OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 24011, 29 December 1939, Page 6

OBITUARY

MR R. M. ISAACS MANAGER OF ALL BLACK TEAM in 1914 if The death occurred in Invercargill yesterday of Robert Michael Isaacs, a well-known and respected citizen, at the age of 70 years. In his y° days Mr Isaacs took a prominent part in Rugby football affairs and was manager of the 1914 All Black team tha toured Australia. He was a pother Mr Isaac Isaacs, a former Lord Mayor ° f ln 1886 Mr Isaacs joined the railway service at Dunedin and was later stationed at Wellington Invercargill and Christchurch as chief clerk. He was appointed assistant traffic manage Dunedin and was later promoted to the position of district traffic Ohakune for the central North Island district. Mr Isaacs retired from the service in 1924 and came to Invercarr gill, where he resided for the last lsaacs was educated at the Otago Boys’ High School, where, as a member of the first fifteen and first eleven, he had the distinction of playing m the first Rugby and cricket matches against Christ’s College. Later he played for the Montecillo and Dunedin Football Clubs as a front-row forward and represented Otago from 1887 to 1892,. taking part in the first match against Southland. He was captain or the Otago team on a tour of the goldfields in 1893 and after a period m the country played his last game for the Dunedin Club in 1896. . Keenly interested in the welfare ot Rugby football, Mr Isaacs was a member of the Otago Rugby Union for several years and when he was transferred to Wellington served on. the management committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union for 13 years. He was manager of the 1914 All Black team that'toured Australia just before the outbreak of the Great War.. This team was unbeaten in the 10 matches it played before the tour was interrupted by the war and Mr Isaacs often said that this side was one of the greatest that ever represented New Zealand. Mr Isaacs was one of the founders and the first president of the /New Zealand Rugby Referees’ Association and was president for 12 years. He was a life member of-this body, and also of the Dunedin Football Club. When he came to Invercargill in 1915. he was associated With ; the, /Invercargill Football Club, first as : coach and' later as president. He; was ai member of ' the Southland Rugby . Football Union and was also a Southland selector Until he left for Christchurch in 1919. /", -■ MANY SPORTING INTERESTS '= Mr Isaacs also interested in, and -was associated 'with, many other forms of sport. He. played senior cricket for the Dunedin:. Club and Was a member of the old-Dunedin Amateur Boating Club. Tn Wellington he was a member of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association Council and was also a member of the New Zealand Boxing Council. In Invercargill he was president of the Invercargill Railway Rowing Club and was' connected with the Invercargill Amateur Athletic Club for some years as an official. He also acted as a cricket umpire before his health began to fail. During the Great War, Mr Isaacs was prominently associated with various patriotic bodies, including the Southland War Funds Association, and he was one of those who assisted to found the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Club. When a big queen carnival in aid of war funds was held in 1915 he was chairman of the Railway Committee, whose representative won the contest. The R. M. Isaacs Cup, which is awarded each year to the football club gaining the highest aggregate points for all grades, was presented for competition by Mr Isaacs. Mr Isaacs is survived by his wife, a daughter, Miss Adelaide Isaacs, of Invercargill, and a son, Mr E. C. Isaacs, of Dunedin.