Wellington?s champion club teams: Part 1

Above: Rugby at Newtown Park? in 1882, where much of Wellington’s early rugby was played. Photo courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

From the beginning of competitions to right up to the present day, we’ve chosen 25 of the most noteworthy or memorable Wellington club rugby Senior/Premier championship winning teams, Here’s the stories of five club teams that stood out in the early years in the capital.

Poneke 1889

Played 9.Won 7.Lost 0.Drew 2.Points for 63. Points against 15
The first dominant team in Wellington club rugby was the Poneke team of the late 1880s. Formed in 1883 by Sid ‘Daddy’ Nicholls, who two years later helped start the Petone club, Poneke won four consecutive Wellington club rugby championships between 1886-89 and supplied the bulk of the players to the Wellington representative team. In these years they lost just four games out of 36 and in 1888 they didn’t concede a point in 10 matches.

The following year, 1889, they successfully defended their title without three of their best players, including legends of the time Thomas Ellison and Davy Gage who were on tour in England with the New Zealand Native team. Ellison, in particular, was one of the original superstars of Wellington rugby and in 1893 he became the first of six Poneke players to captain the All Blacks. As well as cleaning up in Wellington in 1889, Poneke went on tour and defeated the champion teams of Nelson (The Prince Alberts), Napier (Pirates) and Auckland (Ponsonby).

Poneke beat its previous record by supplying 13 representative players to the Wellington team later in the season. Their title streak ended the following year in 1890 when they lost consecutive matches to rivals Melrose and Athletic.

Athletic 1891

Played 11.Won 7.Lost 4.Points for 39. Points against 20
Athletic, the second club formed in Wellington, had the distinction of winning the inaugural Wellington and Wairarapa senior championship in 1882, beating Greytown in the final at the Basin Reserve. They were champions again in 1884, but for the next seven years Athletic’s record was poor and they found themselves at a low ebb in 1890 when they won just three of 17 matches.

With first round losses to both Wellington and Poneke there was little to suggest that 1891 would be much better. But in a classic case of backs-to-the-wall fighting spirit, Athletic turned their fortunes around and won all their second round matches and were crowned champions for a third time. Mr H.D. Bell, the then club President, presented each member of the team with a gold medal to commemorate the victory.

Post-season, Athletic played Otago champions Alhambra, who had beaten the Southland (Star) and Canterbury (Merivale) winners and who were considered a crack team of the time. They lost narrowly by 4 points to 3.

Athletic had been founded by Colonel George Campbell in 1877, with the assistance of Wellington FC founder Captain JCR Isherwood. Col Campbell was their playing captain during this time and later their President from 1901 until his death in 1937 just a few weeks before the club’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He also helped found Athletic Park and served as President of both the WRFU and the NZRFU.

Melrose 1898

Played 10.Won 9.Lost 1.Points for 111. Points against 23
The Melrose club started life as a junior (Colts) grade club in 1886 at a meeting held in Revans St in Miramar and one of the great but now mostly forgotten clubs was born. In a dominant run from 1896-1908, Melrose won six senior championships. In 1898 they won their third consecutive title, and in so doing they won outright the ‘Juno Tobacco Shield’which was retired from competition.

The success of these early Melrose sides was based upon a dominant forward pack that was led by 1903-07 All Black flanker Jack Spencer, who would later in the 1898 season debut for Wellington aged just 17. Jack was the youngest of five Spencer brothers who played for Melrose during the early years of the twentieth century; George, Walter and Bill all represented Wellington, with George going on to be the All Black fullback in 1907 on their Australian tour.

Other notable Melrose players included Joe Calnan and William Hardcastle who were in the 1897 New Zealand Native team that toured Australia.

In 1898 when they won their third straight title, the Melrose club was rocked by the death of its President and Newtown School Headmaster Mr C. Hulke.

Wellington FC 1901

Played 12. Won 10. Drew 2. Points for 168. Points against 65
Wellington’s oldest club was far from the best performing one in the early years of the Wellington club rugby championship, frequently upstaged by city rivals Poneke, Melrose and Athletic, and Hutt club Petone. In the two decades up to 1901 Wellington FC had only been crowned champions twice, in 1885 and 1890.

After several lean years, Wellington finished runners-up in 1900. They picked up where they left off in 1901, earning their first unbeaten season since club records began in 1878 (apart from 1891 when they only took the field in one game). The success of this side was credited to their superior fitness and their training ethic, with coach Charles Rees being a former champion amateur athlete.This team provided a third of the 1901 Wellington representative team.

Key players included their halfback-first five-eighth pairing of V.R Meredith and M.E (Morrie) Wood. Wood made his All Blacks debut later in the season against the Wellington representative team at Athletic Park and went on to play two Tests. He also played for both Canterbury and Auckland.

Petone 1907

Played 12.Won 9.Lost 1.Drew 2.Points for 171. Points against 49
1907 was a triumph for the entire Petone club, not just its top team. Five Petone teams entered into the Wellington competition and all five finished clear winners of their respective championships. In all, these teams played 57 games and won 51, lost three and drew three of them, scoring a combined 921 points and conceding only 123.

In celebration of the club’s achievements, all 96 players involved in the five champion sides were awarded a medal by the Petone Citizen’s Committee.

The Senior A side were champions for the fourth straight year and achieved success through adversity. The title was won by beating a strong Poneke side that included returning All Blacks Frank Mitchinson and Billy Wallace in their XV. Petone, who had started the year strongly before getting the wobbles mid-season when they lost to Melrose and drew with Athletic in successive weeks, won this final game of the season without six leading players who had joined up with the “All Golds” Rugby League team that toured England and Australia.

The Petone group that included the team’s captain Hercules “Bumper” Wright and 1905 All Blacks Tom Cross and Duncan McGregor, had recently set sail.Resentment ran high in Wellington at the time of the tour, the Evening Post on 17 August 1907 put the boot in. “It simply means a few months waiting now to see how the money-seekers shape...for the purity of the sport it is to be hoped that the tour is a failure financially, for that will mean the end of professionalism as far as Australia and New Zealand are concerned.”

References:
The Evening Post (1880-1907) and Dominion (1907) newspapers.
Mckenzie, D.? Rugby Football in Wellington and Wairarapa, 1868-1910. Publisher unknown. 1911.
Tindill, Eric. History of the Athletic Football Club, 1877-1976. Wellington, N.Z. : Athletic Football Club, 1977] (Wellington Prestige Print)
Griffin, Don and Gallagher, Peter. True blue" : the first 100 years of the Petone Rugby Football Club Incorporated, 1885-1985 [Petone, N.Z. : The Club, 1985]
Donoghue, Tim. Athletic Park : a lost football ground Tim Donoghue Publications in association with the Wellington Rugby Football Union, 1999.

?