The 1924 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 15th. Marist won the first grade championship for the first time in their history after defeating Devonport in the final by 20 points to 17 in front of a club record crowd of 17,000 at Carlaw Park. While City won the Roope Rooster competition for the 4th time.
News Leys Institute were a 6th grade side and were affiliated with the Ponsonby club. Team1st Grade2nd Grade3rd Grade4th Grade5th Grade6th Grade A6th Grade BTotalPonsonby United11121107Richmond Rovers11111117City Rovers11110217Manukau Rovers01111116Newton Rangers11011105Marist Old Boys11010115Athletic10101115Ellerslie United11011015Māngere United11110004Devonport United11110004Parnell00110114Otahuhu Rovers01101003United Suburbs01110003Kingsland Rovers01100002New Lynn00101002Point Chevalier00101002Takapuna00010001Coromandel Old Boys00100001Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers00001001Leys Institute (Ponsonby)00000101Total91214131010775
First grade competition At a Management Committee meeting on 9 April, the Mangere United team, and Ellerslie clubs who had requested to enter senior teams in the First Grade competition were accepted, bringing the total number of teams to nine. The Mangere team registered its colours and green and black. The suggested format was one where after the first round the top six teams would continue while the bottom three teams would have other matches arranged for them. However all nine teams remained in the grade until the end of the season. The Mangere United team was a combined team from the Manukau and Mangere clubs. Both clubs retained their own identity in the junior grades.
On the opening day of the season all four First Grade matches were played on Carlaw Park. The junior matches on the same day were postponed as the railway workers were on strike and there was no way for the players to reach the outer suburban grounds which were used for matches in these grades.
Lou Brown transfer issue Lou Brown, the New Zealand international had played for Newton Rangers in 1922 and 1923 however at the end of the season he moved to England to play for Wigan. He had been granted a release by Newton and New Zealand Rugby League. Upon his return he wished to play for the City Rovers club and he turned out for them despite being told by the Auckland Rugby League that he was not eligible to play for them. City were adamant that he had been fully released and could play for any team. The New Zealand Rugby League Council supported the decision but Brown played anyway. He was subsequently suspended for 3 matches. City took the extraordinary step of withdrawing its team from the competition and they defaulted their Round 9 match with Mangere United. On 18 July Newton held a special board meeting and agreed to grant Brown a transfer and thus the issue was finally settled.
Manukau Rovers club switches to rugby union The entire Manukau Rovers club switched to rugby union after a dispute with Auckland Rugby League. The issue arose after one of their players (King) was suspended for four playing Saturdays. He had been suspended because he was registered with the Manukau club but "suddenly joined, or played, for the Māngere United team without having been granted a transfer". An opposing team had protested and King had in the meantime moved back to the Manukau club. The Manukau club took exception to the decision and refused to play any of its six teams in the following grades: Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth A, and Sixth B. It then went a step further by switching the entire club to rugby union with the Auckland Rugby Union accepting them. The Secretary of the club, C.J, Williams disputed the way the ARL had handled the matter and several of the facts in a letter to the Auckland Star. The ARL Chairman, Mr. W. Hammill replied to the letter "that the matters contained therein were hardly correct".
United Suburbs club formation At the Auckland Rugby League meeting of April 2 the affiliation of the United Suburbs club was approved. Their club colours were gold with a black badge. Two weeks later at the management committee meeting their colours were registered however they were now maroon and gold. New Lynn club formation A club was also formed at New Lynn in early March. They only lasted until around 1930 however and are not the present day New Lynn Stags club. They played around the Kelston area opposite the present day Kelston Shopping Centre, possibly at the site of present day Kelston Girls College. At their formation meeting the Auckland chairman, Mr. W.J. Hammill was present along with A. Powell from the New Zealand Council (rugby league). The following officers were elected:- Patron, hon. Christopher James Parr; vice patron, Mr. Albert Crum, senr.; president, Mr. C.F. Gardiner; secretary and delegate to the league, Mr. Colin Crum; treasurer, Mr. Mathieson; auditor, Mr. Ivan Culpan; management committee, Messrs. T. Brown and R. Brown, in addition to the chairman, secretary and treasurer. They decided to enter three teams in junior grades though ultimately fielded 2 sides in the 3rd and 5th grades. The Tahurangi/Crum Park in nearby Titirangi is named after Albert Crum who was a well known figure in the New Lynn pottery industry.
Goals from marks At the ARL Management Committee meeting on 13 August, the Referee's Association reported that goals from marks would no longer be permitted. This rule would come into place from Saturday, 23 August onwards.
Monteith Shield (1st grade championship) A record nine teams competed in the First Grade competition in 1924 with the addition of the Māngere United and Ellerslie senior teams. Mangere had their colours registered as green and black. It was initially decided that after the first round the bottom three teams would drop out of the competition for the second round. At the end of the first round these teams were Māngere United, and Ellerslie. However, this was later rescinded and all teams remained in the competition until the end of the season.
Monteith Shield standings TeamPldWDLFAPtsMarist Old Boys15111334514723Devonport United16111427219123City Rovers1583420110719Athletic1582525720618Ponsonby United1580718814416Māngere United1450915425210Richmond Rovers1650119719410Newton Rangers15501013325010Ellerslie153111952107
Monteith Shield fixtures Round 1
Round 2 Jim O'Brien debuted for Marist. He had previously played for the New Zealand national rugby team in 3 matches in 1922. Baden Foss went off with an injury to his nose and a cut eye and was replaced by Jim Stormont, with his brother Bill Stormont moving into Foss's position in the backline. Jim Rukutai made his first appearance in a jersey for two years when he played for Mangere, who he was coaching. He had only played a handful of times since 1919 and was aged about 45. Despite his age he played well, scoring two of their three tries.
Round 3 In the match at Devonport Domain between Devonport and City, Ben Davidson the City centre three quarter, was knocked unconscious and had to be taken to hospital. It was reported days later that his condition was not reported as serious. City had a bye the following weekend and he returned to play in Round 5. Neville St George and Alf Townsend were ordered off in the same match. They were the two hookers and there had been issues with the scrum with referee Les Bull having enough and giving them their marching orders. Stan Webb and Bert Laing both made their first appearances of the year for Devonport. Charles Gregory debuted for Marist at fullback and played a good game, converting both of their tries. He had played 12 games for Auckland rugby union team in 1922 and 1923 before switching codes, though he had played some rugby league before that. Gregory would go on to play over 80 games for Marist becoming one of their all time leading scorers and represented New Zealand on 40 occasions.
Round 4 Two matches were postponed in Round 4 as the league decided that they wanted the #1 field in the best possible condition for the exhibition match between City Rovers and Marist Old Boys of Christchurch. The weather had been particularly poor in the lead up with the previous weekend seeing all football in Auckland cancelled. These postponed matches were unique in that they were eventually played 10 days later on a Tuesday morning at 9.30am. This would surely be one of the only times a senior match had been played on a working weekday morning in the competitions history. In Richmond's game at Devonport Domain, their centre Jack Campney broke his rib in the first half and a local doctor sent him to hospital for treatment.
Round 5 George Gardiner debuted for Marist. He had played rugby union for the Māori Pioneer Battalion side in 1918-19 and for the Bay of Plenty rugby team. In rugby league he went on to represent Auckland 4 times and New Zealand 21 times on their 1926 tour of England. In the early 1930s he moved to Australia to emabark on a professional wrestling career. After the outbreak of World War 2 he enlisted but was killed fighting in Libya.
Round 4 postponed matches The postponed games were played on the Tuesday morning of King's Birthday and given the 9:30am start time and other attractions drew a decent crowd of 2,000.
Round 6 The match played at Ellerslie Reserve between Richmond and Ellerslie was the first senior match played there since 1912.
Round 7 Referee Bill Murray was refereeing his 50th first grade match in the clash between Devonport and Mangere at the Devonport Domain. He became only the second referee to achieve this feat after Archie Ferguson 2 years earlier. There was controversy in the match between City Rovers and Richmond as the City team fielded Lou Brown who had not been granted clearance by either Auckland Rugby League or New Zealand Rugby League. Brown had previously played for Newton and had been released to play for Wigan in England. After returning he wanted to turn out for the City club but Newton claimed that he had been released on the grounds that he would return to play for them alone. Brown was later suspended for 3 matches before rejoining the Newton team for their match against Marist. The match between Marist and Newton at the Auckland Domain was played in a "sea of mud" and within a few minutes Newton halfback Clarrie Polson after he received a bad kick and had to go off. George Gardiner had a big game scoring 3 tries and converting 4 tries. Bill Te Whata played his first game of rugby league for two seasons when he turned out for Athletic in their 14-5 win over Ellerslie. He had tried several times to be reinstated into rugby union with the case being controversial as the New Zealand Rugby Union contended that he had been paid to play, however it was later clarified that the money he received was from the New South Wales rugby league, not the New Zealand Rugby League. A month later he debuted for New Zealand in their series with England.
Round 8 The match between Māngere and Ellerslie was the first ever rugby league match played at present day Ferguson Park in Onehunga.
Round 9 City defaulted their match against Mangere United in protest at the decision to not allow Lou Brown to register for the club after returning from England.
Round 10 In the Athletic match with Richmond, Graham was ordered off for Athletic as was McMillan for Richmond. Richmond had lost William Whittington to a fractured right leg early in the second half and with the score 25–0 with 6 minutes to go they asked for the game to end and their opponents and the referee obliged. Aside from the score there was no individual scoring reported from the Ellerslie v Mangere game from the Ellerslie Reserve.
Round 11