Herbert "Bert" Avery (1895–1966) 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 representative rugby league (RL) 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 ...

Early years

Born in 1895 in Whakapirau Northland, Avery originally played

for the local Northland club.Herbert AVERY, Herbert (1919–27)
''nzleague.co.nz''

Playing career

Moving to Auckland, Avery switched codes and joined the

City Rovers The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers par ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition playing for them in 1915 and 1916.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

had begun and Avery signed up for the New Zealand forces in 1916 and served in the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

until 1918, Following the war he returned to

, playing for the Maritime club who later changed their name to Athletic and then to Grafton Athletic. He was to play 95 matches for them and was a prolific try scorer, scoring 54 times. During this time he represented

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 ...

and was part of the side that held the

Northern Union Cup The Rugby League Cup is a New Zealand rugby league trophy that is contested between districts on a challenge basis. The trophy used to be known as the Northern Union Challenge Cup. It is the oldest rugby league competition in New Zealand. Histo ...

and recorded victories over the touring

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

in 1921. In 1923 he had the unusual distinction of playing both for Auckland (against Hamilton), and against Auckland for the Auckland Provincial team in the same season. He again played for both Auckland and Auckland Province in the 1924 season against England. New Zealand team to play Queensland in 1925

New Zealand team to play Queensland in 1925

By 1925 he was made captain of the Auckland side. He was also part of the first two inter Island matches, playing for the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

in 1925 and 1926. Between 1919 and 1927 Avery played in thirteen test matches for

including against the 1919 touring Australians and 1920 and 1924 touring

. He was part of tours of New South Wales and Queensland in 1921 and 1925 where no test matches were played. He captained New Zealand during his final tour, the 1926–1927 tour of Great Britain, which was marred by strike action amongst the forwards. Despite this, he still finished the tour as the leading try scorer with 23 tries in 29 matches.

Later years

Avery retired in 1927. During the season he was concussed attempting a tackle on M Herewini who was trying to hurdle him. He was carried from the field and taken to Auckland Hospital. After being released his brother Henry died in the same week suffering from pneumonia. Bert Avery decided to retire from rugby league at this time. He served as a selector for

between 1928 and 1936.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'', 2009. . He also coached the Kingsland Athletic senior side in 1929 which was an amalgamation of his Maritime/Grafton Athletic club and Kingsland Rovers. In 1936 he also served as the sole selector of the New Zealand side. He died in Auckland on 13 April 1966, aged 71. Avery was one of the first players to be inducted into the

New Zealand Rugby 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 ...

's Legends of League in 1995.Legends of League
''nzrl.co.nz''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Bert 1895 births 1966 deaths Auckland rugby league team players City Rovers players Maritime Football Club players Maritime rugby league team players New Zealand military personnel of World War I New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players North Island rugby league team players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Northland Region