William "Massa" Johnston (13 September 1881 – 9 January 1951) 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 it ...

and

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international. He was part of the 1905

Original All Blacks The Original All Blacks (also known simply as "The Originals") were the first New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States ...

tour and the professional 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain.

Early years

Johnston was an Iron worker by trade.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996.

Rugby Football

Johnston first played senior

for the Alhambra club in 1897, aged only 15. He made his début for Otago in 1903 and represented Otago again in 1904, playing in six matches in total. In 1904 he was the first player sent off in a

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

match as Otago went down 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 metr ...

. He played for the South Island in 1904, 1905 and 1907. Johnston was first chosen for 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, ...

as part of their first tour of Great Britain. This team became known as the "Originals" and was hugely successful. However, Johnston was sickly on the tour and played in only thirteen matches, missing all of the test matches. Johnston returned to the All Blacks for their 1907 tests against Australia, playing in all three matches in the series.

Rugby League

Johnston joined the professional All Blacks in their 1907–08 tour of Australia and Great Britain, returning to the two countries he had played in as an All Black. At the time of the tour Johnston was at the peak of his career and had earned respect as a forward with a clean style of play. Johnston had helped select the side and was part of the Management committee while on tour. Along with

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright i ...

, Johnston was in charge of coaching the forwards while on tour. He was also an integral part of the forward pack and played in all eight test matches. He scored tries in the second and third tests against the Northern Union but was then wrongly sent off in the first test match against Australia. However, he returned to play in the second and third test matches. In all games on tour, Johnston scored a total of five tries. After returning to New Zealand with the touring party, Johnston then returned to Great Britain, signing with the

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

club. In Wigan he helped the club win

the Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

. Massa Johnston played right-, i.e. number 10, and scored a

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's 10-9 victory over

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

in the

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

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Final during the 1908–09 season at

Wheater's Field Wheater's Field was a rugby ground in Broughton, Salford, England. It was home to the Broughton Rangers rugby league club of the Northern Union. On 19 October 1907, the stadium hosted a match between Rangers and the New Zealand All Golds. It ...

, Broughton, on Saturday 19 December 1908. In mid December 1910 he moved to

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

( Heritage № 173), he was Warrington's first player from New Zealand, and as of 2016, he is the only former

All Black 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, ...

to play for Warrington.

Later years

After retirement Johnston moved to Australia where he was a

commissionaire In mainland Europe, a commissionaire is an attendant, messenger or subordinate employed in hotels, whose chief duty is to attend at railway stations, secure customers, take charge of their luggage, carry out the necessary formalities with respect t ...

at the Royal Sydney Agricultural Showgrounds. He died 9 January 1951 in Sydney.

References

External links

*
Massa Johnston
''Wigan Warriors'', Accessed 17 August 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Massa 1881 births 1951 deaths Dual-code rugby internationals New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Otago rugby union players Rugby union players from Dunedin Sportspeople from Dunedin South Island rugby union players Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors players Grafton Athletic players Rugby league second-rows