The 1930 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 22nd. It was generally regarded that the season was very disappointing in terms of the quality of the football played and much of the blame was put down to the fact that too many teams were in the Senior A Grade and there was too much talent spread through the Senior B teams which in turn diluted the top division. There had been a noticeable drop in the attendances at matches at Carlaw Park which had seen 8 to 10 thousand regularly attending club matches. A review of the season was published in The New Zealand Herald on 22 October discussing the issue.[1]
The Senior A championship was won by Ponsonby United for the second consecutive year which was their fifth title overall. They were awarded the Monteith Shield. This was the last year that the Monteith Shield was played for as the man this trophy was named after suggested that the main championship trophy should be one named in honour of Mr. Edwin Vincent Fox who had died earlier that year. Ponsonby also won the Roope Rooster trophy for the sixth time after defeating Richmond Rovers by 15 points to 7 in the final. Ponsonby were however beaten by Devonport United in the final of the Stormont Shield 17–5. This was the first time Devonport had won the Stormont Shield. A week later on 11 October Ponsonby played the champions of the South Auckland competition who were Ngaruawahia in the first match of its kind. Ponsonby won 32 to 29.
The Senior B championship was won by Otahuhu who beat the 1929 champions Point Chevalier in the final by 3 points to 0. The Stallard Cup knockout competition for Senior B teams was won by Richmond who defeated Point Chevalier 21–11 in the final. Richmond were the first club to enter a B team (effectively a reserve grade team) in this grade, and for the Stallard Cup they were joined by a B team from Devonport.
Preseason training at Carlaw Park involving City Rovers playersPreseason training on Carlaw Park #2 with the terraces in the background
In a major scandal following the Stormont Shield match between Ponsonby United and Devonport, Frank Delgrosso, the Auckland and New Zealand representative who was captain of the Ponsonby team was suspended for three seasons. Delgrosso was charged with misconduct along with another Ponsonby player V. Goodwin. They were also barred from attending Carlaw Park in the future.[2] He failed to make a teammate who had been ordered off to leave the field, threw mud at the referee, and abused him.
Mt Albert was a new addition to the B Grade competition by entering a team there for the first time. This was their first senior grade team. They had won the Second Grade competition the previous year and were essentially ‘promoting’ the team.
The Auckland Rugby League placed a tender for its “Auckland Rugby League Programme and Gazette” for the 1930 season.[3]
Prior to the season opening games the Auckland Star ran a piece on the prospects of each A Grade team and the players it had acquired.[4]
As the season progressed much talk was made about the standard of the Senior A Grade and its inability to field enough sides of quality. The decision was eventually made to reduce the number of A Grade sides to 6 and to do away with the Senior B competition altogether for the following season. Instead the league would encourage good quality players to move from those sides to clubs with A Grade teams.[5] A special committee was formed to suggest a way forward. They decided to recommend that the six teams to make up the A Grade for the 1931 season should be Ponsonby, Marist, Devonport, Metropolitan (to include City and Newton), Western Suburbs or Richmond, and Eastern Suburbs (to include Ellerslie).[6] There was much discussion of the matter by members of various clubs over which clubs should merge or who disagreed that their club should disappear.[7] The matter was further discussed in a Management Committee meeting on 15 October but a decision was deferred for a week.[8]
On 29 October it was decided by the Auckland Rugby League to officially reduce the number of teams in the Senior A Grade to 6. The clubs would be known as Ponsonby United, Devonport, Marist Old Boys, Western Suburbs (Richmond Rovers and Kingsland), Metropolitan (City and Newton), and Eastern Suburbs (Ellerslie and the surrounding district). This was not to be the only time that Auckland Rugby League went down the path of making teams, who were often unwilling, into mergers. It happened again decades later before reverting to the norm, and then again in the 1990s before once again reverting to the norm with standalone clubs. Clubs who were particularly against the proposal were City Rovers, Newton Rangers, Kingsland Athletic, and Richmond.[9]
Papakura hosted its first ever rugby league match when Richmond 2nd Grade and Newmarket 2nd Grade played there at the end of the season. Richmond won 20–10.
Fox in the back row, 3rd from left in the North Shore 2nd grade side of 1912
Edward Vincent Fox
On 24 February Mr. Edward Vincent Fox died. He was a member of the Devonport team before World War I and played inside five-eighths for Auckland against England. In 1913 he enlisted in the war efforts and fought in the front lines. He was shot in the leg and when he returned to Auckland was unable to play again. He was appointed to the executive of Auckland Rugby League and was a selector for the Auckland and New Zealand teams.[10] He was buried at O’Neill's Point Cemetery on the North Shore, New Zealand.
Marist Old Boys victory over Kingsland Athletic was contested by Kingsland over an unregistered player (Munro) playing in the match. The protest was upheld and Kingsland were awarded the match. Marist Old Boys appealed to the New Zealand League Council but the decision was upheld by that body also.[11] In the Round 1 match Craddock Dufty was ordered from the field for allegedly disputing a referees decision on a possible forward pass which led to the tying City Rovers try near the end of the match.
Governor General Lord Bledisloe attended the Carlaw Park matches and was photographed with Ben Davidson of City rovers before the kickoff. Frank Delgrosso left the field early in the match for Ponsonby with an injured knee. In the second half Goodwin, Riley and Cyril Thompson all left the field injured and were not able to be replaced owing to the non-replacement rule which applied to the second half of matches. Goodwin was treated in hospital for concussion.
In the match between Marist and City, Bernard Sweeney was ordered off for Marist and Mita Watene was ordered off for City. Frank Delgrosso against left the field after injuring his knee while playing for Ponsonby.
Ted Brimble made his debut for Newton Rangers after switching from the Manukau rugby club and joining his brother Cyril who was in his second season for Newton. At the end of the season Cyril was granted a transfer to Canterbury where he would play rugby league representatively.
The Marist v Kingsland match finished with an unusual scoreline of 0-0. Although the score was perhaps somewhat misleading as Marist Old Boys played two men short for most of the game with Batchelor and Norm Campbell going off injured in the first half. One of the only other times that this had happened since the first round of matches in 1910 when North Shore drew 0–0 with Newton.
For Marist, Phil Brady was sent off for punching an Ellerslie player early in the second half. Bert Laing after an absence of 3 years turned out for Devonport.
The Round 12 matches due to be played on 9 August were all postponed after rain fell on the Saturday. This added to the rain which had fallen throughout the week leading up to the Saturday.
16 August
Ponsonby
19-10
Marist
Carlaw Park 1
3:15
Try: A McIntyre, Leonard Riley 3, Pat Skelton Con:Frank Delgrosso Pen: Pat Skelton
Craddock Dufty, who had returned from the recent New Zealand tour to Australia refused to play in the fixture against the Auckland players citing an injured elbow. He did not produce a doctors certificate and as a result Auckland Rugby League suspended him and he was unable to play for Ellerslie in their first round match. Jim O'Brien was sent off after a "verbal altercation" with referee Vic Simpson. This was to be his last official competition match of his career, though he did play in the McManus benefit match weeks later at Otahuhu.
City and Devonport were tied for second place in the Senior A competition and as Ponsonby won both the Senior A championship and the Roope Rooster it left City and Devonport to play off for the right to join them in the Stormont Shield match. Devonport defeated City by 1 point to earn the right to play Ponsonby. In the final Ponsonby had J. Moore ordered off but he refused to leave. The referee then left the field until Moore was persuaded to leave and the game could progress. Moore was later suspended by the league. It eventually turned out that the Auckland and New Zealand representative Frank Delgrosso who was captain at the time had failed to persuade Moore to leave the field and had also verbally abused the referee and thrown mud at him. Delgrosso was suspended by the league for three years but on appeal and with an apology and expression of regret at a March 1931 meeting his suspension was reduced.
A game between the champions of the Auckland and South Auckland competitions Ponsonby and Ngaruawahia. George Tittleton fractured his collarbone after being thrown heavily near the end of the match. He finished the game but was taken to Auckland Hospital straight after the match. L Stevens, the Ponsonby hooker received a head injury which required stitches.
Top try and point scorers for A Grade and Roope Rooster matches. Les O'Leary of Devonport United top scored with 72 points followed by Frank Delgrosso with 59, and Ted Mincham with 56. George Batchelor of Marist Old Boys was the top try scorer with 15, followed by Leonard Riley and George Perry with 12 each.
Mt Albert entered a senior team for the first time in their club history which had begun in 1928.
The Round 8 game between Māngere and Richmond B was not played because a charity match between Ponsonby and Kingsland was being played on its ground.
Parnell were referred to as the “magpies” on account of their black and white uniforms by the Auckland Star after their Round 9 match.
The Round 9 match report in the Auckland Star incorrectly reported the score 15–6 in favour of Northcote, however they corrected it in their following week reports of the Senior B matches as being a 15–6 win to Mangere.
The round 13 matches were cancelled due to steady rain falling on the Saturday adding to significant rain that had fallen during the week, aside from the game at Māngere. The Northcote v Otahuhu match was postponed as Northcote had played their traditional fixture v Huntly on Northcote's home ground at Stafford Park.
Otahuhu beat Point Chevalier in the final by 3 points to 0 to win the Senior B championship.
Devonport entered a Senior B team in the Stallard Cup which had not played in the Senior B grade during the season. This team could loosely be considered the second ever ‘reserve’ grade team fielded following the Richmond clubs entry of Senior B teams in that grade for the 1929 and 1930 seasons.
The Sixth grade had in previous years been split into A and B grades however in 1930 the Sixth Grade B competition was reclassified as the Seventh Grade.
Richmond won the championship. The team had been together for 6 seasons and won every single championship as they progressed through the grades. Ponsonby United won the knock out competition on September 13 when they beat Devonport by default. There were several games without results reported however the newspapers published the final standings so they are accurate.
Ponsonby won the championship undefeated winning all 14 matches. They also won the knockout competition when they beat Marist in the final on September 13 by 10 points to 3.
Kingsland Athletic won the championship. Newmarket won the knockout competition when they defeated Akarana/Parnell 8-2 in the final on September 13. The Parnell/Akarana side had knocked out Kingsland in the semi-finals 8 points to 0, while Newmarket had defeated Takapuna in the other. A club had formed at Takapuna in June and they entered a team in the competition to play teams on their bye. They performed well winning all 3 of their matches.
Richmond won the championship and the knockout competition. They were coached by James Francis who died at Auckland Hospital on November 24 aged just 33 leaving behind a wife (Violet) and two children. He had played for the Newton Rangers senior side in the 1920s.[54]
Richmond won the championship by beating Akarana (Parnell) 11–8 in the final on September 20.[55] They also won the knockout competition when they beat Otahuhu A 6 to 3 in the final on October 18.
The competition had been split into two sections and then towards the end of the season a third was added as Ponsonby, Richmond B, and Otahuhu B entered sides, each only playing 5-6 games before the end of the season. However the standings are in one table as despite their being sections sides played teams from other sections each week. Some of the teams were from individual schools such as Avondale Public School, Avondale Convent School, and Onehunga Convent School, but the majority were from several schools in the area. The Ponsonby team represented 3 Ponsonby area schools for example. On October 18 Devonport and Northcote played each other in a friendly match with Devonport winning 10-8. At halftime a goal kicking competition took place with Devonport player Verdun Scott winning it with 16 points. He was presented with a cricket bat as the winning prize and ironically would go on to not only represent New Zealand at rugby league, but also at cricket, becoming the only dual New Zealand international in those two codes. On the same day Richmond beat Otahuhu 6-3 to win the Davis Cup Challenge match.
Richmond played a preseason match in Whangarei with a team made up of Whangarei city and Hikurangi players. The match was played on the new Cossill Park before a large crowd and the local team ran out comfortable winners.
At the end of the season Otahuhu hosted a benefit match for W. McManus who was a well-known ex-amateur runner and league player who had been ill for a long time in hospital. The match was played between Otahuhu Senior B team and the Marist A side. Marist were not at full strength but still fielded a good side. Otahuhu won 26–25.
In July several businesses approached the Auckland Rugby League regarding the possibility of playing a competition between them on Wednesday's. The Auckland Rugby League agreed in August and the first matches were played on August 27. Initially there were ten teams set to enter however eventually just seven entered the competition and the Royal Billiard Saloon side failed to fulfill a fixture leaving 6 sides to compete.[64]
While there were many players with little or no experience some of the teams did feature senior grade players such as W. Skelton of Ponsonby who played for Private Taxis, and brothers F. and J. Herring who played for the Trotting Trainers. Alan Clarke also played in Private Taxi's first match, Stan Prentice played at least twice for the Trotting Trainers, and Ted Brimble played for New Zealand Fertilisers. Barmen won the competition winning 4 games and drawing one.
Following the awarding of the Barmen side the championship a match was scheduled between them and players from all of the other sides. The Barmen team won 8 to 7.
Children selling programs on the approach to Carlaw Park for the Auckland v Northland matchWillie Shortland with the ball and Stanley Francis and Ernest Ruby looming in support for AucklandClaude List dribbling the ball through the Northland defenceMaurice Wetherill being tackled with Allan Seagar on his inside
For the North Island v South Island trial the Devonport and Ponsonby clubs gave permission for their jerseys to be worn by the respective sides.[74] Mick O’Brien of the South Island team broke his tibia late in the match.
Auckland Rugby League was held at the Chamber of Commerce on Swanson Street on Monday 7 April. The meeting showed that there was a profit of £1742 10/. Maintenance of Carlaw Park cost £419 6/, rates £78 0/8, office rent £235 4/ and entertaining visitors £67 18/2.[77] Much of the discussion at the meeting was centred around the appointment of referees for matches.[78]
Primary School Management Committee met on 15 May. There were twenty delegates. It was reported that 15 school teams would enter with four new clubs (Avondale, Northcote, City, and Papatoetoe).[80]
Auckland Rugby League Referees Association held in the League Rooms on Monday, 31 March.
Avondale League Football Club held at Hick's Tearooms, Fearon's Corner, Avondale, Auckland on 10 March. This meeting was held to see if there was interest in forming a club.[82] About 75 people attended and it was decided that the club should be called Avondale League Football Club. They also decided to enter teams in the 3rd Open, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, and that the Avondale Convent were also prepared to find a team. The club colours would be green with a red band.[83] Their first annual general meeting was held at Watson's Fruit Shop, Avondale on Monday 17 March. They were to hold their first ever practice on the Avondale Racecourse on the following Saturday. At the end of the season on Monday, 6 October the club held a general meeting at Lesser Town Hall.[84]
City Rovers held at Carlaw Park on Sunday, 23 March.[85] There was a “record attendance of sixty players” at the meeting. The accounts were in credit by £43. It was noted that Ben Davidson (rugby league) had arrived back in Auckland from England and was expected to play for the club.[86]
Devonport United Football Club held at the Committee Rooms, corner of Clarence Street and Victoria Road, Devonport on Thursday 20 March.[87] At the 12th annual meeting the committee's report showed that the balance sheet showed a credit balance of £99. They had started the previous season with 100 players and the juniors won the third grade intermediate grade and fourth grade. The ladies’ social committee had held dances which had generated £90 profit.[88] One of the men who formed the Devonport Club, Mr. D.W. McLean resigned from the New Zealand Council owing to his health. He had formed the North Shore Albions at Devonport, and took a prominent part in forming Newton Rangers, Ponsonby, and the Northcote and Birkenhead Rambers. He was also involved strongly in other aspects of the foundation of the Rugby League game in Auckland and New Zealand.[89]
Mangere Rugby League Football Club held in Jones’ Confectionary Hall, Onehunga on Thursday 20 March. This meeting was held with a view to forming a club which would be a combination of Mangere and Manukau.[92]
Mt. Albert United Rugby League Football Club held at King George Hall, Mt Albert on Thursday 6 March.[93] The club advertised for practices to be held for Senior B and all other grades to be held on Saturday, 12 April on its own ground at the foot of Springleigh Avenue, Mt Albert which would most likely be the present day Phyllis Street Reserve area.[94]
Newmarket Rugby League Football Club held at the Club Room, 265, Khyber Pass Road on Thursday 27 February.[96] The meeting was adjourned and continued at the Orient Tea Rooms, Broadway on Thursday, 10 April.
Newton Rangers Football Club held at the Y.M.C.A. Buildings, Wellesley Street East on Monday, 3 March.[97]
Northcote and Birkenhead Ramblers Football Club held at Foresters’ Hall, Birkenhead on Thursday 20 March.[98] The 20th annual meeting of the club was overseen by Mr. A.E. Greenslade with a large attendance. The membership was totalled at 99. The finishing positions of all its team was noted. H. Simpson was awarded a medal for consistency in the senior team.[99] The Northcote Borough Council was informed by Auckland Rugby League that it was not in a position to spend any money on forming a football ground at the eastern end of the Kauri Gully scenic reserve.
Papatoetoe Rugby League Club During the season with Auckland Rugby League struggling to gain access to enough playing fields, the president of the Papatoetoe Welfare League, Mr. S.J.E. Closey wrote to Auckland Rugby League suggesting the use of some of the flat land in the area. Some of which was in Mulcock's reserve which was in a natural amphitheatre. His land was at the site of present-day Peverill Crescent adjacent to Kohuora Park where the Papatoetoe Panthers club is located.[101]
Point Chevalier League Football Club held at the Sailing Club Hall on Wednesday 26 March.[79] The meeting showed that the club hoped to field six teams and were £30 in profit.[102]
Ponsonby United Football Club held at Leys Institute, on Monday 10 March.[93]Ponsonby celebrated their 21st anniversary with a social on October 13. It was reported that the club had accumulated funds of £20 for the year and had total assets exceeding liabilities by £430. Medals were presented to A. Payne for being the most consistent forward, L. Riley the most consistent back, and to C. Moore as the most versatile player. J. Norman received a trophy as the most consistent fourth grade player.[103]
Richmond Rovers Football Club held at the Gaiety Hall, Surrey Crescent on Monday 24 March.[104] Mr. Milicich presented the club with a cup to be awarded to the team with the fewest points scored against it. It was noted that the following teams won their respective grades in 1929: Third Grade Open, Fifth Grade, Sixth Grade A, Sixth Grade B.[105]
