The 1930 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 22nd. It was generally regarded that the season was very disappointing in terms of the quality of the football played and much of the blame was put down to the fact that too many teams were in the Senior A Grade and there was too much talent spread through the Senior B teams which in turn diluted the top division. There had been a noticeable drop in the attendances at matches at Carlaw Park which had seen 8 to 10 thousand regularly attending club matches. A review of the season was published in The New Zealand Herald on 22 October discussing the issue.
The Senior A championship was won by Ponsonby United for the second consecutive year which was their fifth title overall. They were awarded the Monteith Shield. This was the last year that the Monteith Shield was played for as the man this trophy was named after suggested that the main championship trophy should be one named in honour of Mr. Edwin Vincent Fox who had died earlier that year. Ponsonby also won the Roope Rooster trophy for the sixth time after defeating Richmond Rovers by 15 points to 7 in the final. Ponsonby were however beaten by Devonport United in the final of the Stormont Shield 17–5. This was the first time Devonport had won the Stormont Shield. A week later on 11 October Ponsonby played the champions of the South Auckland competition who were Ngaruawahia in the first match of its kind. Ponsonby won 32 to 29.
The Senior B championship was won by Otahuhu who beat the 1929 champions Point Chevalier in the final by 3 points to 0. The Stallard Cup knockout competition for Senior B teams was won by Richmond who defeated Point Chevalier 21–11 in the final. Richmond were the first club to enter a B team (effectively a reserve grade team) in this grade, and for the Stallard Cup they were joined by a B team from Devonport.
Season News Club teams by grade participation Team1stSenior B2nd3rd Open3rd Int.4th5th6th7thSchoolsTotalRichmond Rovers111111112212Devonport United10111101118Ponsonby United10110110016Marist Old Boys10110012107Kingsland Athletic10011101005City Rovers10000101115Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers01001010115Ellerslie United10010001115Otahuhu Rovers01100010025Point Chevalier01000101104Glen Lynn00010101104Mount Albert United01001100014Newmarket00001011014Avondale00010100114Parnell0100.5.5.500.53Newton Rangers10000001013Māngere United01100000013Papatoetoe00000110013Akarana0000.5.5.500.52Mount Wellington00100000001Avondale Convent School00000000011Onehunga Convent (St Joseph's School)00000000011Total8778711811101895
News In a major scandal following the Stormont Shield match between Ponsonby United and Devonport, Frank Delgrosso, the Auckland and New Zealand representative who was captain of the Ponsonby team was suspended for three seasons. Delgrosso was charged with misconduct along with another Ponsonby player V. Goodwin. They were also barred from attending Carlaw Park in the future. He failed to make a teammate who had been ordered off to leave the field, threw mud at the referee, and abused him.
Mt Albert was a new addition to the B Grade competition by entering a team there for the first time. This was their first senior grade team. They had won the Second Grade competition the previous year and were essentially ‘promoting’ the team.
The Auckland Rugby League placed a tender for its “Auckland Rugby League Programme and Gazette” for the 1930 season.
Prior to the season opening games the Auckland Star ran a piece on the prospects of each A Grade team and the players it had acquired.
Criticism of the standard of 1st Grade As the season progressed much talk was made about the standard of the Senior A Grade and its inability to field enough sides of quality. The decision was eventually made to reduce the number of A Grade sides to 6 and to do away with the Senior B competition altogether for the following season. Instead the league would encourage good quality players to move from those sides to clubs with A Grade teams. A special committee was formed to suggest a way forward. They decided to recommend that the six teams to make up the A Grade for the 1931 season should be Ponsonby, Marist, Devonport, Metropolitan (to include City and Newton), Western Suburbs or Richmond, and Eastern Suburbs (to include Ellerslie). There was much discussion of the matter by members of various clubs over which clubs should merge or who disagreed that their club should disappear. The matter was further discussed in a Management Committee meeting on 15 October but a decision was deferred for a week. On 29 October it was decided by the Auckland Rugby League to officially reduce the number of teams in the Senior A Grade to 6. The clubs would be known as Ponsonby United, Devonport, Marist Old Boys, Western Suburbs (Richmond Rovers and Kingsland), Metropolitan (City and Newton), and Eastern Suburbs (Ellerslie and the surrounding district). This was not to be the only time that Auckland Rugby League went down the path of making teams, who were often unwilling, into mergers. It happened again decades later before reverting to the norm, and then again in the 1990s before once again reverting to the norm with standalone clubs. Clubs who were particularly against the proposal were City Rovers, Newton Rangers, Kingsland Athletic, and Richmond.
New venue Papakura hosted its first ever rugby league match when Richmond 2nd Grade and Newmarket 2nd Grade played there at the end of the season. Richmond won 20–10.
Obituaries Edward Vincent Fox On 24 February Mr. Edward Vincent Fox died. He was a member of the Devonport team before World War I and played inside five-eighths for Auckland against England. In 1913 he enlisted in the war efforts and fought in the front lines. He was shot in the leg and when he returned to Auckland was unable to play again. He was appointed to the executive of Auckland Rugby League and was a selector for the Auckland and New Zealand teams. He was buried at O’Neill's Point Cemetery on the North Shore, New Zealand. In 1931 his family donated a shield for the league and it was decided to have it played for in the first grade competition. It was named the Fox Memorial Shield and is still played for today.
Monteith Shield (first grade championship) Monteith Shield standings
TeamPldWDLFAPtsPonsonby United13110219013822City Rovers1372420617516Devonport United1380515112816Marist Old Boys1363420014715Newton Rangers134181421939Kingsland Athletic134181131569Ellerslie United134181411719Richmond Rovers134091181568
Monteith Shield fixtures Round 1 Marist Old Boys victory over Kingsland Athletic was contested by Kingsland over an unregistered player (Robert Munro) playing in the match. He had come across from the Mt Albert 3rd grade team. The protest was upheld and Kingsland were awarded the match. Marist Old Boys appealed to the New Zealand League Council but the decision was upheld by that body also. Kingsland Athletic, who wore maroon jerseys with a blue and gold crest were forced to play in the George Court House jerseys which were amber and black (likened to Taranaki rugby) as their new jerseys had not yet arrived. Craddock Dufty (Ellerslie) was ordered from the field for allegedly disputing a referees decision on a possible forward pass which led to the tying City Rovers try near the end of the match. He was "severely cautioned" by the management committee during the week. Claude Dempsey made his debut for Newton after switching from the Marist rugby union club. He would go on to play 11 seasons for Newton and in 1936 became Kiwi #246 when he played at fullback for New Zealand against England.
Round 2
Round 3 Governor General Lord Bledisloe attended the Carlaw Park matches and was photographed with Ben Davidson of City rovers before the kickoff. The City v Ponsonby match kicked off late as Ponsonby had named veteran forward Dooley Moore in their side but as he had been sent off at the end of the previous season for using insulting language and failed to appear before the management committee he was ineligible to play. George Rhodes, the chairman of the ARL management committee "smoothed things over" by saying that he could have his case considered on the upcoming Wednesday night, but he was still unable to play. Frank Delgrosso left the field early in the match for Ponsonby with an injured knee. In the second half Stanley Goodwin (concussion), Pat Skelton (ankle) and Cyril Thompson (ankle) all left the field injured and were not able to be replaced owing to the non-replacement rule which applied to the second half of matches. Goodwin was treated in hospital for his concussion injury and it was serious enough for him to remain there for a full week. When he was discharged he was advised that he should not play again for some time. Leonard Riley (displaced cartilage) was also incapacitated meaning their back line was almost devoid of players. The City team were sporting and City forward Stan Clark allowed John Angelo to get back and field the ball when he could have easily collected it and scored. The match on the number two field started in wild fashion with Devonport kicking off and Allan Seagar caught the ball and sent it to Leslie O'Leary who scored within 16 seconds which must have been a league record though without official statistics. For Newton, New Zealand international Ed St George (number 220a) debuted at hooker. He was left off the New Zealand list of internationals as it was thought when the list was later compiled that the 1932 New Zealand hooker was Neville St George, who was in fact his older brother and had debuted for New Zealand at hooker in 1925. Tragically Ed St George later moved to Sydney, Australia and in 1949 murdered his estranged wife (Daphne Sylvester Crawford) and then committed suicide.
Round 4 In the match between Marist and City, winger Bernard Sweeney was ordered off for Marist and Mita Watene (forward) was ordered off for City. Frank Delgrosso again left the field after injuring his knee while playing for Ponsonby who were missing Leonard Riley, Stanley Goodwin, and Pat Skelton already from the previous rounds injuries. Delgrosso was replaced at fullback by Dooley Moore who had been allowed to play following the drama of the previous round. Ponsonby wrote to the newspapers explaining that Moore had tried to attend a management committee meeting at the end of the previous season following his send off but was unable to be seen in time before the close of the season. Ellerslie had their first ever win over Devonport in their 8th match with them when they won 13-5 at the Devonport Domain. They scored three tries through Grogan, Hemingway, and F. Chapman with Craddock Dufty kicking two goals.
Round 5 In the main match on Carlaw Park the Marist winger, Horatio Drew was reported to have lost half of his trousers in a sprint to the line but carried on nonetheless to score one of his Marist sides six tries in their 22–2 win over Ponsonby. Ponsonby was missing their captain Frank Delgrosso through injury and were captained by Dooley Moore. City won 23–10 over Devonport. City had William Shortland go off injured to be replaced by William McLaughlin who scored a try, while Devonport had Coughlan and Patrick McCarthy both leave injured. McCarthy was replaced by experienced forward Stanley Rule who scored a try.
Round 6