The Mount Wellington Rugby League Football Club was a rugby league club in Auckland, New Zealand, which existed for 3 years from 1929 to 1931. They competed in the Auckland Rugby League lower grade competitions. The club was made up of players largely from the Westfield Freezing Works which existed in the Mount Wellington suburb of Auckland. They ceased to exist at the beginning of 1932 when they essentially merged with the Otahuhu Rovers club. Decades later a Westfield rugby league club formed again before ceasing after the meat works were closed down in 1989.

The later Mount Wellington Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1948 though it was officially affiliated under the name of Panmure.

History 1928 Formation On the evening of the 27th of September, 1928 the Auckland Rugby League received a letter at their weekly meeting from Mr. William Ernest Frost, jun.. He wrote “advising that the municipal abattoir at Westfield, which had been playing house matches, proposed to enter in the league club’s competition next season as the Mount Wellington club, which already had a good ground and dressing accommodation”. The new club asked for royal blue as its colours. The Auckland Rugby League chairman and secretary “were authorised to consult the new club upon its proposals”. The New Zealand Herald also reported from the meeting that the club would play under the name “Mount Wellington Club”. One of the matches that Frost had been alluding to in his letter was a game between “a combined 13 of Westfield auctioneers and clerks” and a butchers’ team at Ellerslie on June 2 in 1928. The team of auctioneers and clerks was named and included:- W. Bowden, J. Rowe, David Brideson, F. Day, William Vuglar, E. Barnaby, T. Scanlan, S. Day, J. Hellaby, W. Wadsworth, A. Naylor, R. Cocran, and W. Lawson. With the emergency players being J. Nieher and D. Reid in the backs, and M. McGill and A. Couper in the forwards. On September 22 a team in the Third Grade competition named “Westfield” played against Mount Albert on the Otahuhu Reserve at 3pm. It is likely that this is a side selected from the same players playing in the Third Grade knockout competition. These competitions were sometimes opened up to teams which had not competed in the championship. Whilst the result was not reported it is likely that Westfield lost as Mount Albert progressed on in the competition while a week later on September 27 a team named Westfield was scheduled to play Newton Rangers at Mount Albert (in Morningside) at 2pm. The match was a friendly as the 2nd grade competition had been completed for the year and it was the only fixture in the grade.

First Games 1929 (2nd Grade and 4th Grade) The 1929 season saw the club field official teams under their newly formed club in the 2nd and 4th Grades. On March 16 their secretary, William Frost posted a notice in the New Zealand Herald stating “Mount Wellington Rugby League Football Club, wishes players desirous of joining the club to communicate with him at his address”. He advertised a practise to be held at the Abattoirs, Westfield ground on Saturday, March 23 at 2.30pm with “all players and intending players requested to attend”. On the evening of Monday, March 25 the club held their “annual smoke concert” at the Auckland Municipal Abattoirs in Westfield. Mr. R.W. Rugg, the manager of the abattoirs, and president of the club said “in the last season the club had played six matches and had won four. This season a strong team had been formed, and it was hoped that in all matches Mount Wellington would be the victors. However, it would be better for them to lose than to win by rough play or illegal tactics”. Then several speakers were said to have congratulated the members on their club and on the support they had in Mr. Rugg and the management. Among those present were Mr. J.B. Paterson and W. Casey, members of the City Council, Mr. J.S. Brigham, town clerk, Mr. F. Hellaby, Mr. C. Fearon, Mr. J. Marshall, and Mr. J. Gillies. Songs were sung by Messrs. Bowling, Evans, F. Baker, Hall, and A. Austin.

Their 2nd Grade side had 11 reported matches in the championship and finished with a 7 win, 4 loss record. Of known results they scored 77 points and conceded 90 to finish approximately 4th of 7 teams. While their 4th Grade side struggled, drawing 1 game, losing 8 and withdrawing from the championship after 9 rounds. The first game for the 2nd Grade side was a pre-season match on Carlaw Park number 2 field on April 20. Their opponent was Parnell. Following the game the Auckland Star wrote that “the appearance of the new Mount Wellington side was a new feature indicative of the growth of the game”. The match finished 0-0, with the match report stating “the game between Mount Wellington and Parnell attracted interest because the Westfield team was making its debut in the code as a junior team. Mount Wellington, with the sun and cross wind in their favour, took the initiative from Parnell’s kickoff. A penalty against them was resultless, and shortly afterwards Jacob (Mount Wellington) made a good run to the corner, following a period of desultory play, Parnell forced down before the change-over, but with Keane, Hosking, and Kerr got dangerous until stopped by Marcroft. Parnell was storming the citadel when the bell sounded a pointless draw”. The Sun (Auckland) newspaper wrote “the Mount Wellington v Parnell match caused quite a lot of interest, as Mount Wellington was making its debut in the code as a junior team. Three or four Union players, including Jacob, of City, were the mainstays of the Mount Wellington team, the remainder being made up of recruits…”. They also highlighted the “brilliant saving” of Marcroft at fullback who stopped the Parnell backs many times. The Auckland Star also wrote that “a gratifying feature that was indicative of the growth of the game, was the display of the newly formed Mount Wellington thirteen, who gave a good account of themselves against Parnell”.

There next match was against Newton Rangers at 3pm on May 4 at their Mount Wellington ground. The referee was the experienced Frank Thompson who refereed senior games from 1916 to 1938. The 4th Grade side was also playing there at 2pm against Richmond Rovers with Thompson refereeing that game too. The 2nd Grade side beat Newton 13 to 5, while the 4th Grade team was defeated 21-0 by Richmond. The teams for each side were named in the newspapers the day prior to the matches. The 2nd Grade side was Stovic, Jacob, Rugg, Haggie (2), Frost, McKelvie, Pilkington, Wilson, Whittle, Walker, Arnold (2), Ritchie, Miller, and Marcroft. While the 4th Grade team was Killgour (3), Hammond, Greenwood, Handisides, Day, Tooman, Gibson, O’Connor (2), Brewster, Miller, Brosnan, and Finn.

The following weekend on May 11 the 2nd Grade side had a default win over Māngere United, while the 4th Grade team lost to Remuera 15 to 4. The 2nd Grade side had a 13-5 win over Ponsonby United on May 18, and a 16-0 loss to Devonport United on May 25. The Sun wrote a short piece about the club which said “the Mount Wellington Club is at present experiencing its first season and for a new club is doing remarkably well. Rumour has it that there is a considerable rivalry between Mount Wellington and Otahuhu Rovers.

The 2nd Grade side then played a controversial match with Kingsland Athletic on June 1. The match was called off when the scores were tied 5-5 but Mount Wellington were awarded the win as the referee had stopped the match due to poor behaviour from the Kingsland team. The Sun reported “the Mount Wellington v Kingsland second grade league match, set down for decision on the Mount Wellington ground… had not proceeded far before it was evident that stern measures would have to be enforced by Mr. C. Moore, the referee. The visitors overstepped the mark time after time with appeals and questioning of the referee’s decisions. After several warnings, the controller of the whistle issued a final reprimand that any future offenders would be sent to the sideline”. Soon after the Kingsland captain as sent off for questioning another decision, and then a team mate followed for arguing the decision. The Kingsland team was unsure if they wanted to continue and the referee called the match off. They had a 9-0 loss to Mount Albert United on June 8 and then a 8-0 win over Remuera on June 15. The Sun described the later match as being “perhaps the hardest fought game in the second grade”. All of Mount Wellington’s points came in the “closing stages of the game, and for the most part it appeared that the game would end up a draw”. Following a game against Newton on June 22 and a bye a week later a table published in the Auckland Star showed that the 2nd Grade side was coming 3rd out of 7 teams and the 4th Grade side was last and evidently about to drop out of the competition.

On July 17 the club requested that a special fixture be held at their Westfield ground at some stage with the Auckland Rugby League agreeing to do so at the “earliest opportunity”. The 2nd Grade side lost to Mount Albert 15-5 on July 20. At this stage of the season the Auckland junior representative side was selected with G. Jacobs named in the centre three-quarters. Their opponents were South Auckland (Waikato) junior representatives at Carlaw Park. The match was curtain-raiser to the full senior representative sides. The Auckland side won 15 to 8. The 2nd Grade side had a 18-14 win against Ponsonby on August 3, a bye on August 10, and then a 5-3 win against Devonport on August 17 in the first round of the knockout competition. G. Jacobs was selected in the Auckland junior representative side once more for a match against the Waikato junior representatives in Huntly. The 2nd Grade side beat Ponsonby 6-5 on August 24.

On August 31 the Auckland Rugby League scheduled the first grade round 1 Roope Rooster knockout match between City Rovers and Ellerslie United at the Mount Wellington/Westfield ground at 3pm. City won a match described as “not impressive” before a “moderate attendance of spectators, who spent the majority of the 80 minutes of play criticising the referee’s rulings and the decisions of the line umpires”. The match featured the late arrival of Steve Watene who came on after the match had been going 15 minutes to assist the City backs. Watene was in his first season of senior rugby league and would be selected for New Zealand a year later. Len Barchard and Stan Clark were in the City forwards and would also debut for New Zealand in 1930. Auckland representatives George Perry, William Shortland, and Norm Pascoe also played for City. The famous Craddock Dufty was at fullback for Ellerslie and kicked a penalty, he played for New Zealand from 1919 to 1930 on 51 occasions. Robert Crewther has also played for Auckland and was in the Ellerslie backs which Leslie Olliff at halfback would represent Auckland years later for the North Shore.

On the evening of Tuesday, September 3, the Mount Wellington club held their annual social in the Public Hall, Otahuhu with a large attendance. The social “took the form of a concert and a dance, and was very successful”. Supper was served in the dining room which had been decorated by the women’s committee which consisted of Mesdames, R.W. Rugg, J. Brown, G. Bentley, E. Pitman, R. Whale, W. Jamieson, and L. Wilson. Morrow’s Orchestra provided the music along with other performers. The Sun newspaper published a list of the majority of those present and what they were wearing.

On September 7 the 2nd Grade side played Mount Albert in a knockout game as curtain-raiser to the North Island v South Island inter-island match at Carlaw Park. They lost 24 to 3 and then were knocked out of the competition the following week with a loss to Newton, thus ending their season.

1930 (2nd Grade)