The 1929 Auckland Rugby League season was its 20th. One of the key events of the season was the tour of the South Sydney side.
The First Grade Championship was won by Ponsonby who defeated Devonport in the final 5–0. Marist won the Thistle Cup for competition points accrued during the second round of matches where they went undefeated. They also won the Roope Rooster trophy after defeating Ponsonby in the final 17–9. They weren't finished yet, defeating the same opponent to win the Stormont Shield 28–14. This was the second consecutive year that they won both of those trophies.
Richmond entered a team into the B Grade which was arguably the first ever 'reserve grade' team in Auckland club rugby league. The B Grade competition was won by Point Chevalier who defeated Otahuhu in the final 13 points to 10. This earned Point Chevalier the right to playoff with Ellerslie who had come last in the A Grade championship losing all 14 of their matches. Ellerslie won the match by 5 points to 0 to remain in A Grade for 1930. Otahuhu beat Point Chevalier 11–0 to win the Stallard Cup which had previously been a knockout competition for the B Grade, however this season a full round robin was played before the final.
Season news and summary Club teams by grade participation Team1stB Div.2nd3rd Open3rd Int.4th5th6th A6th BSchoolsTotalRichmond Rovers110111112110Devonport United10111111018Kingsland Athletic10110111006Ponsonby United10120100005City Rovers10001111005Point Chevalier01010011105Marist Old Boys10000011104Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers01001001104Newton Rangers10100000114Ellerslie United10010000114Otahuhu Rovers01000101014Mount Albert United00101100014Newmarket00001011014Glen Lynn00011000103Akarana0000111100.54.5Remuera00100100002Mount Wellington00100100002Māngere United01000000012Parnell0100000000.51.5Papatoetoe00000000112Onehunga Convent (St Joseph's School)00000000011Total867881081091185
Auckland Rugby League management The annual report for the completed 1928 season revealed that £3272 was taken in gate receipts from club matches alone at Carlaw Park. The total from all matches was £4573 with £517 paid to injured players. A further £609 1s 3d was spent on maintenance and improvement at Carlaw Park. Clubs were also granted £326 18s 5d and charitable causes received £142 10s 4d. League assets including Carlaw Park were reported as £10,569 16s 4d, with a consolidated fund of £9810 11s 9d.
It was stated prior to the season that Auckland Rugby League would be concentrating much more on the club game and that no representative games would be played during it. This was in response to the 1928 season where a large representative program had been played along with the hosting of the touring England team. The Senior B competition was weakened considerably after the Kingsland team amalgamated with Grafton Athletic and moved up into the A Grade. The Senior B league was also ‘lowered in status’ with several of the stronger players moving into A grade sides.
On 23 April The New Zealand Herald published a lengthy summary of rugby league in Auckland from its beginnings in 1909 to the present day (1929).
The Otahuhu Trotting Club wrote to the Auckland Rugby League advising them that the league could make use of two playing grounds on its property on Tennessee Avenue in Mangere East.
New clubs and mergers On 2 April a new club was formed in Papatoetoe after a meeting was held in their town hall. It was decided to field three junior teams though ultimately they only fielded one team in the 6B Grade. This was not the Papatoetoe Panthers club which was formed at a much later date.
At a meeting of the Grafton Athletic and Kingsland Rovers League Football Clubs it was decided to amalgamate and become known as Kingsland Athletic. The meeting was attended by 80 members. They decided that their colours would be a maroon jersey with a blue and gold shield. They requested to be placed in the Senior A Grade. A lengthy discussion was held at a management committee meeting before they agreed to accept the team in the A Grade. This made the number of teams in the grade 8. Their senior team was coached by former New Zealand captain Bert Avery who had been a playing member of Maritime/Grafton Athletic.
Rule changes A rule change brought in for the beginning of the season was to make each half 40 minutes in length rather than 45 minutes. Another rule change occurred prior to round 5 with alterations to the play-the-ball rule. The idea was the prevent players from playing the ball to the side. Players had been allowed to turn their body and pass the ball from the foot to their own team. “On occasions the ball travelled but a few feet, which invariably resulted in players of both teams fighting for possessions on the ground. It must be said that too much of the game is wasted with players lying on the ball. Now it is necessary to play the ball, forwards or backwards, past the opposing player. Should it be kicked to the side, all players must stand outside the five yards limit before the ball can be handled by them”.
Player losses An ongoing issue for club league in Auckland, and indeed New Zealand were the continuing losses of top players to English clubs. Over three seasons nine players left to join professional English sides. Wigan signed Lou Brown, Ben Davidson and Len Mason, while Wilson Hall played for Leeds, and Roy Hardgrave, Trevor Hall, and Lou Hutt all joined St. Helens. Trevor Hanlon of the Richmond club signed for Broughton Rangers club late in the season.
Improvements to Carlaw Park After a series of very wet matches played at Carlaw Park and many requests for improved changing and washing conditions the Auckland Rugby League met to discuss the matter. They planned to “increase the showers and add hot water installations”. The Devonport delegate said “his club now shared the expense of a bus, and the team went to the Tepid Baths after each match. Another delegate said that hot water provision was required for curtain-raiser and other teams, which did not desire to leave the ground”. The league decided to begin with the work and complete it by Saturday week.
On 9 October the Management Committee met regarding the improvement of accommodation at Carlaw Park. Chairman Mr. George Rhodes said that an extra stand with dressing rooms would cost £12,000 which was money that the league did not have. The existing stand was taken up with 800 vice-presidents who gained free entry and so there was little revenue to be gained by adding to this area. He did however say that they were “keen to assist players in providing better dressing rooms and offices where the League could centralise its business.
South Sydney tour South Sydney became the first ever Australian club to tour New Zealand. They played three matches. Two were played against Marist Old Boys at Carlaw Park on consecutive Saturdays and a midweek game was played against Huntly in Huntly. They were defeated in the first match 10–9, before winning the return match 21–5. In their loss to Marist Charles Gregory scored all the Marist points through two tries, a conversion and a penalty. For South Sydney Jack Why scored their only try in the first game against Marist, while in their second game which they won Benny Wearing, Carl Eggen, Harry Eyers, and Alf Binder all scored.
Monteith Shield (first grade championship) The Round 6 match between Richmond and Kingsland was postponed as Richmond had travelled to Hikurangi to play against the local team which was in its second season.
Monteith Shield standings
TeamPldWDLFAPtsPonsonby United15121227611625Devonport United15111323611323City Rovers1490517115318Marist Old Boys1473420615717Newton Rangers1470714422314Kingsland Athletic1451814320911Richmond Rovers1430111051616Ellerslie United140014862350
Monteith Shield fixtures Pre-season fixture On April 20 several pre-season matches were played at Carlaw Park involving first grade teams and senior B sides. Newton Rangers defeated Richmond Rovers by 10 points to 0 with Roy Hardgrave scoring a try and kicking a penalty and converting W. Johnstone's try. Ellerslie United surprised Devonport United with a 5-5 draw. Marist Old Boys beat City 5-0, Kingsland Athletic beat Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers 13-8, and Mount Wellington and Parnell played out a 0-0 draw. The senior B teams involved were Kingsland-Athletic, Parnell, Mount Wellington, and Northcote.
Round 1 During the season Craddock Dufty who had starred for Auckland and New Zealand for several seasons fell out with the Newton club and asked for a transfer to Ellerslie. The Management Committee eventually granted the transfer.In the match between Newton and Marist Roy Hardgrave was concussed and had to leave the field. G Rhodes was also concussed later in the match and was taken to the hospital. For City in their match with Kingsland, William McLaughlin broke his nose and had to leave for treatment. Cyril Brimble had moved to Newton from the Manukau rugby club. Cyril moved to Canterbury where he played representative for that province and then after moving to Wellington did the same there before his untimely death in his 40s after a vehicle accident. His younger brother Ted Brimble would follow in the following season to Newton. And then in 1935 younger brother Wilfred would also join the ranks of Newton. Another brother Walter played for Manukau league club and all three (Walter, Ted, and Wilfred), would all go on to represent New Zealand.
Round 2 The game between Ponsonby and Newton was the 50th time the teams had met in senior games. Following this game Ponsonby had won 30, Newton 18, with 2 draws.
Round 3
Round 4 Puti Tipene Watene debuted for City after transferring from the Manukau rugby union club and kicked two penalties. He went on to play for them until 1935 before moving to the Manukau club and represented New Zealand from 1930 to 1937. Watene later became an MP for the Labour Party from 1963 to 1967 when he died of a heart attack during a meeting. His great grandson is Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Round 5 The Devonport win over Richmond was their 100th first grade win in their 20th consecutive year in first grade. To this point they had a 100 win, 12 draw, and 85 loss record. Bill Davis, the Richmond halfback was unavailable after being in a car accident after their game the previous Saturday which hospitalised him.
Round 6 Alan Clarke was sent off in the Marist v City game for questioning the referee. Richmond's game against Kingsland was postponed as many members of the club were travelling to Hikurangi in Northland to play in a seven a side tournament there. The Richmond senior team won the final 8-5 over the local Hikurangi side. Patrick McCarthy was unable to play in the Devonport forwards as he had a boxing match at the Auckland Town Hall the same night.
Round 7 In the match between Marist and Devonport both Courtney (Marist) and Ernest Ruby (Devonport) were sent off for fighting late in the match. For Newton Craddock Dufty refused to play in protest against the non-selection of Wally Somers. As a result Newton cancelled his registration with the club. Somers also decided to retire at this point though he ultimately joined the Ellerslie team for the 1930 season where Dufty moved to. Dufty then signed with Ellerslie where he had moved to earlier in the year. Cook was sent off in Ellerslie’s match for arguing with a referring decision.
Round 8
Round 9