Ernest Hartley Mair was an Australian

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 ...

administrator & hotelier who coached the

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 ...

side on their 1926-27 tour of Great Britain.

Early years

Ernest Mair was born on 15 January 1891 to a Scottish father and English mother in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. He played rugby league as a youth, but was much more prominent as a swimmer, becoming President of the

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Swimming Association and also the Queensland Amateur Swimming Association. In 1920 he married Mildred Readshaw and with her ran several hotels in Toowoomba. After becoming President of the Valley club in Toowoomba and Toowoomba Junior Rugby League, Mair was appointed New Zealand Rugby League representative on the Australian Rugby League board of control.

1925-26 New Zealand Tour

lost the series 0–3 against the

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and also lost a test match against

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. The tour of Britain involved several skirmishes within the Kiwi party. Problems began on the boat journey over, with disputes developing about aspects of the trip and a rift developed between Mair and seven forwards. The disputes continued once the party arrived in Britain, with one of the rebels being involved in a street fight with another member of the tour party after the opening match. At a meeting with English Rugby League authorities in on 8 November, following further disturbances which almost led to the tour party being evicted from their

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

hotel, it was decided that Mair would withdraw from team selection and match tactics for a period of a month. The tour, and the costly disputes, continued with the rebels eventually setting sail for home a week earlier than their colleagues. Three months later all seven players (

Arthur Singe Arthur Percy Singe (7 July 1898 — 5 January 1936) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented the national side in 1925, becoming Kiwi number 179 in the process. Prior to this he played for the New Zealand Army rugby team in 1919 i ...

Neil Mouat Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

, John Herbert James Wright,

Alphonsus Carroll Alphonsus "Fonse" John Carroll (20 April 1895 in Mataura – 1 December 1974 in Palmerston North) was a New Zealand dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, who represented New Zealand in both co ...

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, Lou Petersen and

Frank Henry Frank Sherman Henry (December 15, 1909 – August 25, 1989) was an American equestrian. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in team eventing and silver medals in individual eventing and team dressage, becoming th ...

) were banned for life by 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 ...

.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. .

Later life

Mair returned to Toowoomba in March 1927, becoming one of the district team selectors and was made a life member of the Toowoomba Rugby League in November 1927. In September 1929, Mair was charged with attempting to convince two men to set fire to a hotel he owned, the Commercial Hotel in

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the , Cunnamulla had a population of 1,140 people. Geography Cunnamulla ...

. Mair was discharged after the case against him collapsed. 1938 Ernest Mair was in Cairns, Queensland and the team manager of Past Brothers Minor Juniors who won the 1938 Premiership in the local C.R.L (Cairns Rugby League) He died on 12 January 1957 after injuries sustained after being struck by a car in Brisbane.Coffey, J. (2012) Strike: The Tour That Died of Shame, Scratching Shed Publications: Leeds p266

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mair, Ernest Hartley 1891 births 1957 deaths Australian rugby league coaches New Zealand national rugby league team coaches Road incident deaths in Queensland