Gallery
NZ Natives'
Rugby Tour
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On 3 October 1999, the All Blacks played their first match of the Rugby World Cup in Britain. This was 111 years to the day since the first representative rugby team to tour Britain played its first game there. The New Zealand Native Football Representatives are still not well known. This is despite a major book on the subject by historian Greg Ryan. Forerunners of the All Blacks, (Canterbury University Press, 1993) is a detailed study of the tour, and anyone interested in further information on the topic should consult this book. This exhibition draws extensively on Dr Ryan's research and insights. Material from Forerunners of the All Blacks has been used with the kind permission of Dr Ryan. Additional material has been compiled by David Green. The title of 'The Originals' was bestowed on the next New Zealand rugby team to tour Britain, that of 1905/6, which arrived home to an official welcome befitting conquering heroes. But even though it was soon forgotten, the Natives' tour was to have enduring significance for New Zealand rugby and New Zealand society. The Natives had originally been called New Zealand Maori. After five Pakeha were selected to strengthen the touring party it was renamed by its promoter on the basis that all 26 team members were New Zealand born. This was a promotional device: two had in fact been born overseas. Most of the team assembled at a training camp near Napier in May 1888, and they played their first match against Hawke's Bay on 23 June. Before they left New Zealand they were condemned as 'a poor team' who wouldn't beat the strongest local club sides. But after they slipped quietly back into the country the following winter their play was praised as a 'fine exhibition of what several months of combination and practice will do.' By the time they dispersed at Auckland in August 1889, they had played a staggering 107 rugby matches in New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain, winning 78 of them � plus eight Australian Rules and two soccer fixtures! For much of that time, no more than 20 of the touring party were fit, which forced those who were into a playing schedule that no modern team would contemplate. Exhibition
compiled by David Green |
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