Len Mason


Leonard Tasman Mason was a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at representative level for New Zealand, Other Nationalities, Dominion XIII, the South Island, South Auckland and Canterbury, and at club level for Wigan, Keighley and Bramley,as a, or.

Early life and family

Born in Huntly on 23 September 1903, Mason was the son of Victor Emanuel Mason and Te Ngaehe Elizabeth Mason.

Playing career

Mason represented South Auckland as a teenager before briefly playing for the Athletic club in Auckland. Work then took him to Christchurch where he joined the Hornby club in the Canterbury Rugby League competition. He scored for South Island in the 1926 inter-island match.
Mason was selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team and was part of the 1926-27 tour of Great Britain that was marred by player discontent.

Wigan

Mason then moved to England in 1927 to join Wigan.
During the 1928–29 season, Mason was part of Wigan's 1928–29 Lancashire Cup, playing left-, i.e. number 11, in a 5-4 victory over Widnes in the final at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington on Saturday 24 November 1928. He played right-, i.e. number 12, in Wigan's 13-2 victory over Dewsbury in the Challenge Cup Final during the at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 4 May 1929.
He won caps for Other Nationalities while at Wigan. He played in the 20-27 defeat by England at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Wednesday 20 March 1929, and in the 35-19 victory over England at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Monday 7 April 1930, and in the 18-31 defeat by England at Knowsley Road on Monday 7 April 1930, and in the 27-34 defeat by England in Workington on Thursday 30 March 1933.
Mason played right- in Wigan's 15-3 victory over Salford in the Championship final during the 1933–34 season at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington on Saturday 28 April 1934.
Mason played left- in Wigan's 30-27 victory over France at Central Park, Wigan, on Saturday 10 March 1934.

Keighley

Mason later joined Keighley and was still a first grade footballer at 39 years of age.

Later years

Mason returned to the Waikato and was a Waikato selector in the later 1940s. He died in Hamilton in 1953, and was buried at Rangiriri Lawn Cemetery.