Thomas Ellison
Te Matenga Taiaroa (great-grandfather) (great-grandnephew) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Ethel May Howell (m. 1899) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Occupation(s) | Lawyer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison (11 November 1867 – 2 October 1904), also known as Tom Ellison or Tamati Erihana, was a New Zealand
Born in
As well as being one of the first Māori
Early life
Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison was born in Ōtākou at Otago Heads, to Raniera Taheke Ellison and Nani Weller, the 11 November 1867. He was named after his paternal grandfather, and his middle name, Rangiwahia, was given in honour of his great-uncle. Ellison was Māori: of Ngāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe tribal heritage through his mother, and of Te Āti Awa heritage through his father.[1] Introduced to rugby at the age of around 14 by his cousins at Ōtākou,[2] Ellison later wrote of his first game:
... we were all there for a game, and immediately started on that poor, unprotected ball (which, by the way, consisted of the bladder only). What our main object was I cannot say, but mine was to see more of that ball, and to know more about football, and, before the game was over, which did not last long, I did see more of the ball, as I ripped it in the first scrum; but my other object remained unsatisfied.[3]
After completing his education at Ōtākou Native School,
After moving to Wellington, Ellison joined the Poneke Football Club in 1885. The Poneke team played junior club rugby at the time, but were promoted to the senior competition after winning all their matches that year.[6] Following their promotion the side won the Wellington club championship each year from 1886 to 1889.[6][7] Ellison was selected to play for the Wellington provincial team in 1885,[1] and continued to be selected for Wellington until 1892.[8] He eventually earned 23 caps—a large number for the time.[4][9] Initially Ellison played as a forward or on the wing, but later played half-back.[1]
New Zealand Native football team
In early 1888 Joe Warbrick attempted to organise a private party of Māori players to tour Great Britain—later known as the New Zealand Native football team. A cousin of Ellison's, Jack Taiaroa, who had toured with the New Zealand team that travelled to New South Wales in 1884, helped Warbrick recruit players for his proposed tour. It was most likely because of Taiaroa that Ellison was persuaded to join Warbrick's Natives team.[4] Warbrick eventually assembled a side that included both Māori and non-Māori New Zealand-born players, and several players born overseas.[a] The final team consisted of 26 players, and toured New Zealand before departing to Melbourne. They then toured Great Britain, Australia, and finally New Zealand again—the trip lasted 14 months. Ellison played mostly as a forward throughout the tour, and played at least 83 of the team's 107 matches; including a minimum of 58 in Britain.[11][b]
Ellison played all of the Natives' three internationals—against
One of the most notable events of the Natives' tour occurred during the match against England at
The team was generally very well received outside London, and especially in north, where rugby was dominated by the working-class.[27] Reaction to the team in the south, where the public school establishment controlled the game, was less positive, and the sportsmanship of the team was criticised.[28] Despite this, Ellison clearly enjoyed the experience of touring with the team, and in 1902 he wrote—"I shall never forget the trip, notwithstanding the extremely heavy programme of fixtures we had to go through. Perhaps the most delightful part of our experiences was tasted not so much on the field of play as off it".[3]
Thomas Eyton, one of the promoters of the tour, said of Ellison's contribution—"His knowledge of the finer points of the game, his weight, strength and activity rendered his services invaluable."[11] Ellison participated in most of the Natives' matches, scoring 113 points, and 43 tries on tour; this included 23 tries in Britain and Ireland, four in New South Wales, five in Queensland, and ten in New Zealand.[1][29]
Wing-forward
After completion of the tour, Ellison continued to play for Poneke and Wellington. While playing with his club, Ellison implemented the use of a wing-forward and seven-man scrum positional system.[e] It is not known exactly who invented the position of wing-forward, but Ellison claimed in The Art of Rugby Football that he had developed it;[31] historian Greg Ryan claims the position was developed in northern England, and that Ellison only refined it after discovering it during the Natives' tour.[32] The distinctive feature of wing-forward play was their role of feeding the ball into the scrum, and subsequently holding onto one of the hookers while the ball progressed through the scrum to the half-back.[f] With the wing-forward bound to the side of the scrum, the opposing half-back would then have to manoeuvre past them to tackle the player with the ball; this would increase the amount of time the half-back would have in possession of the ball before their opposite could tackle them.[30] Ellison claimed that he devised the position while playing for Poneke after he "found it impossible for the smartest of referees to detect and amply penalize off-side interferences of opponents bent on spoiling my passes".[33]
Regardless of the origins of the position, Ellison was instrumental in promoting its adoption throughout New Zealand.[11] Although it is unclear whether the wing-forward was used during the 1893 tour of Australia, by the time of the All Blacks' first test match, played during their 1903 Australian tour, the position was engrained within the New Zealand style of play.[34] The use of a wing-forward provoked controversy both in New Zealand, and later in the British Isles after the All Blacks toured there in 1905; wing-forwards were often accused of off-side obstruction of the opposition half-back.[32][35] According to Ellison however, if the position was implemented properly, then there would be no cause for complaint.[32] The wing-forward continued as a vital component of New Zealand rugby until long-standing complaints from the unions of the Home Nations resulted in the position being outlawed by the International Rugby Football Board in 1932.[36][g]
Later rugby career
In 1892, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU—later renamed New Zealand Rugby Union) was formed by the majority of New Zealand's provincial rugby unions. Ellison was a Wellington provincial administrator, and in 1893 at the inaugural NZRFU annual general meeting proposed the playing strip for the first officially sanctioned New Zealand side—black cap, black jersey with white fern, white knickerbockers and black stockings.[1][25] The white knickerbockers were eventually replaced with black shorts, and the uniform itself was based upon that worn by the Native team Ellison had toured with.[1] The black uniform inspired the moniker All Blacks—a name which has been adopted by the New Zealand national team since their 1905–06 Northern Hemisphere tour.[38][h]
The first NZRFU sanctioned New Zealand team was formed to tour New South Wales and Queensland in 1893, and Ellison was selected as their captain.[1] Three other members of the New Zealand Natives' team were also selected for the side.[41] Ellison played seven matches on the tour, including matches against New South Wales and Queensland. The team won ten of their eleven matches—the one loss being to New South Wales in Sydney.[5] In addition to scoring two tries, Ellison kicked six conversions and a goal from a mark to give him 23 points for the tour—the second highest of any player.[42][43][44] The tour was the end of his participation in the sport as a player.[4]
Ellison's complete playing record comprised 117 matches, 68 of which were first-class games.[i] He scored a total of 160 career points, including 51 tries.[1] Ellison continued involvement with rugby as a provincial administrator, provincial referee, and manager.[11] As an administrator, he proposed that players be financially compensated for wages missed while on long tours; this was in 1898—nearly a century before rugby relinquished its amateur status.[1][j] This proposal applied specifically to tours that travelled outside New Zealand; writing at the time regarding the amateur regulations, Ellison said "I think that these laws were never intended to apply to extended tours abroad."[47] In 1902 he published The Art of Rugby Football, a coaching manual on rugby that also included accounts of his experiences as a player. According to journalist Hayden Meikle the book was one of rugby's "pioneering texts",[48] while Greg Ryan wrote that the book "remains a classic work on early rugby strategy."[11]
Professional and personal life
Outside of his involvement in rugby, Ellison was a lawyer, and was one of the first Māori admitted to the bar. He practised as an interpreter for the Land Courts and as a solicitor; later, he worked as a barrister in the practices of Brandon & Hislop in Wellington. Ellison was also involved in politics, and stood unsuccessfully for the
Ellison's influence on New Zealand rugby is such that Māori researcher Malcolm Mulholland stated he was "arguably the player who contributed the most to New Zealand rugby".[41] In 1916, when discussing the question of the greatest player New Zealand had produced, the pseudonymous "Touchline" wrote:[l] "I am prepared to say that the late T. R. Ellison... was the greatest of them all."[50] He went on to say:
When occasion demanded, T R. Ellison could take a place among the backs—half or three-quarter—and was a fine coach. He could not only plan out great, deep, wily, and pretty schemes, but personally carry them through to triumphant execution. He could take his place in the front of a scrummage, and hook the ball with the best of them; his tremendous strength enabled him to burst through a pack, and then, when he was clear of the wreckage, and was well in the open, he was a perfect demon.[50]
Ellison has been inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame,[49] and in 2005 was listed as one of New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers.[51] The New Zealand Native Football team was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame (then the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame) in 2008, the first side awarded the honour.[52]
See also
Notes
- ^ The original intention was that the team consist of only Māori players, however Warbrick was forced to include several non-Māori in order to strengthen the side.[10]
- ^ The team lists for eleven of the matches on tour are either incomplete or non-existent. Therefore, the figure of 83 appearances in total, and 58 in Britain, is only a minimum value.[12]
- ^ Ireland defeated Wales by two tries to nil in the 1889 Home Nations Championship.[19]
- ^ This stemmed from a disagreement with Scotland over a try scored during their 1884 match. The other Home Nations refused to play against England until they joined the International Board.[22] Eventually England relented after arbitration by the president of the Football Association in 1890.[23]
- ^ The seven–man scrum consisted of two front-rowers (hookers), three second-rowers, and two back-rowers—known as the 2–3–2 system. This is compared to the modern 3–4–1 system.[30]
- ^ Under this scrum configuration there were no props, but instead two hookers.[30]
- ^ At this time the International Rugby Football Board consisted only of representatives from the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh unions, and did not have a representative from New Zealand.[37]
- ^ Another theory is that the name All Blacks came from a printing error of "all backs" during the 1905–06 tour, however this is unlikely.[38] The name probably existed prior to 1905, but the Northern Hemisphere tour did popularise it.[39][40]
- ^ The definition of a first-class match can vary. First-class status is awarded at the discretion of the NZRU. According to the 2012 NZRU Competitions and Regulations Handbook such status is automatically applied to various fixtures, including: senior national representative matches, provincial competition matches, Ranfurly Shield matches, and fixtures involving tours by visiting national teams, as well as "Such other matches as the NZRU Board may from time to time determine".[45]
- ^ In 1995, the International Rugby Board changed their laws to allow professionalism.[46]
- ^ It was common for tuberculosis sufferers to be treated in mental asylums at this time.
- ^ Although pseudonymous, "Touchline" claimed to have "an intimate acquaintance with the playing of Rugby in New Zealand", and to have "been through the whole gamut—as player, referee, secretary of Rugby Unions, manager of travelling teams, and football critic".[50]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Anderson 2012.
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 15.
- ^ a b Otago Witness.
- ^ a b c d Ryan 1993, p. 133.
- ^ a b Luxford.
- ^ a b c McLean 1987, p. 16.
- ^ Club Championship 1880–2017.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 24.
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 23.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d e f Ryan 1993, p. 134.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 145.
- ^ Swansea.
- ^ a b c Auckland Star.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 71.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 74.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 75.
- ^ Wales v Ireland.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 77–78.
- ^ Te Aroha News.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 82.
- ^ a b c Ryan 1993, p. 83.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 82–83.
- ^ a b Mulholland 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Ryan 1993, p. 84.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Ryan 1993, pp. 146–148.
- ^ a b c Elliott 2012, p. 40.
- ^ Elliott 2012, pp. 40–41.
- ^ a b c Ryan 2011, p. 1411.
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 41.
- ^ Elliott 2012, pp. 41–44.
- ^ Elliott 2012, p. 44.
- ^ Ryan 2011, p. 1410.
- ^ Ryan 2011, p. 1422.
- ^ a b All Blacks—The Name?.
- ^ Sunday News.
- ^ All Blacks' 'non-try'.
- ^ a b Mulholland 2009, p. 12.
- ^ Meikle 2011.
- ^ in New South Wales...
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 22.
- ^ Competitions and Regulations Handbook, p. 70.
- ^ McIlraith 2005, p. 30.
- ^ McLean 1987, p. 12.
- ^ Meikle 2011: "wrote The Art of Rugby Football, one of the sport's pioneering texts."
- ^ a b c Mulholland 2009, p. 13.
- ^ a b c Touchline 1916.
- ^ 100 History Makers.
- ^ 2008 Inductee.
Sources
Books and articles
- Competition Regulations Handbook (PDF). New Zealand Rugby Union. 2012. Archived from the original(PDF) on 8 April 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- Elliott, Matt (2012). Dave Gallaher—The Original All Black Captain. Auckland, New Zealand: HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978-1-86950-968-2.
- McIlraith, Matt (2005). Ten Years of Super 12. Auckland, New Zealand: Hachette Livre NZ. ISBN 1-86971-025-8.
- ISBN 0-908570-15-5.
- Mulholland, Malcolm (2009). Beneath the Māori Moon—An Illustrated History of Māori Rugby. Wellington, New Zealand: Huia Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86969-305-3.
- Romanos, Joseph (2005). New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers. Wellington, NZ: Trio. ISBN 0958245568.
- Ryan, Greg (1993). Forerunners of the All Blacks. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press. ISBN 0-908812-30-2.
- Ryan, Greg (2011). "A Tale of Two Dinners: New Zealand Rugby and the Embrace of Empire, 1919–32". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 28 (10). Routledge: 1409–1425. S2CID 144270919.
News
- "Death of Tom Ellison". Otago Witness. 5 October 1904. p. 56. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- Meikle, Hayden (3 October 2011). "Greatest moments in Otago sport—Number 36". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- "The New Zealand Football Team —Details of Matches and Tour". Auckland Star. 23 January 1889. p. 5. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- "The New Zealand Footballers". Te Aroha News. 9 February 1889. p. 6. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- Touchline (28 July 1916). "The Greatest Player". The New Zealand Free Lance. Wellington. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- "Truth behind All Blacks myth". Sunday News. 28 June 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
Web
- "2008 Inductee: J Warbrick & 1888 Natives Team". irb.com. 23 November 2008. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- "All Blacks' 'non-try' hands Wales historic win". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- "All Blacks—The Name?". New Zealand Rugby Museum. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- Anderson, Atholl. "Ellison, Thomas Rangiwāhia". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- "in New South Wales and Queensland". stats.allblacks.com. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- Luxford, Bob. "Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison". New Zealand Rugby Museum. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- "New Zealand Natives tour—Swansea, 22 December 1888: Wales 1G – 0G New Zealand Natives". espnscrum.com. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- "Wales v Ireland at Swansea, Mar 2, 1889". espnscrum.com. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- "Wellington club rugby championship winners 1880–2017". Club Rugby. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
External links
- Media related to Thomas Ellison at Wikimedia Commons
- "Tom Ellison". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2013.