Billy Stead
Birth name | John William Stead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 18 September 1877 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 21 July 1958 | (aged 80)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Bluff, Southland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 64 kg (141 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Southland Boys' High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable relative(s) | John Stead (father) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Bootmaker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Billy Stead, born John William Stead, (18 September 1877 – 21 July 1958) was a
Early rugby career
Billy Stead was born in
Provincial and international selection
Stead first played representative rugby for Southland in 1896. He was only 18 at the time, and continued to play for the province until 1908; eventually racking up 52 matches for the side.
Dave Gallaher was named as the tour captain, with Stead as vice-captain.
Stead participated in 29 of the Originals' matches, and although he only scored 11 tries for the team, his ability to set up tries for other players was vital.[3] Jimmy Hunter, who scored 44 tries on tour, said to him at the Originals' 50-year reunion, "Without you I was nothing".[3] Stead was considered a master tactician, and him missing the teams' Wales Test was considered a major factor in their only loss.[3][10]
Before the New Zealand squad left Britain, English publisher Henry Leach asked Stead and Gallaher to author a book on rugby tactics and play.[11] They finished the task in under a fortnight and were each paid £50. Entitled The Complete Rugby Footballer, the book was 322 pages long and included chapters on tactics and play, as well as a summary of rugby's history in New Zealand including the 1905 tour.[12] It was mainly authored by Stead, a bootmaker, with Gallaher contributing most of the diagrams.[13] Gallaher almost certainly made some contributions to the text, including sections on Auckland club rugby, and on forward play.[14] The book showed the All Blacks' tactics and planning to be superior to others of the time,[15] and according to Matt Elliott is "marvellously astute";[16] it received universal acclaim on its publication.[17] According to a 2011 assessment by ESPN's Graham Jenkins, it "remains one of the most influential books produced in the realms of rugby literature".[18]
After the Originals' tour, Stead's next All Blacks' match was not until 1908 when he captained them twice against the
Following the 1908 season, Stead went into semi-retirement, but was persuaded to play for the
In retirement
After his retirement, Stead continued to be involved in rugby as an administrator and coach. In 1921 he coached the All Blacks in two of their Tests against South Africa.[3] Stead also coached the New Zealand Māori, as well as writing for the Southland Times and New Zealand Truth.
Notes
- ^ The All Blacks were not known as such until 1905.
References
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 51.
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Knight, Lindsay. "Billy Stead". New Zealand Rugby Museum. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ a b Ryan 2005, p. 196.
- ^ "The 1905/06 'Originals'". New Zealand Rugby Museum. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ Tobin 2005, p. 24.
- ^ a b Ryan 2005, p. 63.
- ^ Ryan 2005, p. 64.
- ^ "Who gets a 10 out of 10 at first five-eighths?". The New Zealand Herald. 10 November 2006. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Hewitt, Chris (3 November 2005). "The All Blacks: 100 years of attitude". The independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 205.
- ^ Elliott 2012, pp. 207–208.
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 206.
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 208.
- ^ Dave Gallaher (NZRU).
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 210.
- ^ Elliott 2012, pp. 211–213.
- ^ Jenkins 2011.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, p. 26.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, p. 27.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, p. 23.
- ^ Mulholland 2009, p. 34.
- ^ "Māori rugby timeline". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 20 December 2012. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
Bibliography
- Elliott, Matt (2012). Dave Gallaher—The Original All Black Captain (paperback). London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-1-86950-968-2.
- ISBN 0-908570-15-5.
- Mulholland, Malcolm (2009). Beneath the Māori Moon—An Illustrated History of Māori Rugby. Huia Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86969-305-3.
- Ryan, Greg (2005). The Contest for Rugby Supremacy—Accounting for the 1905 All Blacks. Canterbury University Press. ISBN 1-877257-36-2.
- Tobin, Christopher (2005). The Original All Blacks 1905–06. Auckland, New Zealand: Hodder Moa Beckett. ISBN 1-86958-995-5.
- "Dave Gallaher". allblacks.com. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- Jenkins, Graham (25 September 2011). "Rucking all over the world". ESPN. Retrieved 8 October 2014.