Albert Phillip House (1890 – 29 May 1966) was a New Zealand

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 ...

and professional

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 ...

footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s, and rugby league

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

of the 1910s and 1920s . He played representative level rugby union for

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 ...

, and representative level rugby league for

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 ...

( Heritage No. 35), and

, and at club level for

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

, as a , or , i.e. number 1, or 6.

Playing career

House originally played

, representing

.Team of the Century – Week 1
''Wellington Rugby League'' In 1908 House switched to

, playing for

in the first provincial matches, against

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 ...

. House won caps for

in the 1909 tour of Australia, playing , and scoring two

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s in

's 19–11 victory over Australia at Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney on Saturday 12 June 1909, playing in the 5–10 defeat by Australia at

Brisbane Exhibition Ground Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is located at 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and was established in 1875. It hosts more than 250 events each year, with the largest bein ...

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 ...

on Saturday 26 June 1909, and ( George Spencer playing ) in the 5–25 defeat by Australia at Royal Agricultural Society Showground, Sydney on Saturday 3 July 1909. In 1912 House was part of the Petone side in the inaugural

Wellington Rugby League Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team, the Wellingto ...

competition. Petone were the first winners of the Siegal Cup. House played , i.e. number 4 in

's 33–18 victory over

during the 1913 New Zealand rugby league season Inter-district competition on Saturday 27 September 1913, this would be Wellington's last victory against Auckland until 1988.''Lion Red 1988 Rugby League Annual'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League 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 ...

, 1988. p.p.151-159 He again played for New Zealand, against

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, that year.

Refereeing career

House later became a rugby league referee. In 1919 he became the first, of only four Kiwis test players, to referee a

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

when the Kiwis played Australia at the Basin Reserve.

Death

House died in 1966 and was buried at

Karori Cemetery Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori. History Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery. In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...

in Wellington.

Honoured at Petone Panthers

House was named as the in the

Petone Panthers Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

' Team of the Century in 2012.

References

External links

Roll of Honour at nzrl.co.nzPast Kiwis → H at nzrl.co.nz
{{DEFAULTSORT:House, Albert 1890 births 1966 deaths Australian emigrants to New Zealand Burials at Karori Cemetery New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby league referees New Zealand rugby union players North Sydney Bears players People from Buninyong Petone Panthers players Place of birth missing Place of death missing Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Wellington rugby league team players Wellington rugby union players