Parnell Rugby League Football Club were a rugby league club in Auckland. They competed from 1918 (though more officially 1921) until 1930 before amalgamating with City Rovers at the start of 1931. They represented the Parnell suburb in inner Auckland.
History 1918 Tentative start Although the Parnell club did not officially form until 1921 they did in fact compete in the 1918 season, fielding two teams. Their sides were in the 4th and 6th grades. Prior to the start of the season they asked the Auckland Rugby League if they could affiliate with Grafton. It was decided to leave the arrangement to the Grafton club. The reason Parnell had asked to affiliate was that they had been late to register as a club. Parnell then tried to affiliate with Newton Rangers. The Auckland Star in reporting on the matter wrote the “Parnell Club requested permission to affiliate with Newton. Owing to nominations being closed, thus barring Parnell from entering teams, the Northcote club offered to forego their nominations in the 4th and 6th grade, so as to allow the Parnell club to participate in the competitions. Affiliation was then granted to the Parnell Club, and the offer of Northcote for the transference of nominations was referred to the Junior Advisory Board”. The New Zealand Herald then said that the league had granted affiliation with the Newton club.
Parnell's first ever games were against City Rovers on May 4 at Victoria Park at 1pm (6th grade), and Grafton Athletic at the Auckland Domain at 3pm (4th grade). The 4th grade side to play in their first match was: Richardson, Freeth, Frye, Hales, Keenan, Hodgson, Gallagher, Lawrence, Baggstron, Bines, Chitty, McLure, Pemberton, Lownes, Crocker, Shorter, Harding, and Gedye. While the 6th grade side was: Hodgson, Simpson, Smith, Taylor, McKay, Peters, Johnston, Packman, Iverson, Green, Kelly, Molloy, Brown, Meehan, Fowler, and Bethell. The 4th grade side lost to Grafton 11 to 8, and the 6th grade side lost to City 3 to 0. The matches were preseason games and the competition did not properly start until 2 weeks later on May 18 with the 4th grade team losing to Sunnyside 12–6 at the Devonport Domain and the 6th grade side losing to City 11–0 at Victoria Park. The results for the lower grade competitions were not consistently reported with the 4th grade side losing all 5 of their games where the score was reported while 3 other scores were not reported. They withdrew from the competition after 9 rounds. The 6th grade side only had 6 results reported from 15 games, showing a win, a draw, and 4 losses. Their win was against Richmond Rovers by 6 points to 0 on June 8.
The club did not field any teams in the 1919 season or the 1920 season.
1921 Parnell League Football Club The Parnell rugby league club formed as a stand-alone entity on July 7, 1921. The first annual meeting was held in the Carlaw Park meeting rooms with “about 60 attending”. The following were elected officers:- Patron, Hon. A. Myers, M.P.; president, Mr. H. Aisken; vice presidents: Messrs. J.S. Dickson, M.P.; J.J. Sullivan, T. Markwick, J. Keenan, Harry Donovan, and J. Smith; chairman, Mr. Archibald Roy Turner; vice-chairman, Mr. Cameron; committee, Messrs. Gordan Percival Graydon, A. Keenan, H. Holt, G.W. Green, E. Gallaugher, Thomas Edward Cargill, and D.B. Stock. Arthur Myers was the M.P. for the Auckland East electorate at this time and had been the mayor of Auckland from 1905 to 1909. While James Samuel Dickson was the M.P. for Parnell from 1911 to 1928.
The 1921 season was in its later stages and the club entered teams in the 4th grade competition, and 2 sides in the 6th grade A and B competitions. They played their first game against Kingsland Rovers on July 16 in the 4th grade at Grey Lynn Park at 3pm, while their 6th grade B side played Richmond at Grey Lynn Park also at 2pm. In August they also entered a 3rd grade side which drew 3–3 with Ellerslie United on August 13. On August 30 they held a Euchre and Dance evening at St. Benedict's Hall with their honorary secretary, Gordon Huia Seagar publishing the newspaper notice. Seagar was the younger brother of George Seagar and older brother of Allan Seagar who both played rugby league for New Zealand. Then on October 30 the club held their annual picnic on Motutapu Island, travelling there by ferry.
Ladies sides (Parnell Pioneers and Parnell Rivals) Remarkably considering the club was in its infancy they embarked on a bold effort to form and field women's teams. They very nearly managed to do so however officials with the Auckland Rugby League shut it down. On July 11 the club posted an advertisement which stated “Parnell Ladies League Football Club, A meeting of ladies will be held in the Methodist Hall, Manukau Road, Parnell (a few doors below Murray's Chemist), at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12. All lady enthusiasts invited to attend. Archibald Turner, founder of the Parnell Club, will preside”.
The meeting saw a large number of ladies attend and it was decided to play a match between two teams named the "Parnell Pioneers" and the "Parnell Rivals" at Carlaw Park on July 16 as curtain raiser to the Roope Rooster 1st grade men's games. Over 40 young ladies enrolled, with the majority aged from 16 to 20. They would play two quarters and wear the black and white jerseys of Parnell. It was said that a dozen more offered their services in other capacities. The Herald wrote “there was an English girl who had played “soccer” for the famous “Lyons” team in London, a public school teacher, several school girls, and a number of working girls. They were, on the whole, neat and well built, with an appearance that suggested speed and nippy play more than weight”. While the Auckland Star said a silver shield “similar to the Monteith Shield competed for by the men, had been donated, and members of the Auckland league management committee had donated a football, and were providing assistance in supplying jerseys”. A set of caps had also been donated to be awarded to the winning side while Ivan Culpan, the ARL secretary explained “that the league wished to provide instruction every evening this week, so that the girls would make a good showing in their initial effort”. Mr. E. Stallworthy, a member of the management committee had offered to coach the team and he advised the girls to “breast up to the barrier and not be timid”, with one girl replaying “no fear we won’t”. They placed “four matrons in charge” to “supervise the girls”. They were Mrs. E. McDowell, Mrs. G.W. Green, Mrs. Evelyn Schulze, and Mrs. Tate while club officers were to be elected at a meeting the following night on July 13. At the end of the July 12 meeting a demonstration of play was made on “a model field”.
In the meantime there was discussion in the medical community about whether females should be playing rugby union or rugby league at all. A female team had formed in Wellington to play rugby union though had not yet played, while another was proposed for Christchurch. The Star newspaper had approached “several Christchurch medical men” and all of them had said that females should not be playing the contact sports as it “would prove prejudicial to their future health”. On July 13 at the Auckland Rugby League meeting they decided to “defer the application of the Parnell Ladies’ League Club for affiliation until a sub-committee had interviewed local doctors, and the league had thus been put in possession of medical advice upon the matter”. James Carlaw, chairman of the league said “it had apparently been taken for granted that the ladies would play a match on Saturday as a curtain raiser to the men’s game. That was unfortunate, because the true facts of the position were that some officers of the league had attended the meeting of lady enthusiasts in Parnell, and had given information. But they were not there in any official capacity, and the proposal to have a ladies’ club, and to have the ladies play a game, was now officially before the league for the first time”. Carlaw himself was initially against the idea though wished to consider it more while George Hunt thought “football as played by men was far too strenuous a game for girls”, and Ted Phelan said “football was not the proper game for women, who were not built right for such a strenuous pastime”. Carlaw then said “it would be a terrible judgment upon the league if they granted the ladies’ teams permission to play, and then one of the girls was killed or seriously injured”.
In the meantime the ladies had been practising on Parnell borough reserve which was situated opposite Campbell Park. Observers noted “tackling low was noticeable by its absence. The result of this, the first essay of the ladies, is not known, but the contestants seemed to thoroughly enjoy the outing. Blouses and bloomers were the prevailing costumes affected, and apparently the much discussed “shorts” are still too much of an innovation. There was a referee on the ground, and line umpires were also in evidence, but the control of the game was not by any means arbitrary”. Days later, on July 20 the Auckland Rugby League officially put an end to any hopes of the ladies being able to play under their oversight. Both sides put forward their arguments but “the request was declined”. Speaking for the right for the ladies to play was “a matron, two girls, together with male members of the Parnell club”. A member of their deputation said “they had already held a practice match in which 64 scrums were held, and were convinced that the game under the suggested modified rules was suitable for girls”. Also Mr. Archie Ferguson, president of the referees committee accompanied them and “explained the modifications of the game… he said tackling, charging, scrum work and playing the ball rules had been altered so as to prevent the rough and tumble of the game”. In the past week more members had joined and their numbers were now up to 65 and it was remarked that girls who were currently playing soccer “were anxious to take up the league game and that girls at Onehunga were practising in anticipation of entering a competition”. Mr Fielding on the committee thought that a trial game could be played under the modified rules with doctors invited to witness the game, however after discussion under committee the amendment was lost on the votes, and the motion that the request of the deputation be declined was carried”.
On August 23 the ladies held a special meeting at “the Matron’s Home, No. 8 Constitution Hill” to discuss a match with Canterbury who were based in Christchurch. The Parnell ladies honorary secretary who published the notice of the meeting was G.W. Green. Over the remainder of the year they continued to meet and held euchre and dance evenings at St. Benedicts Hall, East Street, featuring Hawthorne's Orchestra. Their honorary secretary, T. Cargill advertised for a general meeting of the “Parnell Ladies’ League Football Club” on October 27 at the Parnell Methodist Schoolroom. Then at the start of the 1921 season they held their second annual meeting at Newmarket Hall on April 20. The outcome of the meeting was not reported and they were not mentioned again with interest likely waning with no official fixtures or competition for them to play in.
1922 Member growth