Newcastle's First Rugby League Match

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Newcastle was the chosen venue for the 2004 ANZAC Rugby League Test match between Australia and New Zealand.

The locals owe much to the Kiwis, for it was a visit from them in 1908 that saw the first match of rugby league played in what is now a stronghold for the game.

The match between Newcastle and New Zealand was also the Kiwis' first game of rugby league in the southern hemisphere.

The New Zealand team had been formed in mid-1907 by Albert Baskerville who planned to take a tour to England and play professional rugby (league) against teams of the Northern Union.

The team sailed to Sydney in August 1907 and played three rugby union matches against a rebel NSW side that included Dally Messenger. Baskerville convinced ‘Dally M' to join their professional All Blacks team where all the players and officials would share the profits, if there were any.

After the tour was over and the Kiwis were sailing back to Australia, news reached Sydney that the venture had indeed been a financial success. Each member received almost £200 each. The tourists had been disparagingly tagged the ‘All Golds' for turning professional back in 1907, but even the critics couldn't foresee each of the players enjoying a bonanza that equated to a years worth of wages for the average worker.

The founders of the game in Sydney had lured many players to rugby league by promising that an Australian team would make a similar tour to England at the end of the 1908 season. When news spread about how much money the New Zealanders gained, many other players signed up with rugby league.

A week before the Sydney rugby league competition was to begin, a group of fifteen footballers in Newcastle formed a club. The NSWRL took them on provided they agreed to travel to Sydney each Saturday to play. The League paid for their return to Newcastle each Saturday night on an ocean-going steamer that doubled as overnight accommodation.

Meanwhile Baskerville's New Zealand team arrived back from England in time to witness the first round of the premiership held on Easter Monday. Their Australian tour was scheduled to begin with two matches at the Newcastle Show Grounds against the locals on the following Wednesday and Saturday.

The choice was significant as the rugby union hierarchy had not scheduled a visit by a New Zealand side to Newcastle since 1897, and none in the Test playing era after Australia and New Zealand became separate countries. The NSWRL was determined to stake a claim in the growing city.

Rugby league was still an unknown sport in Sydney and Richard Wright, Kiwi captain, was asked to share his opinions of the code: "It abounds in fast, brilliant and open play. Unless a man puts his mind into the game, and is fully trained, he had better leave the game alone." Messenger agreed to keep playing for the Kiwis except for matches against NSW or Australia when he would oppose them. Wright talked enthusiastically about Messenger: "He was the success of the team, the crowds were always asking for Messenger."

Some of the Kiwis went to Wentworth Park on the west-side of the city to watch Newcastle play Glebe. The ‘coaly men' from the north took an early 3-0 lead when winger Bill Bailey scored, but they eventually lost 8-5. The Newcastle team headed home straight after the match to return to work the next morning. Messenger and the New Zealanders left Sydney on the Tuesday evening via the overnight train, even though the first match was the next day.

On the Wednesday morning the Kiwis were officially welcomed by the Mayor of Newcastle, Alderman A. Cook, at the Council Chambers in Watt Street. Baskerville spoke on behalf of his team, while Newcastle captain Stan Carpenter was also present. The locals requested that the first match be played under rugby union rules, apparently to even up their chances. The Kiwis agreed.

Unfortunately when kick-off came Newcastle could only muster 14 players from their limited resources. With the team quickly down 13-0 local rugby union representative player George Cox, who was amongst the crowd of only 400, decided to change codes on the spot and joined the team on the field. The Kiwis won 53-6, with Messenger kicking six goals from as many attempts with "one being a magnificent effort from the touchline". Harold Rowe, an outside back from Auckland, scored three tries for the visitors. Attention then turned to the second match, which would be played under rugby league rules.

The local community was still staunchly in the rugby union camp and gave the new code practically no support. The League was forced to advertise the first game of rugby league in Newcastle in the public notices section of the newspaper alongside theatre events and other amusements. The Show Ground also wasn't the most suitable venue for a football match but it had to do as the rugby union authorities had control of the city's best ground.

Ultimately, only 700 spectators were on hand to see the first game of rugby league in Newcastle. However, it was described as "a good attendance" and in comparison the top rugby union games at the time drew no more than 2000.

Newcastle took the field in red and white hooped jerseys and gave three cheers in response to the Kiwis' war cry. The New Zealanders were playing their first game of rugby league in two months and showed off their newly acquired expertise in the ‘Northern Union' game.

Dally Messenger opened the scoring with a field goal after a Kiwi scrum win to take an early 2-0 lead. New Zealand attacked again through their forwards before Messenger picked up the final pass to score a converted try quickly leaving Newcastle seven points behind. Newcastle had no answers to the visitors who were performing in a "magnificent style". Rowe grabbed another four tries to follow up his work from the earlier match and the Kiwis won 34-8.

Local rugby league gained much from the match. The press reported that the new rules "made it a good deal more interesting than the previous match" and "the differences between the union and the league codes are in favour of the latter, for they all make for pace and attractiveness".

An increasing number of players joined the Newcastle club as a result of the visit of the New Zealanders. A second rugby league match was held in Newcastle a few weeks later when a New Zealand Maori side visited. The NSWRL did not take any club games to Newcastle as it was not confident of attracting crowd numbers (and therefore income) comparable to a Sydney match. To Newcastle's credit they didn't lose their enthusiasm for the game and were encouraged by the selection of Bill Bailey and forward Pat ‘Nimmo' Walsh in the first Kangaroos tour team.

The playing standard of the locals improved markedly in 1909. So much so that when the Kiwis returned for a re-match in mid-1909 they found the going particularly tough, escaping with a 6-3 win. The NSWRL arranged for Newcastle to host a handful of club games at home toward the end of the season. In the final match over 3000 were on hand to witness Newcastle defeat the defending premiers South Sydney.

After the close match with the Kiwis and the win over the Rabbitohs, Newcastle had so many footballers wanting to play rugby league that the club gave up travelling to Sydney each week and decided to form their own district competition.

The game thrived in Newcastle over the following decades and the region remains devoutly behind the game and their Knights. Without the interest created from the visit of the New Zealanders in 1908 it may not have been the same.