1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia

The 1888 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was a tour by a British rugby union team, known at the time as the "English Footballers",[1] throughout New Zealand and Australia. Although a private venture not organised by any official body, this was the first major tour of the Southern Hemisphere undertaken by a European rugby team. It paved the way for future tours by teams which are now known as British and Irish Lions.

1888 British Lions Tour to New Zealand & Australia
The British Isles touring squad
Date28 April – 3 October
Coach(es)Alfred Shaw
Arthur Shrewsbury
Tour captain(s) Robert Seddon
Andrew Stoddart
1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia
Summary
P W D L
Total
35 27 06 02
Test match
00 00 00 00

The team boarded the SS Kaikoura at Gravesend on 9 March 1888, returning to England on the same ship on 11 November.[2] While in Australia and New Zealand the team played a number of state, provincial, and invitation sides, but did not play any international teams. They played 35 rugby matches, winning 27, drawing 6, and losing 2. Only four of the touring party had played, or would play, for their country; Seddon, Andrew Stoddart and Tom Kent for England, and Willie Thomas for Wales.

They also played a smaller number of Victorian rules (Australian rules) football matches, but the side had no prior experience of this before arriving in Australia. The team's legacy was honoured in 2013 when the team, along with initial captain Robert Seddon, were inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.[1]

Tour background

The British Isles team. Taken on the Scotch Oval, close to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, on both of which the team played Australian Rules Football against local clubs

The 1888 tour was organised by three professional English cricketers, James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury,[3] but they could not obtain patronage from the Rugby Football Union who refused to patronise by the tour,[4] though the RFU was happy for the tour to go ahead, provided there was no infringement of the rules of amateurism.[5] The team was led by England's Robert L Seddon and took in 35 games, though no test matches against international opposition. Of the games played the tourists won twenty seven, drew six and lost two matches.

The tour was undertaken by Shaw and Shrewsbury as a purely financial exercise with little regard to producing a "British Isles" team, and the team itself is more often recorded as an English team. The two managers were not unfamiliar with touring sides, having organised cricket teams to Australia, and the rugby tour was a follow on from the financially disastrous England Cricket tour of 1887.

The team onboard to Australia, from The Illustrated London News

The rugby tour was not an economic success either and lost both managers money. Worse was to occur when team captain Seddon, drowned on 15 August[6] in an accident while sculling on the Hunter River[7] in West Maitland. The captaincy was then passed to Andrew Stoddart a future England rugby captain and Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

A further economic issue that related to the tour was the burgeoning professional movement that was gathering momentum in England at the time. Rugby players and clubs in Britain were divided by the growing belief that players should be paid for their time playing their sport. The growing popularity of the now professional Association Football was causing many, especially in the North of England, to challenge the amateur standing of the union code.[8]

Team kit

One of the catalysts to the split between amateur union code and the future league code, was when Jack P. Clowes, a member of the 1888 tour, was designated a 'professional' sportsman after he accepted £15 to buy equipment shortly before he left for Australia. The other players on the tour were then required to sign an affidavit to state they were not to be paid for playing rugby when in Australia and New Zealand.[9] The tourists played in red, white and blue hooped jerseys and white shorts.[10]

In addition to playing 35 game of rugby union, the Lions team also played 19 games of Victorian Rules Football (later known as Australian rules football). The Lions won 6 of the matches under the Australian rules, despite having no experience with the code prior to the tour.[11]

The uniforms wore by the Lions in their first tour was made in striking thick red, white and blue hoops, white shorts and dark socks.[12]

Touring party

Two-thirds of the touring party belonged to clubs that, within a few years, would defect to the Northern Rugby Football Union, founding the game of rugby league.[14]

Results

Complete list of matches played by the British Isles in Australia and New Zealand:[15][16]

# Date Rival City Country Result Score
1 28 April Otago RU DunedinNew Zealand Won 8–3
2 2 May Otago RU DunedinNew Zealand Won 4–3
3 5 May Canterbury RU ChristchurchNew Zealand Won 14–6
4 9 May Canterbury RU ChristchurchNew Zealand Won 4–0
5 12 May Wellington RU WellingtonNew Zealand Drew 3–3
6 14 May H Roberts WellingtonNew Zealand Won 4–1
7 16 May Taranaki RU New PlymouthNew Zealand Lost 0–1
8 19 May Auckland RU AucklandNew Zealand Won 6–3
9 24 May Auckland RU AucklandNew Zealand Lost 0–4
10 2 June NSW Waratahs SydneyAustralia Won 18–2
11 7 June Bathurst BathurstAustralia Won 13–6
12 9 June NSW Waratahs SydneyAustralia Won 18–6
13 11 June Sydney JuniorsSydneyAustralia Won 11–0
14 12 June The King's School ParramattaAustralia Drew 10–10
15 16 July Adelaide AdelaideAustralia Won 28–3
16 1 August Melbourne MelbourneAustralia Won 15–5
17 4 August NSW Waratahs SydneyAustralia Won 16–2
18 6 August Sydney Grammar SchoolSydneyAustralia Drew 3–3
19 8 August Bathurst BathurstAustralia Won 20–10
20 11 August University of Sydney SydneyAustralia Won 8–4
21 18 August Queensland Reds BrisbaneAustralia Won 13–6
22 21 August Queensland Juniors BrisbaneAustralia Won 11–3
23 23 August Ipswich IpswichAustralia Won 12–1
24 25 August Queensland Reds QueenslandAustralia Won 7–0
25 29 August Newcastle NewcastleAustralia Won 15–7
26 8 September Auckland RU AucklandNew Zealand Won 3–0
27 12 September Auckland AucklandNew Zealand Drew 1–1
28 15 September Hawke's Bay NapierNew Zealand Won 3–2
29 17 September Wairarapa RU MastertonNew Zealand Won 5–1
30 20 September Canterbury RU ChristchurchNew Zealand Won 8–0
31 22 September Otago RU DunedinNew Zealand Drew 0–0
32 27 September South Island DunedinNew Zealand Won 5–3
33 29 September South Island ChristchurchNew Zealand Won 6–0
34 2 October Taranaki RU HaweraNew Zealand Won 7–1
35 3 October Wanganui RU WanganuiNew Zealand Drew 1–1
Balance
Played in Pl W D L Ps Pc
New Zealand1913428233
Australia16142021868
Total252762300101

Bibliography

  • Godwin, Terry; Rhys, Chris (1981). The Guinness Book of Rugby Facts & Feats. London: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. ISBN 0-85112-214-0.
  • Griffiths, John (1990). British Lions. Swindon: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-85223-541-1.
  • Griffiths, John (1987). The Phoenix Book of International Rugby Records. London: Phoenix House. ISBN 0-460-07003-7.

References

  1. "IRB Hall of Fame 2013 Induction: "The British & Irish Lions and Australia"" (PDF) (Press release). International Rugby Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  2. Fagan, Sean (2013) The First Lions of Rugby Victoria, Australia : Slattery. ISBN 9780987500274
  3. Thomas, Clem (2013). 125 Years of the British and Irish Lions: The Official History. Random House. p. The Genesis of the Lions. ISBN 9781780577388.
  4. Griffiths (1987), pg 9:3.
  5. Griffiths (1990), pg 15.
  6. Robert Seddon rugby statistics scrum.com. Accessed 7 March 2009. Archived 2009-05-03.
  7. Seddon's last hurrah Lionsrugby.com. Accessed 7 March 2009. Archived 2009-05-03.
  8. 1888 – The Touring tradition begins on Lions website
  9. Smart, Ted The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rugby: The Definitive Guide to World Rugby Union; Carlton Books (1997) ISBN 1-85868-076-X
  10. Lions name is a source of great pride The Times 19 June 2009
  11. "The forgotten story of ... the 1888 Lions tour". The Guardian. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  12. Lions change their stripes on Lions website, 17 Apr 2005
  13. "Cricinfo – Players and Officials – Arthur Paul". Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  14. Geoffrey Moorhouse (2013). At the George: And Other Essays on Rugby League. UK: Faber & Faber.
  15. British & Irish Lions results on Rugby Football History
  16. Early Lions: Squads and results (1888–1938) on BBC Sport, 18 May 2005
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