1924 Auckland Rugby League Season

The 1924 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 15th. Marist won the first grade championship for the first time in their history after defeating Devonport in the final by 20 points to 17 in front of a club record crowd of 17,000 at Carlaw Park. While City won the Roope Rooster competition for the 4th time.

First grade competition

At a Management Committee meeting on 9 April, the Mangere United team, and Ellerslie clubs who had requested to enter senior teams in the First Grade competition were accepted, bringing the total number of teams to nine. The Mangere team registered its colours and green and black. The suggested format was one where after the first round the top six teams would continue while the bottom three teams would have other matches arranged for them. However all nine teams remained in the grade until the end of the season. The Mangere United team was a combined team from the Manukau and Mangere clubs. Both clubs retained their own identity in the junior grades.

On the opening day of the season all four First Grade matches were played on Carlaw Park. The junior matches on the same day were postponed as the railway workers were on strike and there was no way for the players to reach the outer suburban grounds which were used for matches in these grades.

Lou Brown transfer issue

Lou Brown, the New Zealand international had played for Newton Rangers in 1922 and 1923 however at the end of the season he moved to England to play for Wigan. He had been granted a release by Newton and the New Zealand Rugby League. Upon his return he wished to play for the City Rovers club and he turned out for them despite being told by the Auckland Rugby League that he was not eligible to play for them. City were adamant that he had been fully released and could play for any team. The New Zealand Rugby League Council supported the decision but Brown played anyway. He was subsequently suspended for 3 matches. City took the extraordinary step of withdrawing its team from the competition and they defaulted their Round 9 match with Mangere United. On 18 July Newton held a special board meeting and agreed to grant Brown a transfer and thus the issue was finally settled.

Manukau Rovers club switches to rugby union

The entire Manukau Rovers club switched to rugby union after a dispute with Auckland Rugby League. The issue arose after one of their players (King) was suspended for four playing Saturdays. He had been suspended because he was registered with the Manukau club but "suddenly joined, or played, for a Mangere team without having been granted a transfer". An opposing team had protested and King had in the meantime moved back to the Manukau club. The Manukau club took exception to the decision and refused to play any of its six teams in the following grades: Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth A, and Sixth B. It then went a step further by switching the entire club to rugby union with the Auckland Rugby Union accepting them. The Secretary of the club, C.J, Williams disputed the way the ARL had handled the matter and several of the facts in a letter to the Auckland Star. The ARL Chairman, Mr. W. Hammill replied to the letter "that the matters contained therein were hardly correct".

Goals from marks

At the ARL Management Committee meeting on 13 August, the Referee's Association reported that goals from marks would no longer be permitted. This rule would come into place from Saturday, 23 August onwards.

Monteith Shield (1st grade championship)

A record nine teams competed in the First Grade competition in 1924 with the addition of the Mangere and Ellerslie senior teams. Mangere had their colours registered as green and black. It was initially decided that after the first round the bottom three teams would drop out of the competition for the second round. At the end of the first round these teams were Mangere, and Ellerslie. However, this was later rescinded and all teams remained in the competition until the end of the season.

Monteith Shield standings

Monteith Shield fixtures

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

In the match at Devonport Domain Ben Davidson was knocked unconscious and had to be taken to hospital. City had a bye the following weekend and he returned to play in Round 5.

Round 4

The matches between Marist – Athletic, and Ponsonby-Ellerslie were postponed due to the poor state of the Carlaw Park fields. On the main field City were playing Marist Old Boys from Christchurch and the decision was made to protect that field for that match. Only one game was played on the number 2 field (Mangere v Newton).

Round 5

Round 4 Postponed Matches

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

The scheduled match between Newton and Ellerslie at Victoria Park was not reported in any newspaper. It is unclear if the match even took place. City defaulted their match against Mangere in protest at the decision to not allow Lou Brown to register for the club after returning from England.

Round 10

In the Athletic match with Richmond Graham was ordered off for Athletic as was McMillan for Richmond. Richmond had lost Whittington to an injury early in the second half and with the score 25–0 with 6 minutes to go they threw in the towel and the match ended.

The match between Ellerslie and Mangere at Ellerslie Reserve was not reported in the newspapers at all. It is unclear if it was played. The match reports for games at suburban grounds were typically not as well reported as the games in central Auckland.

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

The win by City over Devonport was a competition milestone as it was City's 100th win in First Grade. They were the first club to achieve this milestone and did so in their 15th season and 149th game.

Round 16

Near full-time in the match between Marist and Devonport, Kiwi international Bill Stormont was ordered off.

In the Newton match with Ponsonby a very unusual incident took place. L Williams for the Newton team was dribbling the ball down field and when he kicked ahead to chase, the ball went over the cross bar. He ran through to 'score the try' but the referee awarded a drop goal rather than a try.

Round 17

It is unlikely that the Mangere v Ponsonby match took place as the Auckland representative team was playing a match against the South Auckland team in Hamilton at the same time. Many of the selected players chose to stay and play for their Auckland club teams in important matches. The team that did end up playing in the representative match featured seven players from the Ponsonby and Mangere teams and there were no reports of a match between the two sides in any newspaper.

Final

Two matches were postponed in Round 4 as the league decided that they wanted the #1 field in the best possible condition for the exhibition match between City Rovers and Marist Old Boys of Christchurch. The weather had been particularly poor in the lead up with the previous weekend seeing all football in Auckland cancelled. These postponed matches were unique in that they were eventually played 10 days later on a Tuesday morning at 9.30am. This would surely be one of the only times a senior match had been played on a working weekday morning in the competitions history.

There was controversy in the Round 7 match between City Rovers and Richmond as the City team fielded Lou Brown who had not been granted clearance by either Auckland Rugby League or New Zealand Rugby League. Brown had previously played for Newton and had been released to play for Wigan in England. After returning he wanted to turn out for the City club but Newton claimed that he had been released on the grounds that he would return to play for them alone. Brown was later suspended for 3 matches before rejoining the Newton team for their match against Marist.

City Rovers defaulted their Round 9 match with Mangere United after their dispute with the Auckland Rugby League when they refused to take the field.

Roope Rooster knockout competition

City Rovers won the Roope Rooster for the 4th time in their history, defeating Ponsonby who were attempting to win their third consecutive title, in the final by 6 points to 5.

Round 1

Round 2

Semi finals

Final

Top try scorers and point scorers

The lists include points scored in the First Grade competition and the Roope Rooster. Joe Hadley of Athletic led the league in tries scored with 12, while Craddock Dufty was once again the top scorer with 91 points from 9 tries, 29 conversions and 3 penalties.

Devonport had a try and conversion unattributed in a match. While the match between Mangere United and Ellerslie won by Mangere United 18 to 10 had no points attributed to any player. It is possible that M Paul for Mangere scored more tries than the 9 he is credited with and more than the 3 goals he kicked.

Exhibition matches and lower grades

City Rovers played Marist of Christchurch at Carlaw Park in May and were victorious by 16 points to 9. At the end of the season Marist, who had won the First Grade Championship met City Rovers, who had won the Roope Rooster and the two teams played out a 10 all draw on Monday morning as part of the Labour Day celebrations to officially finish the season for Auckland Rugby League.

City v Marist (Christchurch)

City v Marist

Lower grades

There were 6 lower grades in 1924 if you include the Sixth Grade which was split into an A and B grade. The City Rovers third grade team won the championship undefeated and also won the knockout competition.

Grades were made of the following teams with the winning team in bold:
*Second Grade: Athletic, City Rovers, Devonport United, Ellerslie United, Kingsland Rovers, Manukau Rovers, Marist Old Boys, Newton Rangers, Otahuhu United, Ponsonby United, Richmond Rovers, United Suburbs
*Third Grade: Athletics, City Rovers (+ won the knockout competition), Coromandel Old Boys, Devonport United, Kingsland Rovers, Mangere, Manukau Rovers, New Lynn, Otahuhu United, Parnell, Ponsonby United, Richmond Rovers, Suburbs
*Fourth Grade: City Rovers, Devonport United, Ellerslie, Mangere, Manukau, Marist Old Boys, Newton Rangers, Parnell, Ponsonby United A, Ponsonby United B, Richmond Rovers, United Suburbs, Takapuna
*Fifth Grade: Athletics, Ellerslie United, Manukau Rovers, New Lynn, Newton Rangers, Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers, Otahuhu Rovers, Ponsonby United, Point Chevalier, Richmond Rovers
*Sixth Grade A: Athletics A, Athletics B, City Rovers A (runner up), City Rovers B, Devonport United A, Ellerslie United, Ley Institute, Manukau Rovers, Marist Old Boys A, Marist Old Boys B, Newton Rangers A, Parnell A, Ponsonby United A, Richmond Rovers A
*Sixth Grade B: Athletics B, City Rovers B, Ellerslie United B, Manukau Rovers B, Parnell B, Richmond Rovers B (Ellerslie finished with a 12 win 0 loss season, scoring 125 points and conceding 33, they were managed by Messrs. E. Chapman, and J. Poland).

Representative fixtures

Ernie Asher, Edwin Fox, and Ronald MacDonald were appointed selectors for the season. Auckland played three matches against Australian Universities on 4, 7, and 14 June. In the first match Auckland defeated the University side by 15 to 7. In the second meeting Auckland again won, this time more easily by 17 points to 2. The visiting captain congratulated the Auckland team but made mention of the conditions by saying that “yours are certainly better wet day footballers than we are but this is to be expected when you realise that my club, Sydney University has not played on a wet ground since early in 1922 season”. They had their wish somewhat in the third match with much improved weather conditions and were able to come home strongly in the second half to draw the match 14–14 in front of 11,500 people.

On 26 July in front of 20,000 spectators the touring England side defeated Auckland by 24 points to 11. In the curtain-raisers Ellerslie Sixth Grade B defeated City Sixth Grade B by 5 points to 2, and City Second grade defeated their Richmond counterparts by 8 points to 7. On the Wednesday following, an Auckland provincial team featuring Auckland players from the greater region including the Waikato region played England and lost 28 to 13 in front of 7,000 spectators.

On 20 September an Auckland team played South Auckland in Hamilton and were defeated easily by 21 points to 5. The team was supposed to be a full strength Auckland team but as the club competition was entering its key stages many of the first team players remained behind to play for their clubs. As a result, many players from the struggling Newton team made the trip to Hamilton.

Auckland v Australian Universities

Auckland v Australian Universities

Auckland v Australian Universities

Frank Delgrosso had to come on the replace George Davidson after he collided badly with teammate Clarrie Polson when they were both going after the ball. Polson received a bad cut over his eye and he also later had to retire and was replaced by Billy Ghent.

Probables v Possibles trial match

Auckland B v Hamilton

Wilson Hall broke his collar bone during the second half and had to leave the field.

Auckland v England

There is film footage of the match taken by Tarr Film and archived on the New Zealand Archive of Film, television and Sound Ngā Taonga website. In scoring on halftime Ben Davidson was knocked out. At the start of the second half Auckland attempted to replace him with Lou Brown who ran out on to the field. However the England captain when seeing this objected as replacements were forbidden in the second half of rugby league matches at this time. Auckland were forced to play with 12 players for a time until Davidson recovered well enough to return to the field.

Auckland Province v England

Auckland B v Lower Waikato

Auckland v South Auckland (Waikato)

Junior representative fixtures

Auckland representative matches played and scorers

References

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External links

Auckland Rugby League Official Site

Auckland Rugby League seasons
Auckland Rugby League