1919 Auckland Rugby League season
The 1919 season of the Auckland Rugby League was its 11th. It was the first season post World War I and unsurprisingly it saw a resurgence in playing numbers with 56 teams across the six grades. North Shore Albions who had previously dropped out of the senior competition again fielded a senior side. As did Otahuhu, who had dropped out during the 1917 season. In addition a new club was formed, namely Marist Old Boys. They were composed of old boys of the Marist Brothers’ schools. The senior club season commenced on 3 May.
Ponsonby United won their third consecutive first grade title, while Newton Rangers won the Roope Rooster trophy.
At the end of the season J.B. Cooke stated in a meeting that next season the ball would be rolled into scrums and forwards would have to keep their feet on the ground while the halfback was putting the ball in. These changes were to “brighten the game”.
The season was also summarised by the league as well. Forty-nine teams were entered across all grades. Sunnyside won the second grade, Manukau won the third grade, City won the fourth and fifty grades, while Ponsonby won the sixth grade. It was stated that the standard of play in the senior club competition was not as good as it would have been due to the fact that 19 of the best club players from Auckland were away for a large part of the season representing New Zealand in Australia.
Representative Season
The Auckland representative team was only able to play one inter provincial fixture against Hawkes Bay after matches with Canterbury and Wellington were unable to be scheduled due to the busy New Zealand representative schedule. Likewise Ponsonby were unable to schedule a defense of the Thacker Shield for the same reason. An Auckland Junior team was however able to make a trip out to Napier to play Hawkes Bay and they were victorious by 12 points to 5. Auckland played a match in front of an enormous crowd at the Auckland Domain against the touring Australian side but did not fair any better than the New Zealand national side, going down by 32 points to 8.Charitable Efforts and League Funds
During the war most of the revenue gained by Auckland Rugby League was donated to the war efforts meaning they could not make much progress financially towards developing the game and facilities. In 1919 they once again raised 75 pounds to distribute to local charities nominated by the mayor. They also put on a match at the end of the season to raise money for the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Due to the large crowds at some of the matches, including the match with Australia it was anticipated that the league would gain over 1,000 pounds to establish a fund for obtaining a playing ground. This would of course be Carlaw Park.Eden Ramblers No More
At the Auckland Rugby League meeting on 30 April it was announced that the Eden Ramblers club had been disbanded. They had formed in 1911 and played in the senior competition from 1911 to 1913 before becoming a lower grade club until this season.First Grade Championship
first grade team were to only last one round into the season before pulling out. Grafton also struggled to field a team when they lost players to the New Zealand team which was touring Australia. In round 6 rather than default they were provided with players from the City and Newton clubs however they too did not survive to the end of the competition.Ponsonby United won the championship for the third consecutive season.
Final Standings
First Grade Results
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
There was confusion with the Round 4 draw with the newspapers listing the match between North Shore and Maritime when in fact it was Newton who were supposed to be the opponent. As a result, Newton players did not arrive at the ground. Eventually Newton found enough substitutes but they still began the game 2–3 players short. In spite of this they still managed to win by 14 points to 9. Also the City team took the field with 6 juniors while Grafton had 2 juniors and played a man short. The chief issue was with the New Zealand team touring Australia at the time meaning many key players were absent from their club teams.Round 5
In the match at Devonport the Marist team was led from the field by their captain with the score at 9–0 to North Shore in protest at a refereeing decision. During the round 5 match between Marist and North Shore the Marist team left the field early in protest against the referee. After hearing the report of referee Cleal, and a statement from McDevett, the Marist captain it was decided to suspend McDevett for 12 months after it was he who had told the referee that he would be taking his team from the field in protest and proceeded to do so.Round 6
Grafton were not able to field a full team and were reinforced by players from Newton who had a bye. This was done so that they would not be forced to drop out of the competition. They were missing test players Karl Ifwersen and Dougie McGregor.Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
The Auckland Star reported that the matches at Victoria Park saw the largest crowds for club games ever on that ground.Round 10
Round 10 featured two rarities. The Newton v North Shore match was played as a curtain-raiser to the Ponsonby v Maritime match on Auckland Domain 1. When matches were normally played at the same venue they all were played at the same time of 3pm on adjacent fields. In the 3rd match due to be played on the Domain the referee, F Thompson failed to turn up and after waiting for 40 minutes the decision was made to abandon the game. It was later revealed that he had been called away on an urgent business matter and had tried to contact the league but been unable to. The Auckland Rugby League accepted his explanation. The round was also significant for another reason. Craddock Dufty also debuted for Newton and kicked 2 conversions. He was to go on to represent New Zealand along with touring with the New Zealand Maori side.Round 4 Postponed Match
Roope Rooster Knockout Competition
The round 1 match between Ponsonby United and Newton Rangers was abandoned towards the end with Newton leading by 12 points to 10 after Ponsonby supporters encroached on the field in protest against the referee and refused to move back. Marist Old Boys recorded their first competitive win in their history with a round 1 win over North Shore Albions. The final was won by Newton Rangers after they defeated Maritime by 8 points to 5.Round 1
In the Newton match with Ponsonby there was no crossbar and so they tied a piece of string between the two posts to act as a makeshift marker for kicks at goal.Round 1 Replay
Semi Final
Final
Top Try Scorers and Point Scorers
The following point scoring lists include Senior Championship matches and the Roope Rooster competition matches only. George Davidson the champion New Zealand sprinter, who represented New Zealand at the 1920 Olympics top scored with 64 points and he also led the league with 14 tries.Several teams featured multiple players with the same surname with many sets of brothers. As a result, some of the scoring lists are inaccurate. For Ponsonby L Cadman scored 1, A Cadman scored 2, and "Cadman" scored 3.
| Rank | Player | Team | Tries |
| 1 | George Davidson | Maritime | 14 |
| 2 | George Iles | Newton | 10 |
| 3 | A Sutton | Maritime | 8 |
| 4 | A Keenan | Newton | 7 |
| 5 | McAneny | North Shore | 6 |
| 6 | Bert Avery | Maritime | 5 |
| 6 | S Chatfield | Ponsonby United | 5 |
| 8 | R Clarke | City Rovers | 4 |
| 8 | Clarke | Newton | 4 |
| 8 | E McGregor | Ponsonby | 4 |
| Rank | Player | Team | Tries | Con | Pen | Mark | Points |
| 1 | George Davidson | Maritime | 14 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 64 |
| 2 | McAneny | North Shore | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 34 |
| 3 | A Sutton | Maritime | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 4 | George Iles | Newton Rangers | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 5 | E McGregor | Ponsonby United | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| 6 | A Keenan | Newton Rangers | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 7 | Bill Davidson | City Rovers | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
Other Club Matches and Lower Grades
Lower Grade Teams and Clubs
There were 5 lower grades in 1919.- Devonport Presbyterian
- W.Y.M.I.
- Thames Old Boys
- Sunnyside
- Mangere Rangers
- Manukau
- Northcote Ramblers
- Post and Telegraph
- Richmond Rovers
- 2nd grade – City Rovers, City Rovers B, Maritime, Otahuhu, North Shore Albion, Sunnyside, and Mangere Rangers.
- 3rd grade – Manukau, Ponsonby, Otahuhu.
- 4th grade – City Rovers, Otahuhu, Sunnyside, Newton Rangers, Newton Rangers B, Manukau, Grafton Athletic, Richmond Rovers, Northcote Ramblers, Maritime, Post and Telegraph, Devonport Presbyterian, W.Y.M.I.
- 5th grade – City Rovers, Sunnyside, Richmond Rovers A, Northcote Ramblers, Manukau, North Shore Albion, Ponsonby United A, Devonport Presbyterian, W.Y.M.I, Otahuhu.
- 6th grade – City Rovers, Manukau, Ponsonby, Richmond Rovers, Post and Telegraph, Devonport Presbyterian, North Shore Albion A.
Benefit Match for Albert Asher
St Johns Benefit Match
To end the season a rugby union and rugby league match was played at the Auckland Domain for the benefit of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, whose members regularly attend league and union matches to perform first aid to injured players. The rugby league match was between City and Ponsonby, and was won by City 13–10.Maritime Tour
In Mid October the Maritime senior team embarked on an end of season tour to Hawkes Bay. They played Petane and Ahuriri and had two comfortable victories. Ahuriri had won the Vigor Brown Shield and the Charity Cup and the match was reportedly played in front of a large crowd. After their return they traveled to Thames on 18 October to play in a series of exhibition matches along with the Richmond club though the results are unknown.Representative Fixtures
On 14 May the selectors conducted a trial match between Auckland A and B teams to help choose both an Auckland and New Zealand team. The B team won the match by 15 points to 14. The first representative fixture of the season was a match played against the New Zealand team which was preparing to depart for their tour of Australia. The New Zealand team won 25–19 at the Auckland Domain in front of 8,000. On 20 July Auckland played a match at the Auckland Domain with a Returned Soldiers team as part of a “Peace Day” sports celebration involving sports from several different codes.On 23 August Auckland played against a team composed of available members of the New Zealand team which had toured Australia earlier in the year. The Auckland team was composed of Auckland players who remained so in essence was largely a ‘B’ team. The match was played at Victoria Park and resulted in a high scoring win to the ‘NZ’ team 45–30.
Then on 20 September, Auckland played against the touring Australian side and were well defeated by 32 points to 8. The match was played at the Auckland Domain in front of 18,000 spectators.