William "Bill" Thomas TylerTYLER, William Thomas 1907 - 08 - Kiwi #22
''nzleague.co.nz'' 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 ...

er who was part of the professional 1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain. His older brother George Tyler also played rugby for City and Auckland, and represented 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 ...

36 times from 1903 to 1906.

Rugby Football

He started his career playing

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 ...

for the City Club in

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 ...

. Tyler was a Scrum-Half but also played at Wing-Forward, a position that had already been abandoned in other countries. Aged 25, he was selected for

in 1905 and was part of the team that won the

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 ...

from

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 ...

.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996. Tyler had scored the winning try and was well known for this deed.

Rugby League

In 1907 Tyler joined the professional All Blacks in their tour of Great Britain and Australia. Like the rest of the touring party Tyler was banned for life by the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

. While on tour he played in six test matches and scored the match winning try in the third test 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 is ...

. He then played in the first ever trans-Tasman test which was the debut match of the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of Rugby league in Australia, the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Admin ...

. In all tour games Tyler scored three tries. Following the tour's return to New Zealand Tyler became one of the founding member of the Ponsonby United Rugby League Club in 1908 alongside fellow tourist Charles Dunning. He also played for

and was part of the first ever provincial rugby league match in New Zealand, in which Auckland defeated

16-14.

Death

Tyler died while under anaesthetic due to respiratory failure. He had been ill for quite some time. He was working as a blacksmith and living at Nihotupu in West Auckland at the time of his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, William New Zealand rugby union players Auckland rugby union players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Ponsonby Ponies players Auckland rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby union scrum-halves Rugby union wing-forwards