Albert (Bert) Henry Baskerville (born as "Baskiville"
) (15 January 1883 – 20 May 1908) was a
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
postal clerk, a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
forward, author of the book "''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Player, the Spectator''" and a pioneer of
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
.
Rugby football
Prior to becoming the administrator of the 1907-08 tour Baskerville played rugby for the Wellington club in 1903 (making 2 appearances for their senior side) before switching to the Oriental club in 1904 where he played regularly in the backs for the senior side. He was said to be on the verge of
provincial selection towards the end of the 1907 season but was not included in the Wellington representative side.
[John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996. ] He also played for the Post and Telegraph mid week side in 1904 which won the tournament beating Cycle and Bearers in the final. The following year in 1905 he represented the Wednesday Players representative side in a match against the Wairarapa Thursday representative side.
Albert's father Henry had been killed in an accident on 30 January 1903 when doing some drainage works on Upper Queen Street in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
. He and some other workmen were working in a deep excavation when one side of it began to collapse, men called out but his father moved the wrong way and was buried to his neck. He was quickly removed but his injuries were too serious to survive. This left Albert as the main
income earner Income earner refers to an individual who through work, investments or a combination of both derives income, which has a fixed and very fixed value of his/her income (sometimes, called Vulkary Workers). The vast majority of income earners derive mo ...
for the family since then and they moved to
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
shortly afterwards.
His book, ''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Player, the Spectator'', was published in 1907 and gave him somewhat of a national profile. After the success of this project he moved on to his next ambitious idea, a professional rugby tour of Great Britain. Baskerville competed in many athletic events from 1903 to 1907 as a short and middle distance runner where he would compete for prize money. In late 1905 he filed a patent for a "cuff protector and blotter".
The Tour
![New Zealand Rugby League Team of 1907-08 to Tour England](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/New_Zealand_Rugby_League_Team_of_1907-08_to_Tour_England.png)
Baskerville wrote to the
Northern Union
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...
and asked if they would host a touring party of New Zealand rugby players. The Northern Union were excited by this proposal and quickly agreed. After this Baskerville began to work on organising the tour full-time, leaving his job at the Postal Department and severing his connection with the Oriental Football Club. The
Wellington Rugby Union
The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...
moved quickly to attempt to stop him from attending their grounds and he received a life ban from the
New Zealand Rugby Union
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...
. Despite this he managed to put together an impressive touring party that included eight
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...
, including four from the 1905
tour of Great Britain. The team was dubbed the
All Golds by the Sydney press, a derogatory play on the New Zealand rugby union team's nickname the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...
.
![Albert Baskerville Wreath Laying](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Albert_Baskerville_Wreath_Laying.png)
The tour was a great success both financially, each player earned roughly £300, and on the field, where the touring side won consecutive Test series against Great Britain and Australia. For most of the tour Baskerville was busy with the administration work and it was not until the final game of the British leg, against
St Helens R.F.C.
St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain.
They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...
, that Baskerville played, scoring a try. On arriving in Australia he then played in the
first ever trans-Tasman test which was the debut match of the
Australia national rugby league team
The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of Rugby league in Australia, the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Admin ...
, again scoring a try. That was to be the only time that Baskerville would represent
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in a Test match.
![Albert Baskerville Wreath Laying 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Albert_Baskerville_Wreath_Laying_2.png)
Baskerville contracted
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
on the ship taking the touring party from Sydney to Brisbane and, after several days in hospital, died aged 25 in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, Australia on 20 May 1908.
His body was taken by manager Harry Palmer and a group of players from each province back to Wellington. The rest of the touring party stayed in Australia to complete their remaining fixtures. Like five other members of the touring party Baskerville is buried at Karori Cemetery.
Legacy
On their return from Australia the remaining members of the tour party held a memorial game, the first game of rugby league in New Zealand, and raised £300 for his widowed mother.
The
Courtney Goodwill Trophy
The Courtney Goodwill Trophy is a rugby league trophy that was awarded for competition between the national rugby league teams of Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand between 1936 and 1988. The trophy is displayed in the Heroes and Lege ...
, international rugby league's first, was presented for the first time in 1936 and depicted Baskiville, along with other pioneering greats of the code,
Jean Galia
Jean Galia (born 20 March 1905 in Ille-sur-Têt, Pyrénées-Orientales, died 17 January 1949 in Toulouse) was a French rugby union and rugby league footballer and champion boxer. He is credited with establishing the sport of rugby league in Fran ...
(France),
James Lomas (England) and
Dally Messenger
Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played f ...
(Australia).
He is commemorated by the naming of the
Baskerville Shield
The Baskerville Shield is a trophy awarded to the winner of rugby league test series between England and New Zealand. It named in honour of Albert Henry Baskerville, who organised the first ever tour by New Zealand of Great Britain in 1907.
Th ...
, the trophy awarded when
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
meet in test series. In 2001 Baskerville was inducted as one of the
NZRL
The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...
Legends of League.
See also
*
2007 "All Golds" Tour – celebrating the centenary of Baskerville's 1907 Tour.
*
History of Rugby League
The history of rugby league as a separate form of rugby football goes back to 1895 in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire when the Northern Rugby Football Union broke away from England's established Rugby Football Union to administer its own ...
References
External links
Rugby League Hall of Fame Baskiville page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baskerville, Albert Henry
1883 births
1908 deaths
Burials at Karori Cemetery
History of rugby league
History of rugby union
New Zealand national rugby league team players
New Zealand rugby league administrators
New Zealand rugby league players
New Zealand rugby union players
Rugby league in New Zealand
Rugby league players from Te Aroha
Rugby league wingers
Rugby union controversies
Rugby union players from Te Aroha
Wellington rugby union players