List of 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team matches

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Photograph of the Native football team in their uniform of black shorts and jerseys sat in front of the flags of Great Britain and the United Tribes of New Zealand
The New Zealand Natives before their match against Queensland in July 1889, in front of the United Tribes flag and the Union Jack

The 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team played 107 rugby union matches during their 14-month tour of the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. The tour was the longest in rugby history, and the first by a New Zealand team to Europe.[1][2] The team was privately organised by Joe Warbrick,[a] and was originally intended to contain only Māori players. Several non-Māori and a number of non-New Zealand-born players were eventually recruited to strengthen the side.[4] Of their rugby matches, they won 78, lost 23, and drew 6.[1] The team played three internationals: a heavy loss to England, a win over Ireland, and a narrow loss to Wales.[5]

The initial leg of the Native team's journey was a tour of New Zealand, and their first match was a 5–0 victory over

Auckland.[7][8] After stopping in Melbourne on their way to London, they played their first match in England against Surrey on 3 October 1888.[9] The team played 74 matches in the British Isles—with 36 of these in their first three months.[10] Only one match was played in Scotland, against Hawick RFC, and three in Ireland.[1] The intense itinerary of matches continued during the second half of their British Isles leg; this contributed to a high injury rate, and the team struggled to field a full side during much of this time.[11] Despite the injury toll, they won 14 of their last 20 matches in England.[12] While in the British Isles the Natives averaged a game every 2.3 days.[13]

Following their departure from Plymouth in March 1889, the Natives travelled to Melbourne, Australia.[14] There the team played eight Australian rules football (then known as Victorian rules) matches[15] and two rugby games. The team continued their journey to New South Wales and Queensland, where they played mostly rugby. This included playing each state side twice, as well as at least two association football matches. The final leg of the team's trip was another tour of New Zealand—this saw them lose only once, to Auckland in their final game.[16]

Matches played

Notes on scoring:

  • For the rugby matches in the British Isles,
    Victoria, and New Zealand tries scored one point, conversions two points, and penalties and drop goals
    three points.
  • For the rugby matches in New South Wales tries scored three points, conversions two points, and drop goals four points.
  • For the rugby matches in Queensland tries scored two points, conversions three points, and drop goals four points.[17]
  • For Victorian Rules matches the numbers in brackets under points scored states the
    behinds
    (goals/behinds).
  • For Victorian Rules matches the number before the brackets is the score calculated with goals worth six points, and behinds one.

Notes on matches:

  • The match record for the British Isles is considered complete, however the match record of the Victorian Rules and Association football matches in the Australian leg of the tour is a matter of some debate. The list of Victorian Rules matches was compiled by historian Greg Ryan and relied heavily on coverage of the matches in the Melbourne press. The frequency of matches suggests the list is complete.[15][18]

Notes on opposition:

  • As the tour occurred before the 1895 schism of rugby football—where many northern English rugby clubs left the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Union[b]—many of the team's opponents in the British Isles later elected to play rugby league rather than rugby union. The links in the tables below link to those clubs regardless of what code they subsequently played.
  • At least one club, Manningham F.C., has since converted to association football.[19]

Summary

Sheffield Park
in October 1888
Rugby matches
Played in Matches Won Lost Drawn Points for Points against
Britain and Ireland 74 49 20 5 394 188
New Zealand 17 14 3 0 119 51
Australia 16 15 0 1 240 66
Total 107 78 23 6 753 305
Victorian Rules matches
Matches Won Lost Drawn Goals Behinds
9 3 6 0 31 45
Association football matches
Matches Won Lost Drawn For Against
2 0 2 0 5 12

New Zealand and Victoria

Date Opponents Venue For Against
23 June 1888 Hawke's Bay Napier 5 0
30 June 1888 Hawke's Bay Napier 11 0
7 July 1888
Auckland
Auckland 0 9
11 July 1888 Nelson Nelson 9 0
14 July 1888 Wellington Wellington 3 0
21 July 1888 Canterbury Christchurch 5 4
24 July 1888 South Canterbury Timaru 9 0
28 July 1888 Otago Dunedin 0 8
31 July 1888 Otago Dunedin 1 0
11 August 1888
Melbourne
Melbourne 3 0
15 August 1888
Melbourne
Melbourne 1 1
Total 47 22

Source: "Matches played—New Zealand Natives' rugby tour, 1888/89". nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

British Isles

Date Opponents Venue For Against
3 October 1888 Surrey Richmond 4 1
6 October 1888 Northamptonshire Northampton 12 0
10 October 1888 Kent Blackheath 4 1
13 October 1888
Moseley
Moseley 4 6
18 October 1888 Burton-on-Trent
Burton-on-Trent
3 4
20 October 1888 Midland Counties Birmingham 10 0
22 October 1888 Middlesex Fletching[c] 0 9
24 October 1888 Hull Hull 0 1
27 October 1888 Dewsbury Dewsbury 6 0
31 October 1888 Wakefield Trinity Wakefield 0 1
3 November 1888 Northumberland County Newcastle 3 3
5 November 1888 Stockton-on-Tees Stockton 6 1
7 November 1888
Tynemouth
North Shields 7 1
10 November 1888
Halifax Free Wanderers
Halifax 4 13
12 November 1888 Newcastle and District Newcastle 14 0
14 November 1888 Hartlepool Rovers Hartlepool 1 0
17 November 1888 Cumberland County Maryport 10 2
20 November 1888 Carlisle
Carlisle
13 0
22 November 1888 Hawick Hawick 3 1
23 November 1888 East Cumberland
Carlisle
12 0
24 November 1888 Westmorland County Kendal 3 1
26 November 1888 Swinton Swinton 0 2
28 November 1888 Liverpool and District Liverpool 9 0
1 December 1888 Ireland Dublin 13 4
3 December 1888
Trinity College
Dublin 4 4
5 December 1888
North of Ireland
Belfast 2 0
8 December 1888 Lancashire County Manchester 0 1
10 December 1888 Batley Batley 5 5
12 December 1888 Yorkshire County Manningham 10 6
15 December 1888 Broughton Rangers
Broughton
8 0
17 December 1888 Wigan Wigan 5 1
19 December 1888 Llanelli Llanelli 0 3
22 December 1888 Wales Swansea 0 5
24 December 1888 Swansea Swansea 5 0
26 December 1888 Newport Newport 3 0
29 December 1888 Cardiff Cardiff 1 4
1 January 1889
Bradford
Bradford 1 4
3 January 1889 Leeds Parish Church Leeds 6 3
5 January 1889 Kirkstall Kirkstall 7 3
7 January 1889 Brighouse Rangers Brighouse 4 0
9 January 1889 Huddersfield Huddersfield 7 6
12 January 1889 Stockport Stockport 3 3
14 January 1889 Castleford Castleford 3 9
17 January 1889 Warrington Warrington 7 1
19 January 1889 Yorkshire County Wakefield 4 16
23 January 1889 Spen Valley District Cleckheaton 8 7
26 January 1889 Somersetshire County Wellington 17 4
30 January 1889 Devonshire County Exeter 12 0
31 January 1889 Taunton Taunton 8 0
2 February 1889 Gloucestershire County Gloucester 4 1
4 February 1889 Midland Counties Moseley 6 1
6 February 1889
Blackheath Rovers
Blackheath 9 3
9 February 1889 United Services Portsmouth 10 0
16 February 1889 England Blackheath 0 7
18 February 1889 London Welsh Richmond 2 1
19 February 1889 Cambridge University Cambridge 3 7
21 February 1889 Oxford University Oxford 0 6
23 February 1889 Manningham Manningham 4 0
25 February 1889 St. John's, Leeds Leeds 9 0
27 February 1889
Leigh
Leigh 1 4
2 March 1889 Runcorn Runcorn 8 3
4 March 1889 Oldham Oldham 0 6
5 March 1889
Halifax Free Wanderers
Halifax 6 0
7 March 1889 Barrow and District Barrow 0 3
9 March 1889 Widnes Widnes 8 1
11 March 1889 Manchester Manchester 7 1
13 March 1889 Walkden Walkden 6 1
14 March 1889 St. Helens St. Helens 9 0
16 March 1889 Salford Salford 7 1
18 March 1889 Rochdale Hornets Rochdale 10 0
20 March 1889 York York 4 3
23 March 1889 Hull Hull 1 1
25 March 1889 Widnes Widnes 6 1
27 March 1889 Southern Counties Leyton 3 1
Total 394 188

Source: (Ryan 1993, p. 143)

Australia

Date Opponents Venue For Against
24 May 1889
Melbourne
Melbourne 14 6
31 May 1889 Navy Team XVIII Melbourne 13 6
11 June 1889
Victoria
Melbourne 19 0
15 June 1889 New South Wales Sydney 12 9
17 June 1889
University of Sydney
Sydney 17 7
19 June 1889 Parramatta Club and King's School XVIII Sydney 21 0
22 June 1889 New South Wales Sydney 16 12
25 June 1889 Arfoma Sydney 27 3
28 June 1889 Permanent Artillery XVIII Sydney 32 10
15 July 1889 Queensland Brisbane 22 0
17 July 1889 Toowoomba XVI Toowoomba 16 0
19 July 1889 Ipswich Ipswich 17 5
22 July 1889 Queensland Brisbane 11 7
24 July 1889 Toowoomba XVI Toowoomba 19 0
Total 236 65

Source: "Matches played – New Zealand Natives' rugby tour, 1888/89". nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

New Zealand

Date Opponents Venue For Against
7 August 1889
Southland
Invercargill 5 1
8 August 1889 Mataura District XVI Gore 16 3
10 August 1889 Otago Dunedin 11 8
15 August 1889 Hawke's Bay Christchurch 13 2
17 August 1889 Canterbury Christchurch 15 0
19 August 1889 Wairarapa Masterton 10 8
20 August 1889 Wellington Wellington 4 1
24 August 1889
Auckland
Auckland 2 7
Total 76 30

Source: "Matches played—New Zealand Natives' rugby tour, 1888/89". nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

Victorian Rules in Australia

Date Opponents Venue For Against
15 May 1889 Maryborough Maryborough 8 (1/2) 45 (6/9)
18 May 1889 Ballarat Ballarat 4 (0/4) 26 (4/2)
25 May 1889 Carlton Melbourne 16 (2/4) 94 (13/16)
28 May 1889 Wanderers Melbourne 71 (10/11) 15 (2/3)
30 May 1889 South Melbourne Melbourne 40 (6/4) 37 (4/13)
1 June 1889 St Kilda Melbourne 12 (1/6) 43 (6/7)
6 June 1889 Daylesford Daylesford 16 (2/4) 11 (1/5)
8 June 1889 Essendon Melbourne 35 (5/5) 80 (11/14)
29 June 1889
New South Wales
Sydney 29 (4/5) 34 (4/10)
Total 231 (31/45) 385 (51/79)

Source: "Matches played—New Zealand Natives' rugby tour, 1888/89". nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved 1 June 2013.

Association football in Australia

Date Opponents Venue For Against
July 1889[d] Northumberland Maitland, New South Wales 3 6
July 1889[d] Newcastle Newcastle, New South Wales 2 6
Total 5 12

Source: "Matches played – New Zealand Natives' rugby tour, 1888/89". nzhistory.net.nz. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

Notes

  1. ^ The tour was not organised under the authority of any provincial or national unions such as the Rugby Football Union.[3]
  2. ^ The Northern Union was the predecessor of the Rugby Football League.
  3. Sheffield Park.[20]
  4. ^ a b Exact date is unknown.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c 2008 Inductee: J Warbrick ...
  2. ^ Mulholland 2009, p. 6.
  3. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 12.
  4. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 27.
  5. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 9.
  6. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 32.
  7. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 33.
  8. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 42.
  9. ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 43–45.
  10. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 67.
  11. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 69.
  12. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 96.
  13. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 121.
  14. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 106.
  15. ^ a b Ryan 1993, p. 144.
  16. ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 116–117.
  17. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 148.
  18. ^ Ryan 1993, p. 141.
  19. ^ Frost 1988, pp. 11–13.
  20. ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 47–49.
  21. ^ Matches played.

Sources