Harold "Circus" Owen Hayward (1883–1970) was a New Zealand

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

player who represented New Zealand in both

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 it ...

and

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 11 ...

. His brother, Morgan, also represented New Zealand in rugby league.

Rugby union career

Growing up in

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, Hayward played

for the Goldfields sub-union and represented

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

. His 33 appearances for Auckland between 1903 and 1911 were, however, sporadic – undoubtedly because he lived so far away from the city.Circus Hayward
''allblacks.com'' Hayward played 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 ...

against the touring Anglo-Welsh Lions in on 25 July 1908. He also made his sole appearance for the North Island in 1908.

Rugby league career

Hayward switched to

in 1912 and made an immediate impact, playing for Thames,

and touring Australia with

that year. Like Goldfields, Thames was a sub-league of the Auckland Rugby League at the time. Hayward captained the 1913 New Zealand tour of Australia and played for Auckland against

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 i ...

in 1914.HAYWARD, Harold Owen 1912 – 13 – Kiwi #75
''nzleague.co.nz''Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'', 2009. .

Return to rugby union

Hayward returned to

after World War One.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Harold 1883 births 1970 deaths Auckland rugby league team players Auckland rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players North Island rugby union players Rugby league locks Thames rugby league team players