Riverhead Rugby League Club

Last updated

Riverhead
Club information
Full nameRiverhead Rugby League Club
ColoursGreen
Founded 1916
Exited1916;108 years ago (1916)
Former details
Ground(s)
  • Riverhead
Competition Auckland Rugby League

The Riverhead Rugby League Club was a rugby league club which existed briefly in 1916 and competed in the Auckland Rugby League 3rd grade competition. They were based in Riverhead in West Auckland, New Zealand.

Contents

History

1915 Exhibition games

In 1915 the Auckland Rugby League decided to play a 3rd grade special exhibition match in Riverhead on July 24 between the Newton Rangers 3rd grade side and a local Riverhead team. [1] The match was refereed by Mr. Shaw but there was no result reported in the newspapers the following Monday. [2] Then the following week the Sunnyside club were granted permission to travel to Riverhead to play also. [3]

1916 Club formed

On May 5, 1916, the Auckland Rugby League held their weekly management meeting and it was reported that “a newly formed club at Riverhead wrote expressing a desire to participate in the third grade competition, and the secretary was instructed to communicate with its officials with regard to the steps necessary for affiliation”. [4]

Their first ever game was scheduled to be played at Riverhead. It is unknown where exactly the ground was located. The present day Riverhead War Memorial Park was formed in 1932. The match was played on May 20 against City Rovers. The referee was former New Zealand international Stan Weston. [5] There was no score for the match reported. During the following week the league officially approved of the Riverhead clubs colours as green. At the same meeting that organised that the club would play in the city on alternate Saturday's and that when they played at Riverhead opposing captains would be responsible for making their own launch arrangements to make their way up the Waitematā Harbour to Riverhead. [6] In their second match they had to travel to the city to play at Victoria Park, Auckland. Their opponents were Sunnyside. The Observer newspaper wrote that “the Riverhead club journey to town on Saturday, and play at Victoria Park. The members of this newly formed club are showing great keenness, as evidenced by their desire to travel in order to play a game”. [7] On May 31 the transfer of William Doran to Riverhead was approved. [8] They played Richmond A on June 10 but once more no result was reported. A week later on June 17 they suffered a heavy 44–0 defeat to Newton Rangers. [9] On June 21 the former Newton and Māngere Rangers player, H. Hira was regraded to third grade and registered with Riverhead.

Hugh Scally was on the Junior Advisory Board but was absent for the photograph. ARL Junior Advisory Board 1916.png
Hugh Scally was on the Junior Advisory Board but was absent for the photograph.

At the same management committee meeting Hugh Scally was nominated by the club to represent them on the Junior Advisory Board. [10]

On the following Saturday on June 24 they hosted Thames Old Boys and lost 14–0. [11] They had a bye on June 24 before a match with Richmond B on July 8. They then defaulted their match with City on July 15. [12] However the league decided to reschedule the match for a later date after the club notified the league that they had been unable to travel due to “launch troubles”. [13]

They played Sunnyside on July 22 before then defaulting two consecutive matches against Thames and then City. The league had a rule whereby two consecutive defaulted matches meant that a team had forfeited the right to compete and so they were ultimately the last ever fixtures for the club. [14] After their removal from competition the club sent a donation of 1 pound and 5 shillings which they had raised from a dance to the rugby league. The money was to go to the Red Cross. [15] [16]

The club wrote a letter to the league which was received at the August 16 board meeting. It stated that “owing to enlistments, it was unable to raise a team for the remainder of the season, and asked permission to withdraw from the competition”. The request was agreed to be the league and three members of their team were granted transfers to the City Rovers second grade team. [17] The players were William Doran, W. Mouse, and Ernest Ruby. [18] Ernest Ruby enlisted in the war in 1917 and his name is on the Riverhead War Memorial Park gates. [19] After returning from the war he played for the City Rovers seniors in the early 1920s and then for Devonport United before debuting for the Auckland representative team in 1927. He played 9 games for them from 1927 to 1931.

In April, 1922 the Auckland Rugby League received a letter "that a league club had been formed at Riverhead, and asking whether teams could come up to play them". The league looked to see if junior teams could travel there on their bye day to play. [20]

Team record

They had 10 fixtures scheduled. Only 2 games had scores reported while they defaulted 3 other matches. The results from their other 5 games are unknown.

SeasonGradeNamePlayedWDLPFPAPDPtsPosition (Teams)
1916 3rd GradeRiverhead10005058-5806th of 7

Related Research Articles

The Auckland rugby league team is the team which traditionally represents all of the clubs which play in the Auckland Rugby League competition. As well as a senior men's team there are also Auckland representative teams throughout the various age groups such as under 15s, under 17s, under 19s and under 21s.

The Auckland Rugby League competition has been competed for since 1909 when the first organised match was played between North Shore and City Rovers. The following year an official champion was crowned for the first time, namely the City Rovers club who won the 1910 1st Grade title and were one of the 4 original teams at that time. Over the following 110 years many team and individual trophies have been awarded. The following is a list of the clubs and individuals that they have been awarded to at the premier-grade level.

Reg Sprague is a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand.

The 1915 season, and 7th of Auckland Rugby League saw the First Grade competition begin on 8 May featuring the same 6 senior clubs who had competed in 1914.

The 1916 Auckland Rugby League season was the 8th year of the organisation.

The 1917 Auckland Rugby League season was its 9th. Due to the large number of players now serving in the First World War it was agreed to relax transfer rules to allow players from stronger teams to join weaker teams to even the competition. It was noted how many men from various clubs had been killed in battle by the beginning of 1917. They were Cecil Walker, Doug Dawson, T Marshall, Charles Savory, Frank McWhirter, Graham Cook, N Vause, V McCollum, Alf Gault, T Lambert, E Tiernan, F Stubbs, W. G. Handle, B Hart, F Gladding, A Powley, Chas Mann, William Moeki, G Jones, W Harris, S Magee, S Greer, Alan Miller, Charles Sinton, and Leslie O'Leary (Sunnyside). City Rovers had 'sent' ninety men to war by this time and twenty-one had been wounded and five killed. The Sunnyside club had only nine members left and one of those who had gone to the war said that in the trenches he had made a list of league players from various clubs which totalled 120. All three of the Sunnyside secretaries had enlisted and the executive was also gone. Ponsonby had also had over eighty of its members join the war effort.

The 1919 season of the Auckland Rugby League was its 11th. It was the first season post World War I and unsurprisingly it saw a resurgence in playing numbers with 56 teams across the six grades. North Shore Albions who had previously dropped out of the senior competition again fielded a senior side. As did Otahuhu, who had dropped out during the 1917 season. Ponsonby United won their third consecutive first grade title, while Newton Rangers won the Roope Rooster trophy.

Edward Joseph Bennett was a New Zealand rugby league footballer. Bennett played in the second row position. He represented the New Zealand rugby league team in two test matches against England in 1920. In the process he became the 144th player to represent New Zealand. He also played for the Waiuku rugby club, and the Newton Rangers, and Grafton Athletic rugby league clubs. Bennett also represented the Auckland and North Island rugby league teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville St George</span> New Zealand rugby league footballer

Robert Neville St George was a rugby league footballer. He represented the New Zealand rugby league team in 2 test matches in 1925. In the process he became the 178th player to represent New Zealand. He also represented the North Island and Auckland representative side. St George played his club rugby league in Auckland for the Marist Old Boys side initially before moving to Devonport United where he spent most of his career.

The Hobsonville Pirates were a rugby league club which existed briefly from 1912 to 1914 and competed in the Auckland Rugby League competitions in the 2nd and 3rd grade. They were based in Hobsonville in West Auckland, New Zealand.

The Remuera League Football Club was a rugby league club which existed from 1914 to 1915 before being revived in 1927. They fielded teams in 1928 and 1929 before ceasing to exist. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League lower grade competitions and were based in Remuera in central Auckland, New Zealand.

The Sunnyside League Football Club was a rugby league club based in Devonport, on the North Shore of Auckland, which existed from 1914 to 1920. They then amalgamated with the North Shore Albions club also based in Devonport. The Sunnyside area referred more specifically to the area to the west of the Navy base along to Stanley Point. The combined side became known as Devonport United. Sunnyside competed in the Auckland Rugby League lower grade competitions.

The Mangere United League Football Club was a rugby league club which existed from 1915 to 1934 when they ceased to exist at the end of the season. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League competitions, predominantly in the lower grades. and were based in the Māngere suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. The club was predominantly made up of Māori players which was very unique for the rugby league code in the Auckland region in its early decades.

The Thames Old Boys League Football Club was a rugby league club in Auckland, New Zealand which existed from 1915 to 1920. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League lower grade competitions. They were made up of former Thames residents who had moved to live in Auckland partly as the Coromandel Gold Rushes came to an end.

The Telegraph Messengers Club was a rugby league club in Auckland, New Zealand which existed from 1916 to 1919. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League lower grade competitions. They were initially affiliated to the Ponsonby United club before amalgamating with the Maritime Football Club during the 1920 season. They were composed of telegraph messengers for the Post and Telegraph organisation hence their name.

Kingsland Rovers was a rugby league club in Auckland. They competed from 1920 to 1928 under the name Kingsland Rovers for 9 seasons before amalgamating with Grafton Athletic in 1929 to become Kingsland Athletic, before the club was 'forced' to join with Marist Old Boys in 1931.

Parnell Rugby League Football Club were a rugby league club in Auckland. They competed from 1918 until 1930 before amalgamating with City Rovers at the start of 1931. They represented the Parnell suburb in inner Auckland.

Takapuna Rugby League Football Club were a rugby league club in Auckland. They competed from 1921 until 1925. They represented the Takapuna suburb on the North Shore of Auckland.

The Ihumātao Rugby League Club was a rugby league club in Auckland, New Zealand which existed from 1922 to 1923. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League 2nd grade competition in each season and had a third grade side in 1923. They represented the Ihumātao area in the Māngere suburb in Auckland.

The Coromandel Old Boys Rugby League Club was a rugby league club in Auckland, New Zealand which existed from 1922 to 1925. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League 3rd grade competition in each season. They represented players who had moved to the Auckland area from the Coromandel Peninsula, ostensibly as the gold rush era finished.

References

  1. ↑ "The League Game/Meeting of Executive". New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15964. 8 July 1915. p. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Arrangements For Saturday". Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 173. 22 July 1915. p. 7. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  3. ↑ "Incident Closed". Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 179. 29 July 1915. p. 3. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Meeting Of Committee". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16222. 6 May 1916. p. 5. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Third Grade". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 118. 18 May 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Auckland Rugby League". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 124. 25 May 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "The League Game/Notes". Observer, Volume XXXVI, Issue 38. 27 May 1916. p. 10. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "The League Game/Saturday's Games Postponed". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16244. 1 June 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Third Grade". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16259. 19 June 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "Transfers And Regrading". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 148. 22 June 1916. p. 3. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Third Grade". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16265. 26 June 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Third Grade". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 169. 17 July 1916. p. 7. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Auckland Rugby League". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 172. 20 July 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "The League Game/Meeting Of Committee". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16304. 10 August 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  15. ↑ "Roope Roosters Final". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 196. 17 August 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "Local And General News". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16310. 17 August 1916. p. 6. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  17. ↑ "The League Game/Meeting Of Committee". New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16310. 17 August 1916. p. 10. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  18. ↑ "Rugby League/Meeting Of Executive". Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 196. 17 August 1916. p. 2. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  19. ↑ "Riverhead War Memorial Gates". NZ History. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  20. ↑ "Those transfer Rules". Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 93. 20 April 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.