Eight players from Albion have been All Blacks

Press, 4 April 1985, Page 28

Eight players from Albion have been All Blacks

The Albion Rugby Club has had eight All Blacks in its 100 years, plus five others who had an association with Albion during their careers. The first of the eight was Jum Turtill, who played against Australia in 1905 and was considered unlucky to miss selection for the “Originals” for the British tour the same year. He was a full-back. Doddy Gray was next, and he represented New Zealand 14 times between 1908 and 1913. Reports of matches at the time indicate that Gray preferred to play in bare feet when circumstances permitted. Paddy Burns, who played at half-back, inside Gray, received the call on nine occasions, between 1908 and 1913. Like Gray he represented the South Island on six occasions. The third member of the great Albion inside back trio at the time, Joe Weston, was also a South Island selec-

tion. Herb Lilburne, a fiveeighths or full-back, was an Albion senior player at the age of 16 and was chosen for Canterbury when he was 18. He was an All Black by

the time he was 20, on the 1928 tour of South Africa, and the following year he captained the side in Australia. In all, Lilburne played for New Zealand 40 times, between 1928 and 1934. Read Masters was Albion’s fifth All Black and a very notable one. He was the top lock on the “Invincibles’ ” 1924-25 tour of Britain and France. He had only three years in the national team (1923 to 1925), but still managed 31 games. Masters later gained distinction as a rugby historian and as an administrator of the game, becoming a national selector and, .in 1955, the president of the N.Z.R.F.U. Garth Bond, who was a member of the famous

“Kiwis” side which toured in 1945 and 1946, became an All Black in the second test against Australia in 1949, and this was to be his only game for the national team. A hard-working prop for Albion, Canterbury and the South Island, Bond was a master of the almost forgotten art of dribbling. Bond is the only one of the All Blacks mentioned so far who is still living, and these days can nearly always be sighted at trotting meetings around Canterbury. The club’s last two All Blacks, both still alive, are Allan Elsom, who played 22 games for New Zealand between 1952 and 1955, and Murray Davie, a member of the present Canterbury Ranfurly Shield team and an All Black, so far, on five occasions. Elsom, too, was associated with a great Canter-

bury shield side, the 1953-56 tenure, and he was renowned as a fast and elusive three-quarter and one of the best tacklers Canterbury has produced. He made 22 appearances for the All Blacks, between 1952 and 1955. The five who wore the Albion colours, but were chosen for New Zealand from other clubs were Augustine Spillane (1913), Brian McCleary (1924-25), Archie McMinn (1903), Phil Clarke (1967) and Jack Steel (1920-25). One of the great wings, Steel came to Christchurch from the West Coast in the twilight of his career and played for Albion for

three seasons, 1927 to 1929. J. Patterson, in 1896, was the first player from the club to be chosen for Canterbury and there have been almost 70 since. Albion has won a deserved reputation for being a nurturing ground for referees and among those who have gained distinction are Harry Coulter, Len Kirk, Jack Weston, and, more recently, Graham Barrett, Johnny Adams and Alan Bateman — Bateman and Adams are both current senior referees and both have been on the “big five.” Reid Masters is the club’s best known administrator,

but others who served with distinction on the C.R.F.U. are S. F. Wilson, who was president from 1920 to 1929, Bob Calder, Reg Brittan, Jack Middleton, Sid Husband and Murray Inglis, who is at present a vicepresident of the C.R.F.U. and fills the key position of competitions chairman. In addition to Read Masters, two other former N.Z.R.F.U. presidents have links with Albion. Pat a er and Jim Fraser, both •known Marlborough rugby identities who filled the president’s chair, played for Albion during stints in Christchurch — Dwyer in 1946 and Fraser in 1950.