Park 2
	3:00		[38]

Round 10

	3 August	Ponsonby	7–6	Maritime	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: Eric McGregor Con: A Maddison Pen: A Maddison (1 mark)	[39]	Try: Hogg, George Davidson	Referee: Archie Ferguson

	3 August	Newton	28–11	Grafton	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: Ronald Lovett, F Gregory, A Thomas 2, Jack Keenan 2 Con: Ronald Lovett, Phil Castle 2, Arthur Isles, Jack Keenan	[39]	Try: Karl Ifwersen Con: Karl Ifwersen Pen: Karl Ifwersen 3	Referee: Wheatley

On 21 September a match was played between the Auckland Rugby League referees and officials of the league. The referees won by 14 points to 4 with it being refereed by Jim Rukutai. ^[40]

Roope Rooster knockout competition

Round 1

Many years later when reminiscing about his career Ernie Asher while watching a game at Carlaw Park was heard to say "my biggest thrill ever in football was back in 1915 or 16... Ponsonby were 100 to 1 on favourite to beat us. I was playing at the Domain and I was on the sideline with a crook shoulder. One bloke got knocked out and I had to go on and we beat Ponsonby with my kicking. Yes, that was my biggest thrill in football". He was most likely referring to this rounds match between City and Ponsonby which was in fact played in 1918 as it was one of their only meetings in this era on the Domain and where Asher kicked goals in a City win. Asher had only played in their 11 May, and 1 June matches due to his injury and it was his last ever match for City. ^[41]

	10 August	City	15–10	Ponsonby	Auckland Domain
	3:00	Try: Robert Clark, Harry Francis, C Mitchell Con: Ernie Asher Pen: Ernie Asher 2	[42]	Try: Eric McGregor, Artie Rae Con: W Hanlin Pen: A Maddison	Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Frank Thompson

	17 August	Maritime	16–11	Grafton	Victoria Park
	3:00	Try: Hogg, George Davidson, Lunn 2 Con: Stallworthy, Dufty	[43]	Try: Karl Ifwersen Con: T Taylor Pen: Karl Ifwersen 3	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: T Hill

Semi final

	24 August	Maritime	13–8	Newton	Auckland Domain
	3:00	Try: Tom Sheehan, Hogg, Dufty Con: Stallworthy Pen: George Davidson	[44]	Try: W Miller, Jack Keenan Pen: Arthur Isles	Attendance: 5,500 Referee: A Ball

Final

	31 August	City	6–3	Maritime	Auckland Domain
	3:00	Try: Maurice Wetherill, Huatahi Paki	[45]	Try: George Davidson	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: William Wynyard

Top try scorers and point scorers

The following point scoring lists include both Senior Championship matches (including preliminary rounds) and the Roope Rooster competition. For the 5th time in 6 seasons Karl Ifwersen topped the point scoring lists with 66 points. This gave him 287 points from 6 seasons. While Eric McGregor (brother of Kiwi Dougie McGregor) of Ponsonby United topped the try scoring list with 10. Newton Rangers had 4 tries and 2 conversions unattributed while Ponsonby had 1 try unattributed which make the point lists for those teams slightly incomplete.

Rank Player Team Tries 1 Eric McGregor Ponsonby 10 2 Jack Keenan Newton 8 3 H Simpson Grafton 5 3 C Mitchell City 5 5 Bill Davidson City 4 5 George Iles Newton 4 5 Thomas Newton 4 5 Robert Clark City 4 5 Arthur Rae Ponsonby 4 5 George Davidson Maritime 4 5 Hogg Maritime 4 5 Karl Ifwersen Grafton 4 5 Tremain Grafton 4 5 Dougie McGregor Grafton 4

Rank Player Team Tries Con Pen Mark Points 1 Karl Ifwersen Grafton 4 11 16 0 66 2 A Maddison Ponsonby 1 16 6 1 49 3 Dufty Maritime 2 3 7 2 30 3 Eric McGregor Ponsonby 10 0 0 0 30 5 Jack Keenan Newton 8 1 0 0 26 6 Bill Davidson City 4 4 2 0 24

Thacker Shield

Ponsonby United travelled south to Christchurch to play a match with Sydenham for the Thacker Shield. They were victorious and brought the shield to Auckland.

	31 August	Sydenham	0–11	Ponsonby	Sydenham Park, Christchurch
	3:00		[46]	Try: Artie Rae, Bill Walsh, Arthur Matthews Pen: A Maddison

Lower grade clubs

The lower grades featured teams in the 2nd grade (5), 3rd grade (5), 4th grade (9), 5th grade (11), and 6th grade (4). ^[47]

A team named "Big Store" was entered in the 5th grade competition. They were essentially a company team representing George Court & Sons. Their motto at the time was "Big Store" in reference to its range of goods in their Karangahape Road store. During the season they asked the Auckland Rugby League if they could be affiliated to the Newton Rangers club. The league delayed a decision as they had earlier asked to be affiliated to the City Rovers club before changing their mind. The affiliation with Newton was later affirmed. The team was however thrown out of the competition after an incident in a match in early August. They were suspended until the end of the following (1919 season), and their captain, Crawley was suspended for 3 seasons.

Second grade

Ōtāhuhu Rovers won the championship. While fixtures were reported in the newspapers each week there were only 2 scores reported in the entire season along with 1 other result (City defeating Māngere Rangers in round 1). This renders the standings below to be extremely inaccurate. Grafton withdrew after round 1 and have not been included in the standings as it is unlikely they fielded a side, while Ponsonby withdrew after round 7.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	Pts
Otahuhu Rovers	8	2	0	0	1	28	0	4
City Rovers	9	1	0	1	0	0	14	2
Māngere Rangers	8	0	0	2	3	0	14	0
Ponsonby United	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

Third grade

North Shore won the championship. There were only 11 scores reported from 26 scheduled matches.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	Pts
North Shore Albions	11	5	0	1	2	61	32	10
Manukau	10	3	0	1	2	54	19	6
Thames Old Boys	10	3	0	1	2	21	46	6
Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers	11	0	0	5	2	25	52	0
City Rovers	10	0	0	3	2	10	22	0

Fourth grade

Telegraph Messengers won the championship, sealing it on September 7 with a 15-2 win over Newton. Parnell, Manukau, and Otahuhu all withdrew from the competition after round 9. Ponsonby withdrew 1 round later. There were 23 scores reported and 23 unreported.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	Pts
Telegraph Messengers	12	8	0	1	2	102	36	16
Richmond Rovers	13	5	0	1	1	34	25	10
Newton Rangers	12	4	1	3	1	54	51	9
Grafton Athletic	12	2	0	2	1	13	2	4
Sunnyside	12	1	0	3	1	30	49	2
Ponsonby United	8	1	0	3	0	17	26	2
Otahuhu Rovers	8	1	0	3	0	19	49	2
Manukau	7	0	1	0	1	3	12	1
Parnell	8	0	0	5	1	19	41	0

Fifth grade

The championship winning Otahuhu side.

Otahuhu won the championship after defeating City in the final on September 14. There were many results not reported however the Otahuhu standings and for and against record are correct as they are displayed on their championship winning photograph in their present day club rooms. Telegraph Messengers, Manukau B, and Ponsonby B all withdrew after 11 rounds, while Manukau A and Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers withdrew a week later. Big Store was removed from the competition by the ARL due to a disciplinary issue in an August match. They were suspended until the end of 1919 but failed to ever take part in Auckland Rugby League again. 23 scores were reported, with 34 scores not reported.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	Pts
Otahuhu Rovers	14	13	0	1	0	244	10	26
City Rovers	13	7	0	2	1	94	19	14
Richmond Rovers	11	5	0	2	3	104	50	10
Ponsonby United A	12	4	0	2	1	42	38	8
Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers	11	1	0	2	1	48	30	2
North Shore Albions	13	1	0	4	1	52	39	2
Manukau A	11	1	0	1	1	13	19	2
Telegraph Messengers	10	1	0	4	1	11	82	2
Manukau B	10	0	0	4	1	9	122	0
Big Store	9	0	0	3	1	0	49	0
Ponsonby United B	10	0	0	3	0	0	77	0

Sixth grade

City won the championship. There were 23 results reported and 23 not reported.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	Pts
City Rovers	15	11	0	1	0	145	9	22
Richmond Rovers	14	4	1	5	0	39	46	9
Otahuhu Rovers	11	4	0	2	0	29	22	8
Parnell	15	1	1	4	1	20	46	3
North Shore Albions	13	1	0	4	1	12	35	2
Telegraph Messengers	14	1	0	6	0	19	106	2

Exhibition matches

Richmond and the Telegraph Messengers 4th grade teams travelled to Thames to play an exhibition match on 12 October. Telegraph Messengers had been winners of the championship with Richmond the runners up.

	Date		Score		Score	Venue
	12 Oct [48]	Telegraph Messengers	12	Richmond	10	Thames

Representative fixtures

On 7 September a trial match was held between two teams picked by the selectors at Victoria Park in order to select the Auckland representative team. The A team was Minogue, Bill Walsh, Thomas McClymont, Jim Clark (Ponsonby), Dougie McGregor, Karl Ifwersen, Bailey, Ernie Herring (Grafton), George Iles (Newton), George Davidson (Maritime), Jim Rukutai, Tom Haddon, Francis (City, while the B Team was George Paki, Ivan Stewart (City), Eric McGregor, A Maddison, Cadman (Ponsonby), A Thomas, Jack Keenan, Bill Williams (Newton), Pullen, H Simpson (Grafton), Bert Avery, A Cross, Sheehan (Maritime), with W Hanlin (Ponsonby), Stallworthy (Maritime), Clarke (City), and Jack Keenan (Newton) named in the reserves. The following weekend Auckland played Canterbury at the Auckland Domain and were victorious by 45 points to 9.

Trial match

	7 September	A Team	36–15	B Team	Victoria Park 1
	3:00	Try: George Davidson 2, Clarke, Karl Ifwersen, Dougie McGregor, unknown x 7 points Con: George Davidson 2, Dougie McGregor 2, Phil Castle Pen: Karl Ifwersen, Phil Castles	[49]	Try: Mitchell, A Thomas, Bert Avery Con: Jack Keenan Pen: Jack Keenan	Referee: Bill Murray

Auckland v Canterbury

The match saw 10,000 spectators attend and took in 300 pounds in gate takings.

	14 September	Auckland	45–9	Canterbury	Auckland Domain
	3:00	Try: George Davidson 5, Karl Ifwersen 2, Tom Haddon 2, George Iles, Thomas McClymont Con: Karl Ifwersen 4, Phil Castle, Ernie Bailey	[50]	Try: Young Pen: Mitchell, Smythe 2 marks	Attendance: 10,000 Referee: A Ball

Auckland representative matches played and scorers

No	Name	Club Team	Play	Tries	Con	Pen	Points
1	George Davidson	Maritime	1	5	0	0	15
2	Karl Ifwersen	Grafton	1	2	4	0	14
3	Tom Haddon	City	1	2	0	0	6
4	George Iles	Newton	1	1	0	0	3
4	Thomas McClymont	Ponsonby	1	1	0	0	3
6	Phil Castle	Newton	1	0	1	0	2
6	Ernie Bailey	Grafton*	1	0	1	0	2
8	George Paki	City	1	0	0	0	0
8	Dougie McGregor	Grafton	1	0	0	0	0
8	Bill Walsh	Ponsonby	1	0	0	0	0
8	Jim Rukutai	City	1	0	0	0	0
8	Bill Williams	Newton	1	0	0	0	0
8	Ernie Herring	Grafton	1	0	0	0	0

Ernie Bailey had begun the season with North Shore but after they withdrew their senior team from the competition he transferred to the Grafton Athletic team.

References

1. "Review of Last Season". The New Zealand Herald . Vol. LV, no. 16812. 1 April 1918. p. 7. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
2. "Ponsonby Beats City/Ponsonby V City/Maritime V Newton". The New Zealand Herald . Vol. LV, no. 16866. 10 June 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
3. "Newton Defeats Grafton". Auckland Star . Vol. XLIX, no. 149. 24 June 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
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External links

• Auckland Rugby League Official Site