 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Arthur Norman McClinton [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 16 August 1886 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Belfast, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 29 November 1929 (aged 43) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Belfast, Northern Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arthur Norman McClinton (16 August 1886 – 29 November 1929) was an Irish rugby union international who was part of the first official British Isles team that toured South Africa in 1910. He also played on 2 occasions for Ireland.
Arthur Norman McClinton was born in Belfast, Ireland on 16 August 1886 [1] the son of John McClinton and his wife Rosa Hurst McClinton. His father was a seed merchant, also born in Belfast, whilst his mother hailed from County Armagh. [2] He had at least four siblings: Dorothy Louise McClinton; Marie Rose McClinton; John Stuart McClinton and Fred Hurst McClinton. [2]
McClinton played rugby union as a fly-half for the third oldest club in Ireland, North of Ireland FC, with whom he won the 1908 Ulster Senior Cup. He was selected to play for Ireland in 1910, debuting at Lansdowne Road against Wales on 12 March 1910 in that first ever Five Nations championship. He played again on 28 March against France in Paris, and this was in fact his final appearance for his country. Later that year he was selected for the first official British Isles team that toured South Africa in 1910. In that tour he played second fiddle to George Isherwood, not managing to appear in any of the Tests. However, he shone in the midweek side, making eight appearances and knocking over two drop goals against Orange River County and Southern Rhodesia. [3]
Along with his two brothers, John Stuart and Frederick Hurst, Arthur served in the Great War. John was with 7th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry and did not survive the war. Arthur served with 10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. He was awarded the Military Cross, his citation reading:
"For conspicuous gallantry in action. He kept his company in hand with great determination under heavy fire, and finally led it over "No Man's Land" into the enemy's lines. Later, he did fine work in organizing the defences of the captured trenches." [4] By the end of the war he was a Temporary Captain.
Arthur's brother Frederick Hurst did survive the war and had a son, John Fredric McClinton, born 29 June 1923, who, like his uncle Arthur, was a good rugby player, became a Captain in the Second World War and was awarded an MC (and bar).
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national team, although they can pick uncapped players who are eligible for any of the four unions. The team tours every four years, with these rotating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order. The most recent test series, the 2021 series against South Africa, was won 2–1 by South Africa.
Major Dr. Thomas Joseph Crean, was an Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor. During the Second Boer War, while serving with the Imperial Light Horse, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. In 1902, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. During the First World War he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
The Invincibles was a nickname given to the 1924–25 New Zealand national team which toured the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Canada. The team was captained by Cliff Porter, and numbered among its top players George Nēpia and brothers Cyril and Maurice Brownlie. During the test against England Cyril Brownlie was sent off by the Welsh referee Albert Freethy, the first player to be sent off from a test.
David Gallaher was an Irish-born New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the "Original All Blacks"—the 1905–06 New Zealand national team, the first representative New Zealand side to tour the British Isles. Under Gallaher's leadership the Originals won 34 out of 35 matches over the course of tour, including legs in France and North America; the New Zealanders scored 976 points and conceded only 59. Before returning home he co-wrote the classic rugby text The Complete Rugby Footballer with his vice-captain Billy Stead. Gallaher retired as a player after the 1905–06 tour and took up coaching and selecting; he was a selector for both Auckland and New Zealand for most of the following decade.
Ronald 'Ronnie' William Poulton was an English rugby union footballer, who captained England. He was killed in the First World War during the Second Battle of Ypres.
The 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team was a New Zealand rugby union team that toured Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand in 1888 and 1889. It mostly comprised players of Māori ancestry, but also included some Pākehā. A wholly private endeavour, the tour was not under the auspices of any official rugby authority; it was organised by New Zealand international player Joseph Warbrick, promoted by public servant Thomas Eyton, and managed by James Scott, a publican. The Natives were the first New Zealand team to perform a haka, and also the first to wear all black. They played 107 rugby matches during the tour, as well as a small number of Victorian Rules football matches in Australia. Having made a significant impact on the development of New Zealand rugby, the Natives were inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2008.
Malone RFC is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It is currently in the Division 1B of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football Union. It is one of the last remaining Belfast rugby clubs not to have amalgamated and still plays at its original ground. As well as its successful Senior teams, it has a thriving Youth and Mini structure, and was the first Mini rugby team from Ireland to play in the renowned Fundacion Cisneros International rugby tournament in Madrid.
John Phillips Jones was a Welsh international centre who played club rugby for Pontypool Rugby Club and Newport Rugby Football Club. He won 14 caps for Wales and was known as The Prince of Centres.
Between late 1957 and March 1958 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Britain, Ireland, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. The Wallabies won 17, lost 16 and drew three of their games in total. They lost all five Tests of the tour.
David Revell "Darkie" Bedell-Sivright was a Scottish international rugby union forward who captained both Scotland and the British Isles. Born in Edinburgh, and educated at Fettes College where he learned to play rugby, he studied at Cambridge University and earned four Blues playing for them in the Varsity Match. He was first selected for Scotland in 1900 in a match against Wales. After playing in all of Scotland's Home Nations Championship matches in 1901, 1902 and 1903, Bedell-Sivright toured with the British Isles side – now known as the British & Irish Lions – that toured South Africa in 1903. After playing the first 12 matches of the tour, he was injured and so did not play in any of the Test matches against South Africa.
Philip Froude Hancock universally known as Froude Hancock was an English rugby union forward who played international rugby for the British Isles XV on two tours, the 1891 and 1896 tour of South Africa.
Arthur Frederick Kelly was a rugby footballer who was part of the professional 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain.
Thomas Melville Watson McGown was an Irish international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cambridge University and North of Ireland FC. McGown played international rugby for Ireland and in 1899 he was selected for the British Isles team on its tour of Australia.
Eric "Puss" MacLeod Milroy was a rugby union player who represented Scotland and Watsonians. He was capped twelve times for Scotland between 1910 and 1914, his first appearance coming as a surprise replacement for the Scottish captain, George Cunningham. He was selected for the 1910 British Isles tour to South Africa after other players were forced to withdraw. Due to illness, he only participated in three matches, and did not take part in any of the tests against South Africa. In 1914, he captained Scotland against Ireland, and against England in the last international match before the outbreak of the First World War.
Arthur "Mud" James Dingle was a rugby union centre and wing, who won three caps for England, and played for County Durham, Hartlepool Rovers and Oxford University.
Stuart McCloskey is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland, who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team.
Frederick Roberts was a rugby union footballer who played for the New Zealand national team, commonly called the All Blacks. Playing at halfback, he played for the 1905 Original All Blacks, the first New Zealand representative team to tour the British Isles. He was the only halfback taken on the tour, and played in 28 of their 32 matches in the British Isles. New Zealand rugby historian Winston McCarthy wrote of Roberts that he was "a superb passer, a judicious runner from the scrum, and excellent two-foot kicker and a giant on defence." Roberts continued to be selected by the All Blacks until 1910, when he captained the New Zealand team on their tour of Australia.
Alexander Roulston Foster was an Irish rugby union international who was part of the first official British Isles team that toured South Africa in 1910. He also played on 17 occasions for Ireland.
Major John Dunwoodie Martin McCallum also known as "the wee major" was a Northern Irish soldier, resident magistrate, sportsman, sports administrator, and president of the International Badminton Federation.