League Code In Canterbury Began In 1912

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29907, 22 August 1962, Page 11

League Code In Canterbury Began In 1912

RUGBY League is celebrating its golden jubilee in Canterbury this year. Although the code was actually formed in the province in 1912, Canterbury’s first association directly with it was as far back as 1907, when Canterbury Rugby Union players were invited to take part in a proposed tour of Great Britain. Those players who accepted were C. J. Pearce, J. A. Lavery, D. McGregor, H. S. Turtill, and H. Tyne. This team, known as the All Golds, was formed under the guidance of Mr A. H. Baskerville, who was also the manager of the team. He died while the team was on its return trip to New Zealand.

While other provinces set about the formation of Leagues almost immediately the team returned from its most successful venture, Canterbury’s move to form the code in the province was not made until 1912.

A Canterbury player who toured with the All Golds, S. J. Pearce, was one of the three who instigated the first meeting to form the code in Canterbury. The other two were Messrs W. S. E. Moyle and A. R. Brunsden. Mr Moyle was the acting secretary at the first meeting but he was also to occupy that position for many years. The late Dr. H. T. J. Thacker was the first president of the league, a posi-

tion he held for many yean. The code’s first real home in the city, Monica Park, was named after his wife.

After a successful meeting, when Mr D. W. McLean (president of the New Zealand League) addressed a large gathering, the league was formed and it was arranged that matches be played in the city, the first against Wellington at the Show Grounds on September 7, 1912. A week later « team from New South Wales came to Christchurch and played the Canterbury team and its brilliance in beating the local side by 28-5 was of great assistance to the administrators of the code in the successful start made in

Christchurch. In 1913 a start was made just after Christmas in the formation of clubs to take part in competitions. The first to gain official recognition was Addington, which rightly lays claims to being the oldest club in Canterbury—but only by a week, because Sydenham was formed very soon after and it was followed a similar period later by St. Albans. The league secretary, Mr Moyle, was the man behind the formation of the fourth club, Linwood, and with these four clubs, a competition was started that year and the championship was won by Sydenham. After the war the code made headway again, although it had been a very hard fight for such a newlyestablished game during the war years, with so many of its players away on active service.

The first British touring team made its appearance in Christchurch in 1920, playing a test against New Zealand on a Saturday, and a match against Canterbury two days later. Both matches were won by the visitors and both were played at Lancaster Park.

In 1924 an upheaval in the Rugby Union code saw the strong Marist Old Boys club turn over to Rugby League, and there is little doubt that it added greatly to the strength of the code in the province.

That year Marist fielded two senior teams and its A side won the championship, and won again a year after. During these years more clubs were coming into the code. One, Hornby, was formed as a lower grade club during the war. The Waimairi club came in, later to become the Papanui club . Clubs formed early, such as St. Albans, Federal and Northern Suburbs fell by the wayside but their replacement by strong district clubs such as the two men-

tioned served only to give strength to the code. However, one of the greatest set-backs to the code was in 1926. when the first touring team to Great Britain since the initial side in 1907-1908, was torn by dissension among its members. This had a most adverse effect on the code right through the country and it was a trying period for the next few years. Indeed, Canterbury’s progress from then until the mid-thirties developed into a real struggle. Marist dropped out in the early 1930's and the teams in that period were not strong. However, in the midthirties Addington and Hornby came to light with very strong combinations and from then on the fight for existence was not quite so hard. Until the war the competition among clubs was fairly strong, with six players from Canterbury being selected in the New Zealand team for England in 1939. However, that was the beginning of yet another set-back in the code’s progress. The team played only two matches when the war broke out and once again clubs were to fight for survival. In the first few years the competitions were entirely on club level, but in 1943 the militaiy authorities allowed servicemen to form

Rugby League teams from within their - units and a number played tn the Christchurch competitions to give much - needed strength. After the war the buildup process was on again, with a greater emphasis on lower grade and schoolboy grades.