FAMOUS ALL BLACK TEAM RETURNED 50 YEARS AGO

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27920, 17 March 1956, Page 3

FAMOUS ALL BLACK TEAM RETURNED 50 YEARS AGO

T>UGBY football does not have its roots as deeply embedded in history as cricket or golf, but already some notable Rugby anniversaries have been celebrated. One such fell last Monday, March 12, for it was then 50 years since the return to Christchurch of two of Canterbury’s three members of the 1905 All Blacks, still one of the most talked-about teams in any branch of sport. There was a stir in Christchurch that morning. By 11 a.m. several hundred people had assembled at the railway stalion to give a warm welcome as Bob Deans and Fred Newton stepped from the train. Eric Harper, with live other members of the team, came home by a different route later. Deans and Newton were soon surrounded by a host of admirers. Their team mates, who hailed from further south, had to hurriedly transfer their baggage to the south express. Because of their late arrival on the steamer Mararoa. that morning, there remained no time to attend a civic reception in Christchurch unless they broke the journey in order to do so. No sooner had they boarded the express than their stirring haka rer t the air: “Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora. ka ora” . . . And so the crowd cheered them on their way. Meanwhile a horse-drawn drag was waiting to convey the two Canterbury men to the Town Hall. The “Canterbury Times” reported as follows: ‘‘Messrs Deans and Newton were escorted to a drag and driven to the

City Council Chambers, where the Mayor and Town Clerk received them, and a large crowd took part in the civic welcome.” The speeches made on that occasion need no recalling. It was common knowledge that these men had acquitted themselves well. The ‘‘Daily Mail” had singled out Deans, after the match against Ireland, as the All Black who had “probably left the deepest impression on the minds of the 12.000 Irishmen present at that Dublin match.” His tremendous turn of speed and his physical stature (he. was more than six feet in height and weighed more than 13 stone) had not escaped die notice of this paper, which described him as being ‘‘possessed of the strength of a young ox,” so that he “literally carved his way through opponents.” “He came down on one like an avalanche,” remarked the Irish full-back Landers. And then, against the Welsh earn he had made a brilliant dash to score, or not to score, that disputed try. Fred Newton, too. was something of a giant. Six feet in height and weighing 15 stone, he had rendered yeoman service as a lock. On the proud day of their home-coming these men bore themselves piodestly. Deans did not long outlive that day. His untimely death in 1908 came as a shock to everybody. Fred Newton, who died only a few months ago. made it his dying wish that his ashes should be scattered over Lancaster Park—a wish that was, most fittingly, granted