"ALL THAT GLITTERS" THE ALL GOLDS AND THE ADVENT OF RUGBY LEAGUE IN AUSTRALASIA. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History in the University of Canterbury by Jo Smith This thesis is dedicated toMu.m&Dad University of Canterbury 1998 CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF PLATES 11 LIST OF TABLES Ill ABBREVIATIONS l1l ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV PREFACE V ABSTRACT Vil CHAPTER: I A WORKING-CLASS GAME: ORIGINS OF RUGBY LEAGUE IN ENGLAND I II AN ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURE: GENESIS OF THEALL GOLDS 21 III A WORKING-CLASS REVOLT: IMPACT OF THE ALL GOLDS IN AUSTRALIA 49 IV CLASH OF THE CODES: THE ALL GOLDS. IN BRITAIN 67 V THE ALL GOLQS RETURN: FOUNDATIONS OF RUGBY LEAGUE IN AUSTRALASIA 99 CONCLUSION 125 APPENDICES 128 BIBLIOGRAPHY 154 ll LIST OF PLATES PLATES After page: Plate 1. Albert Henry Baskiville. 21 Plate 2. The New Zealand Professional Rugby Team in Sydney. 63 Plate 3. The New Zealand Professional Football Team 1907. 67 Plate 4. The 'All Blacks' Autographs. 67 Plate 5. The New Zealand Footballers. 68 Plate 6. 'All Blacks' First Practice at Headingley. 71 Plate 7. Follow Up The Kick For 'On Side'. 71 Plate 8. The New Zealand Footballers. 71 Plate 9. A Group At Leeds. 71 Plate 10. The 'All Blacks' Chanting Their War Cry At Huddersfield. 74 Plate 11. The 'All Blacks' Win At Huddersfield. 74 Plate 12. New Zealand's Struggle At Oldham. 78 Plate 13. Red Rose Better Than All Black. 80 Plate 14. New Zealand Lost The First Test. 81 Plate 15. New.Game Of Football, Auckland v. Wellington. 113 Plate 16. Sketch Of The Northern Union Cup. 122 Plate 17. English Northern Union Footballers. 122 lll LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE Table I. Comparison Of Occupations. 32 Table 2. Choice Of Players Ranked By Skill; & Number Of Games Played. 85 Table 3. Number Of Games Played. 86 Table 4. Ages Of Players. 87 ABBREVIATIONS AN Athletic News EP Evening Post ERU English Rugby Union LYM Leeds Yorkshire Mercury /,RR!,A Lion Red Rugby League Annual MG A1anchester Guardian NSWRU New South Wales Rugby Union NSWRFL New South Wales Rugby Football League NZH New Zealand Herald NZRU New Zealand Rugby Union SMH Sydney }vforning Herald WG&NZM _The Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail yp Yorkshire Post IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Chris Conno1ly, whose helpful suggestions have greatly assisted me in writing this thesis. To Geoff Vincent, my sincerest thanks for his unceasing encouragement and faith in my ability to get this thesis finished. I wish to thank Len Richardson for lending me his extensive newspaper archives, which have been of tremendous help to me, and for his suggestion of this topic for research. I am also grateful to John Haynes and Bernard Wood for their time, knowledge and sources. My thanks also to Greg Ryan, and Vaughan Woods for their help. And to Dr. Orange for his encouragement and lunches. I also wish to thank the staff at the Hocken Library for their assistance, especially Mary Lewis for her help; the staff at the Alexander Turnbull Library; and those of the MacMillan Brown Library at the University of Canterbury. Finally I would like to thank my Mum for her super-human efforts at editing, my family for their constant encouragement, love and advice, and my friends for their repeated attempts to keep me sane (has it worked yet?!). V PREFACE The New Zealand 'All Golds' Rugby League tour to England and Australia took place between August 1907 and June 1908. They were rugby players who went to play the Northern Union game (Rugby League). Their knowledge of this game was based on the rule book, which they studied on their way to England. This thesis examines the origins of the tour and its significance for the foundation of Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. It places the tour within the context of the foundation of Rugby League in Britain, and within the context of contemporary controversy about the 'games ethic' and professionalism. It examines the period 1907 - 1910, and looks at the nature of the different societies in England, Australia and New Zealand relative to the specific games of Rugby and Rugby League. It is concerned with and compares the way Rugby League developed in these countries. It reveals that Rugby League in New Zealand had origins which were vastly different from those in Britain and Australia, and the main reason for this difference was the way society had developed in this small country. Rugby League during this period was called Northern Union. Throughout this thesis I have used both terms, selecting the one that seems most appropriate within the context. References from the time refer to the team as the 'All Blacks' or the 'professional All Blacks'. In my text .I have called them the 'All Golds' to avoid confusion with the 1905 All Blacks. Although this term was initially meant as a derogatory comment, I have used it, as I feel it is an appropriate historical tag which no longer holds any disparaging over-tones. It also serves to highlight the first Rugby League team in New Zealand's sporting history. Primary sources used for this thesis include articles written by Baskiville himself, as well as extensive newspaper reports. There is little writing available that covers the early history of Rugby League in New Zealand during this period. This is why the bulk of primary research comes from newspaper sources. As a result, this thesis bridges a gap in the historiography of Rugby League in New Zealand The New Zealand Rugby Union was VI approached in order to access any records that could have assisted this research. However, it claimed not to possess any records on this period, although other scholars say they have sighted them. It was through following specific family connections while tracing the origins of A.H. Baskiville, that I discovered a book was about to be published by John Haynes, which also covers the scope of my thesis. I believe this thesis is complementary to John's book, as it focuses more on the factors behind the tour and the circumstances surrounding it. The thesis is also wider in scope, covering the foundations of Rugby League in Australia as well as in New Zealand. vu ABSTRACT The orit,rins of Rugby League date back to 1895 in England, when 22 northern rugby clubs broke away from the English Rugby Union to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. The split in the rugby codes came about over the issue of paying players 'broken-time' - paying a man's lost wages for the time he took off work to play rugby. Twelve years later, the Northern Union's sporting isolation was broken by the advent of a touring team from New Zealand. This team, dubbed the 'All Golds' by the Sydney press, undertook a tour to the North of England as an entrepreneurial tour organized by Albert Henry Baskiville, a postal worker from Wellington. These pioneers risked, not only losing their friends and careers, but also their footballing futures, for playing the Northern Union game 'professionalized' these men in the eyes of the Rugby Union. They were excommunicated from the Rugby Union fraternity, never to be allowed to play the rugby game again. The New Zealand team's visit to Australia on its way to England was the catalyst for the foundation of Rugby League in Australia. Conditions in Australia were ripe for the rapid success of the game. The factors determining this were related to the working-class perspective of many clubs and to dissatisfaction with the way the Rugby Union ran its affairs. In New Zealand, by contrast, there were fewer overwhelmingly working-class clubs and fewer grievances. The 'All Golds' tour was an entrepreneurial adventure which attracted the support of more middle-class players than working-class ones, and it did not promote a massive, club­ based revolt against the New Zealand Rugby Union.· So the game developed only slowly, with newly formed clubs struggling to attract individual players from the traditional game, which still retained significant working-class support. Rugby League was a working-class game, but its conquest of the New Zealand working-class was far from complete. 1 CHAPTER 1. A WORKING-CLASS GAME: ORIGINS OF RUGBY LEAGUE IN ENGLAND. The roots of Rugby League date back to 1895 in England when 22 clubs from the northern counties decided to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (Northern Union). The reasons this split in rugby occurred, are tied up with the different attitudes towards sport and professionalism that existed between the southern gentlemen of rugby (ex-public school boys). and the northern industrial men who were used to the work ethic rather than an amateur sport ethic. These different social and ideological viewpoints created tensions that built up and eventually led to a split in both ideology and practice. Following the defeat in 1893 of a proposal to allow broken-time payments, it was only a matter of time until this split occurred in 1895. The amateur ethos that underpinned the southern attitude towards sport was learned at public schools. These elite institutions espoused the attitudes of upper class gentlemen, which were then diffused around sports clubs wherever ex-public school boys played. Sport was seen as an ideal way to instil into boys the strict rules and conduct of being gentlemen. Sport was to be played fairly and honestly for fun. Teamwork. co-operation, and self sacrifice would be learned as a result, which would help build character.