The 1926 season of the Auckland Rugby League was its 17th.
Ponsonby won the Monteith Shield, the major first grade title after defeating City Rovers in the final. Richmond won their first ever senior trophy when they won the Roope Rooster. On the last week of the season these teams met for the Stormont Shield with Ponsonby winning by 15 points to 5 over. Northcote won the B Division championship, with Kingsland winning the Stallard Cup for taking out the B division knockout competition. The representative season was dominated by a long series of trial matches to assist in selecting the New Zealand team to tour England.
Auckland Rugby League News Club teams by grade participation Team1stB Div.2nd3rd Open3rd Int.4th5th6th A6th BSchoolsTotalRichmond Rovers10101111118Grafton Athletic10110111107City Rovers10100102106Ponsonby United10110110005Devonport United10111010005Otahuhu Rovers01100101015Ellerslie United01010110004Newton Rangers10101100004Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers01010011004Māngere United01111000004Parnell01001100014Kingsland Rovers01101000003Marist Old Boys10100100003Point Chevalier00100100103Glen Eden Rovers00011000002New Lynn00010100002United Suburbs00011000002Akarana00000001102Grey Lynn Schoolboys00000000011Newmarket Schoolboys00000000011Papatoetoe Schoolboys00000000011Total76119811675676
Athletic club name change At the annual general meeting of the Athletic Rugby League Football Club the idea of adopting the name of Grafton Athletic was discussed though no decision was made at the time it was later agreed to change the club name to Grafton. They were known as 'Maritime' from their formation in 1918 and remained as such for four years until the start of the 1922 season when they changed their name to Athletic. They remained 'Athletic' for four years until deciding to change their name again in this 1926 season to Grafton Athletic. There had previously already been a Grafton Athletic club which formed in 1914 under the leadership of Karl Ifwersen and they survived for seven years until the 1920 season which was their last after Ifwersen switched back to the rugby code.
Glen Eden Rovers The Glen Eden Rovers club formed to represent the Glen Eden suburb in West Auckland. At the time it was a predominantly rural area marked by the train station and Waikumete Cemetery. They existed as a stand alone club from 1926 to 1928 before merging with New Lynn League Football Club in 1929 to be named Glen Lynn. In 1932 the merged club did not field any teams, then in 1932 the New Lynn club reformed while a new club had formed in Glen Eden named Glenora representing Glen Eden and neighbouring Oratia area in 1931. The New Lynn club folded once more 2 years later leaving Glenora to be the only club in the area until 1967 when the present day New Lynn Stags club formed.
Senior competitions Nominations were received for 13 teams to compete in the Senior Grade. It was decided to have an A section and a B section like the 1925 season. In the A section competing for the Monteith Shield would be the same 7 teams as the previous year. They were Ponsonby United, City Rovers, Marist Old Boys, Devonport United, Richmond Rovers, Newton Rangers, and Grafton Athletic (previously named 'Maritime' from 1918–21 and then Athletic from 1922–25). The same 5 teams would compete in the B section with the addition of Parnell. The teams in that section were Northcote, Kingsland, Ellerslie, Mangere (not the present day club), Otahuhu, and Parnell.
Jim Parkes who had moved to Auckland and begun playing for Richmond was also to coach the side. With the Monteith Shield competition nearing its later stages L Taylor joined the Richmond club from the Whitiora club in Hamilton. He scored 54 points in just 6 games for Richmond which meant he finished as the second highest scorer for the season behind Maurice Wetherill. During the season the New Zealand team was chosen to tour England and many clubs were hard hit by player losses to the tour. Wetherill was almost a certainty to make the tour but was unavailable to tour. He remained with his City Rovers team who qualified for the final with Ponsonby United but could not lead them to the title.
Carlaw Park Albert Asher the well known former New Zealand international was appointed to work on the ground staff at Carlaw Park. He would be busy mid season when torrential rain leading up to the round 5 matches forced their abandonment. A large hole opened up on the number one field due to water overflowing from the railway embankment and the surrounding hills overwhelmed the surface drains. "As a result, the water forced its way back, emerging from a joint in the main pipe. The ground for some feet around was raised and, when it subsided, an open hole was revealed". It took several days to repair the playing area which was open again for the following weekend. In December proposed plans for Carlaw Park's redevelopment were released though they were not carried out as shown in the image. The image showed the terraces becoming a large multilevel stand with a terrace type stand where the railway stand was at the time.
Representative program A large number of representative and trial matches were played on Carlaw Park during the course of the season. The New Zealand team was to tour England later in the year and so several trial matches were played including Auckland v South Auckland, North Island v South Island, A v B team matches, a 'probables' v 'possibles' game, Auckland v The Rest of New Zealand, and ultimately after the team had been selected Auckland played them before they departed. Then near the end of the season Auckland defended the Northern Union Challenge Cup 3 times against Otago, Canterbury, and South Auckland (Waikato). The season was then concluded with an Auckland Colts match against the B Division representative side.
The Auckland members of the New Zealand team to tour England were:Craddock Dufty (Grafton), Charles Gregory (Marist), George Gardiner (Ponsonby), Jim Parkes (Richmond), Lou Brown (City), Ben Davidson (City), Jack Kirwan (Marist), Hec Brisbane (Marist), Hector Cole (Ponsonby), Stan Webb (Devonport), Frank Delgrosso (Ponsonby), Ernie Herring (Grafton), Arthur Singe (Marist), Bert Avery (Grafton). Avery was to captain the touring side.
During the tour 7 players went on strike due to a large number of issues they had with the management of the tour and upon their return the New Zealand Rugby League administration banned each of them for life. The only Aucklander to be among the strikers banned was Arthur Singe, the Marist Old Boys hooker. He had joined them after switching from rugby in 1921 where he had represented the New Zealand Army team in 1919 on their British and South African tours and Auckland in 8 matches. He played 48 times for Marist, 15 times for Auckland and made 8 appearances for New Zealand before his ban. The ban was eventually lifted by the New Zealand Rugby League in 1962, 26 years after his death in 1936.
Obituary Robert Alexander Bovaird On 30 December 1925 Robert (Bert) Alexander Bovaird died at the age of 34. He was the secretary of the Auckland Rugby League Referees association for the past 3 years and had refereed for several years including at senior level after previously being a player. He was "a very painstaking and obliging official, and carried out his duties with credit and satisfaction". He had owned a general store on Great North Road at Morningside and his body was found in the Auckland Domain in the morning after he had died of a self inflicted gun shot wound. The representatives of the Referees Association acted as pall-bearers at the request of relatives. He left behind a wife, Valerie Bovaird (nee. Tattersall), and an 8 year old daughter (Audrey).
Monteith Shield (first grade championship) On 22 May all A and B division matches were postponed due to poor weather. Carlaw Park also suffered damage when water overflowed from the railway embankment and adjoining hills which proved too much for the surface drains. It caused the ground to subside and a hole to open up which would take some time to repair.
Monteith Shield standings With 1 round remaining Ponsonby was on 18 competition points and City were on 20 competition points. City had a bye and Ponsonby were due to play Grafton however owing to the likely outcome of Ponsonby defeating Grafton Athletic (who were last) which would mean the two teams would be tied on points the ARL decided to have Ponsonby and City playoff for the title instead. This was a regular method of deciding the title winners through this era and had happened in 1911, 1914, 1915, 1923, and 1924. Ponsonby won 13–8 and the result is included in the standings.
TeamPldWDLFAPtsPonsonby United12100225615320City Rovers13100327916820Marist Old Boys1170416714414Devonport United1150622314910Richmond Rovers113081421766Newton Rangers113081853056Grafton Athletic112091122694
Monteith Shield fixtures In Round 12 new rules were introduced regarding the play the ball, mirroring rules adopted by the New South Wales Rugby League which made the games more open but it was stated in The New Zealand Herald that "it is evident the players will need more schooling to make the interpretation of this rule more effective. In the match between Ponsonby and Richmond every advantage was taken of the referee's awkward position, and some very unfair tactics were adopted in securing the ball from the ruck".
Round 1 In the match between Ponsonby and Devonport Lyall Stewart went off after 20 minutes with an injury but was able to be replaced, later Julius Laing fractured his ankle while Charles Webb also went off injured during the second half leaving Devonport with just 11 players. Thomas Richards, their fullback also received a compound fracture of the middle finger and was taken to hospital. Neville St George was also injured during the match and missed several games. New Zealand single skulls rowing champion of 1923, 1924, 1926, and 1927 William Stevenson debuted for Richmond. During the season he quit playing for them as he was worried that playing rugby league might affect his amateur status in rowing despite the fact that players were not paid as such for playing rugby league in New Zealand. Alf Scott scored a try for Devonport. In the recently completed 1925/26 cricket season he made his first class debut for Auckland.
Round 2 Hec Brisbane broke his collarbone in Marist's win over Grafton. The Marist team was captained by Jack Kirwan for the first time after long serving captain, Billy Ghent had transferred to the City club.
Round 3 Ponsonby's win over Newton in this round was a club milestone, being their 100th first grade win. In their 17th season and 163rd match they became the second club in Auckland to do this after City Rovers achieved the feat 2 seasons earlier.
Round 4 In the match between Newton Rangers and Richmond Rovers, flying winger Roy Hardgrave was thought to have broken his collarbone and was stretchered from the field. However it was later found that he had just received a kick to the shoulder after trying to stop a Richmond forward rush. Hardgrave was in his third season for Newton and in 1928 he would gain selection to the New Zealand side against England. His performances would gain the attention of the English management and in 1929 he signed with St Helens, going on to play 214 matches for them, scoring 174 tries. He returned to New Zealand briefly in 1934 but then went back to England, signing for York. In 1938 he returned once more and joined the young Mount Albert club, playing 22 games and scoring 19 tries as a 32 year old. In the same round Lou Brown scored 2 tries in City's 15-0 win over Marist. Brown was New Zealand's most prolific try scorer in its formative decades scoring around 300 tries in approximately 400 games in New Zealand, England, and France.
Round 5