1921 Auckland Rugby League season


The 1921 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 13th. Seventy two teams played across its six main grades.




The first grade competition featured seven teams, City Rovers, Marist Old Boys, Maritime, Devonport, Fire Brigade, Newton Rangers, and Ponsonby United. City Rovers comfortably won the senior championship for the 4th time with a 8 win, 1 draw, 0 loss record ahead of Maritime who were unable to repeat their title win from the previous season. City had previously won the title in 1910, 1911, and 1916. This was to be the first of 3 consecutive titles for them. They also won the Roope Rooster knockout competition for the 3rd time after previous wins in 1916 and 1918.

Club Name Changes and Mergers

On 13 April the Management Committee of the Auckland Rugby League met. At the meeting Grafton was granted permission to change its name to "Fire Brigade Club". Devonport United notified the league that the Devonport Borough Council had allocated the Devonport Domain for its use. During the season the club was named 'North Shore' and 'Devonport' interchangeably by both The New Zealand Herald and the Auckland Star. In 1920 the club had seen a merger between North Shore Albions and the Sunnyside club and agreed on the name Devonport United but it appears that the stronger club's name was still more favoured by those reporting on the games, and it was eventually the name adopted by the club. While the Kingsland Rovers club wrote asking for advice on what it should do regarding a ground for the club to play at.

Carlaw Park Open for Business

History was made on 25 June when the first ever match was played on Carlaw Park between City Rovers and Maritime. The match was won by City Rovers 10 points to 8. Prior to the match an official opening ceremony was held. "The park was declared open by Hon. Arthur Myers, MP. Mr and Mrs. Carlaw were each presented with a gold badge and certificate of life membership on the ground, and at the conclusion of the ceremony Mrs Carlaw kicked off for the first game on the new park". City Rovers capped a remarkable season by winning the Thacker Shield from Ponsonby United on the final day of the season after having already won the Monteith Shield by winning the First Grade Championship, and the Roope Rooster Knock-out trophy.

Female Football Club Denied By the League

On 12 July a meeting was held in Parnell to form a "girls" rugby league competition and over 40 enrolling. They were to play a game on Carlaw Park on the following Saturday afternoon. They were all aged between 16 and 20 years of age. The chairman of the Parnell club, Mr. A. R. Turner explained "that it wished to develop the girls as well as the men, and to this end the club was being formed at the suggestion of the girls". A trophy "similar to the Monteith Shield" had been donated, and "members of the Auckland League Management Committee had donated a football, and were providing assistance in supplying jerseys. At the meeting when the time for enrollment came it was described that "they rose in a body and fairly rushed the table, which was in danger of being overturned in the excitement of the moment" Ivan Culpan, secretary of the league told the girls that the league would train them every evening in the lead up to the match. Over the next week the number of girls enrolled increased to 65. It later transpired that the members of the Auckland Rugby League who had attended had done so by invitation and were not necessarily acting on behalf of the league with the comments they had made. At the Auckland Rugby league Management meeting the following night the decision on whether to support the girls playing and affiliate the club with the league was deferred. Both G. Hunt and E Phelan spoke against allowing the girls to play. And at a meeting on 20 July the Auckland Rugby League decided to oppose the girls playing football. Mr. J. Carlaw said that medical opinion was in opposition to females playing the sport. Mr Stallworthy and Mr. E Feilding suggested a trial game with modified rules take place with doctors watching but the request was declined.

Arthur Singe Switches to Rugby League

At the beginning of the season Marist Old Boys enticed Arthur Singe to join the club. He was an outstanding rugby player playing in the wing-forward position. He played for the New Zealand Army rugby team which toured Great Britain and then South Africa at the end of the war. When he returned to New Zealand he played for the Marist rugby club and played for Auckland 8 teams. He narrowly missed the New Zealand rugby team to tour Australia after playing just 10 minutes in the North Island v South Island match which acted as a trial of sorts. He switched codes and joined Marist, playing for them in 1921-22 and 1925-26 before going on tour with the New Zealand team on their ill-fated tour of England. Seven players went on strike due to issues with management on the tour and were ultimately banned for life. Singe was the only Auckland player among the strikers. The ban was lifted in 1962, 26 years after his death in 1936. Singe was to play 48 games for Marist scoring 148 points, 15 games for Auckland scoring 25 points, and 8 matches for New Zealand.

Monteith Shield (First Grade Championship)

Final Standings

Monteith Shield Fixtures

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 6 was somewhat farcical. Devonport fielded several juniors and when the score got to 14–0 in favour of Maritime very quickly four Maritime players changed teams to make it a more even contest. The remainder of the game more resembled a practice match. While Newton defaulted their match with Fire Brigade as only 6 players turned out. The New Zealand Herald match report stated that "counter-attractions proving too strong for the Newton players".

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 9 saw the opening of Carlaw Park and the first ever match played on its soil. City defeated Maritime by 10 points to 8 in front of 7000 spectators. The other two matches for this round were postponed. The captains of both Newton and Devonport decided to postpone the match, though the majority of the Devonport players were unaware of this arrangement and arrived at the ground ready to play. While on the same day the Fire Brigade players were called to a warehouse fire in the city at mid-day and were tired and late arriving to the ground so the match was abandoned.

Round 10

Round 11

The City v Newton game was discontinued at halftime due to the score line. Newton had started the match a man short and the score line had already blown out to 37–5 by the interval.

Roope Rooster Knockout Competition

The first round match between Marist Old Boys and Maritime ended controversially with Marist complaining that the match had finished early (when they were trailing by 10 points to 8. They protested and the match was replayed with Maritime winning 21 to 10.
The final was won by City Rovers who defeated Maritime in the final in front of a large crowd by 30 points to 14. Over £230 were taken at the gate which was a record for Carlaw Park, albeit in its first season of use. From this 50 percent went to the Auckland League Sick and Injured Players' Fund, 25 percent to the Hospital Radium Fund, and 25 percent to the St. John Ambulance Association

Round 1

Semi Final

Round 1 Replay

Semi Final

Final

Top Try Scorers and Point Scorers

RankPlayerTeamTries
1Ben DavidsonCity Rovers13
2Ivan LittlewoodMaritime12
3A EustaceMarist Old Boys10
4Alf TownsendCity Rovers8
5Dougie McGregorPonsonby United7
5H HawkesCity Rovers7
5BrienMaritime7
8Bill DavidsonCity Rovers6
8P GallagherMarist Old Boys6
10Bill WalshPonsonby United5
10E McGregorPonsonby United5
10G MormonPonsonby United5

RankPlayerTeamTriesConPenMarkDrop GoalPoints
1Bill DavidsonCity Rovers41531050
2Ben DavidsonCity Rovers13200043
3Dougie McGregorPonsonby United7720039
4Ivan LittlewoodMaritime12100038
5A EustaceMarist Old Boys10000030
6Arthur SingeMarist Old Boys4330024
7Alf TownsendCity Rovers8000024
7Eric GreyMaritime4330024
9Craddock DuftyNewton Rangers0730122
10H HawkesCity Rovers7000021
10BrienMaritime7000021

Other Club Matches and Lower Grades

Lower Grade Clubs

There were 7 lower grades in 1921 if you include the Sixth Grade which was split into an A and B grade, and the cadet competition. Clubs with only lower grade teams were:
Grades were made of the following teams with the winning team in bold:
The Thacker Shield was held by Ponsonby United coming into the 1921 season however there was a dispute over whether the shield should be held by North Island teams as it was unclear if it had been intended for competition among South Island teams only. The New Zealand council decided that the rules should be amended to allow North Island teams to hold it but the donor, Dr. H. T.J. Thacker and the Canterbury Rugby League would not agree to them. As such the shield was returned to the donor. Mr. C Weaver donated a trophy to take its place and this became known as the Challenge Shield and it was this that Ponsonby went on to defend twice. They first hosted Petone from Wellington who they beat 18–13. In the curtain-raiser Petone juniors were defeated by Richmond by 14 points to 8. In the evening the Petone players were entertained at the Druids' Hall by the Ponsonby club and Auckland League. They later defeated Huntly 19–8 before losing the Shield to local rivals City Rovers

Exhibition Matches

Auckland Representative Fixtures

It was a very busy season for the Auckland representative team with ten matches played. Though in reality B and C teams played some of the fixtures as matches were played at the same time in different centres. They won seven matches and lost three. On 20 August Auckland played three matches, which showed off their depth. One at Carlaw Park versus King Country, one in Hamilton against South Auckland, and one against Wellington on the Basin Reserve. They won against King Country and Wellington, with a loss against South Auckland.

Auckland v New Zealand

Northern Union Challenge Cup

Northern Union Challenge Cup

Auckland v King Country

South Auckland (Waikato) v Auckland

Wellington v Auckland

West Coast v Auckland

No full team lists were published for this match and none of the scorers were listed either in match reports from any newspaper in New Zealand. The match report did however mention that the following players for Auckland performed well: Maurice Wetherill, W Flynn, G Yardley, T Peckham, V Thomas, and Bill Stormont. It is most likely that Auckland fielded the same touring team that played in Wellington 4 days prior and in Christchurch 3 days later.

Canterbury v Auckland

Hawkes Bay v Auckland B

Auckland v South Auckland (Waikato)

Auckland Representative Matches Played and Scorers

There was no scoring for the West Coast match where Auckland won by 47 points to 7. Bill Davidson led Auckland in scoring with 40 points from 6 tries and 11 conversions.
NoNameClub TeamPlayTriesConPenPoints
1Bill DavidsonCity Rovers4611040
2Bert AveryMarist Old Boys490027
3H HawkesCity Rovers570021
4Thomas McClymontPonsonby United444020
5Ben DavidsonCity Rovers460018
6M FlynnMaritime608016
7Bill StormontMarist Old Boys531011
7Wally SomersNewton231011
9Charles WoolleyFire Brigade52006
9John LangMaritime42006
9George PakiCity Rovers22006
12G YardleyMaritime41105
12Tim PeckhamCity Rovers41105
12Arthur SingeMarist Old Boys41105
12Eric GreyMaritime41105
16Frank DelgrossoPonsonby United21003
16Maurice WetherillCity Rovers71003
16G CargillMarist Old Boys31003
16L NewdickNewton Rangers11003
16Ivan LittlewoodMaritime11003
16M McNeilPonsonby United21003
16C JamesNewton Rangers21003
16J McGregorMaritime21003
24Sam LowriePonsonby United30000
24W WilliamsNewton Rangers30000
24H WynnDevonport United20000
24V ThomasCity Rovers20000
24P GallagherMarist Old Boys10000
24NelsonDevonport United10000
24Nelson BassNewton Rangers10000
24J HingMarist Old Boys10000
24Joe MeadowsPonsonby United10000
24Bill WalshPonsonby United10000
24Craddock DuftyNewton Rangers10000
24G MormonPonsonby United10000
24J PriceDevonport United10000
24S DelaneyNewton Rangers10000
24Billy GhentMarist Old Boys10000
24M Clark?10000
24F TurnerMarist Old Boys10000
24N BallantyneMaritime10000
24Charles WebbDevonport United10000
24Alf TownsendCity Rovers10000
24A EustaceMarist Old Boys10000

New Zealand Representatives from Auckland

Team to tour Australia
Backs
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