North Shore Was Pioneer League Club

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 223, 20 September 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

North Shore Was Pioneer League Club

Success In Championship Due To Sound Team Work North Shore, one of the four pioneer teams in League in Auckland, has won the championship for the sixth time in its career. The other occasions were 1913, 1914, 1928, 1932 and 1933. It was in the 1908 football season, after the return of the All Golds from England, that the game was founded in Auckland, it then being known as the Northern Union Code. Shore, Newton, City and Ponsonby were the original clubs to play in the competition in 1909. Shore found difficulties in its path at the outset in the lack of a ground at Devonport, and its request for the use of the municipal area, where Rugby had for long held sway, led to some lively scenes in the Council Chamber. The 1910 season saw the advent of the Auckland Rugby League and the game began to prosper.

Clark and A. McClymont, while the secretary of the Ponsonby team at the time was I. Culpan, the present secretary of the Auckland Rugby League. Then came the war years and except for the colts there was very little play for the older players until the 1919 season came round. It was not until the 1928 season that Shore was again on top of the League ladder. In its backs that years were Symons, who is still playing for Shore; L. Seagar, a pivotal centre of ability; L. Scott, on the wing; and in the forwards Coughlan, Hunt and Ruby, the latter one of the best forwards in open play that the game in Auckland has known. Shore again won the championship in the 1932 season. The backs included L. Seagar and L. Scott, and the team also had the services of H. B. Laing, who had had the experience of an English season in 1919 with an Australian team. There was a fine set of forwards, which included A. Leatherbarrow, the New Zealand representative hooker, Hunt, Ruby and E. Scott, the latter an outstanding forward in constructive play. With practically all the players of the 1932 season to draw upon, Shore again carried off the championship in the following season. In the 1939 season, when the New Zealand team went to England, Shore had four of its players in the team, R. Sterling,. a sound half-back, who started his football in Northland, Ross Jones, a 15i stone forward from the Matakana district, and Verdun Scott and J. Smith, two who could play either in the threequarter line or at full-back. This season Sterling and Jones were absent, but Scott and Smith both played practically to the end of the season, when they went into camp. It said much for Shore resources that their places were capably filled. Reason of Success As in previous years, Shore owed its success this season to a virile and heavy forward set, and a wellbalanced set of backs, who combined well, defended soundly, and showed ability to combine in attack. In Hunt, Graham, Rutherford and Field the side had the nucleus of a great pack, while in C. S. Petersen for the last man down position, it had the best liaison forward in the game, and an opportunist who served his side well as a scorer. Compared with recent seasons, there was a big improvement in the inside back play, as the three players assembled for key positions could blend their play. J. McArthur showed initiative and speed at halfback, and won representative honours, Clarke developed into one of the best constructive five-eighths in the game, and Chatham had the speed and dash to take chances handed on to him, and exploit the second five-eighth position to the best advantage. When V. Scott and J. Smith were not available, on joining the army, there was a good and capable three-quarter line offering in Brown, Greenwood and Wilkie, while a recent addition was Naughton, whose centre play showed decided promise. The place of J. Smith was taken at full-back by his brother, R. Smith, and there he gave good service.

TO the Shore pioneers of 1909 goes 1 credit for founding thu club which made headway and history in the code. In the forwards of that team were Wells, Griffen, Neighbour, G. Seagar and Gerrard. Jackson was the half-back, R. Wynyard and W. Wynyard were the five-eighths, Woodward was the centre, and Gladding and Marshall were on the wings. The full-back, and one of the best in Auckland at that time, was A. Ferguson. Later he was injured while playing at Rotorua, and when he retired from active play gave good service to the game as a coach and referee. He is the Shore president at the present time,. and for many years has taken a prominent part on the administration side of the New Zealand Rugby League Council,

Two players of the 1909 period, well known in New Zealand football at that time, were W. Wynyard and R. Wynyard. The latter had made a great impression in the Rugby, ranks and with his brother went to England with the New Zealand 1907 team. First Time on Top It was in the 1913 season that Shore won the League championship for the first time. R. Wynyard was still in the backs, while a notable recruit was K. Ifwersen, who in later years went baek to the Rugby game and became an All Black against Africa in 1921. Stan Weston, now in business with his brother Len at Whangarei, was another of the backs. In the forwards were Haddpn and Stan Walters, who both later won New Zealand honours. In the next season Ifwersen went to the Grafton League team, but Shore still had a strong side and again won the championship. The .match which decided the championship that year was played at Victoria Park against Ponsonby, and the "gate," £309, stood as a record for several seasons. Shore's team in the 1914 final Included Grubb, Walters, Pullen, Griffen, Bailey, S. Weston\ McDonald, G. Seagar, Vincent, H. Wynyard, E. V. Fox, Hewlett, Stewart, Paul and Miller. Some notable players on the Ronsonby side were George Gillett, O. Dunning, C. Savory, C. Webb, J.

The trophy for the champions is the Fox Memorial Shield, which appropriately enough perpetuates the memory of a former Snore player, E. V. (Chute) Fox. He was an Auckland and New Zealand representative, and in later years one of the Auckland Rugby League representative selectors. Through its football years North Shore has had some notable players in its ranks. One can recall A. Waddell, a fine forward, who also played with the Huddersfield team in England, and St. George, one of the best hookers of the day. Early Shore teams had a great full-back in "Oatie" Miller, whose defence was never at fault. Solid play and sound defence has been a Shore tradition through the years, and it has always been one of the hardest club teams to beat. Closely linked with the history of the North Shore Club is the name of the late Mr. D. W. McLean. He formed the first Shore club, the North Shore Albions. He took a leading part in getting the club its first ground on the old Takapuna racecourse, he was the first Auckland Rugby League chairman, and the first president of the New Zealand Rugby League, who eventually made him a life member.