All grades were dramatically affected by players enlisting in the war efforts. Prior to the commencement of the season it was stated in the management committee meeting that 487 players in the Auckland district alone had committed to the war effort.[1] Teams were filled with older players and juniors. The Otahuhu senior team as was noted at their committee meeting featured “only three men eligible for military service..., and these were all registered and waiting to be called up. Of the remainder, six were married men with families, two were permanent force men, and four were under military age”.[2]
Despite this attendances were still good, with the mid season match between City Rovers and Grafton Athletic at Victoria Park attracting 3,000 spectators. While the Round 7 fixtures at Victoria Park drew the same number of spectators and 4,000 attending the round 8 matches. All the gate takings were donated to the Children's Hospital Ward Equipment Fund.[3] The final round saw over 4,000 attend Victoria Park where City Rovers won the title with a 14 points to 10 win over Grafton Athletic.[4] City also went on to win the end of season knockout Roope Rooster competition.
Owing to the effects of the war on playing strength and out of respect for the tremendous war effort there were no representative matches played in 1916, though City Rovers did play the Lower Waikato in two exhibition fixtures (home and away), and Richmond Rovers and Thames Old Boys (based in Auckland) travelled to Thames to play a match at the season end.
At the end of the 1916 season a report was made on the season and it was presented to the Auckland Rugby League annual meeting in May 1917. It stated that the playing ranks had been severely depleted over the past season as over 600 players had joined the ranks of the military to fight in the first world war. There were 42 teams in total to compete across six grades (7 in the senior grade, 5 in second grade, 9 in third grade, 7 in the fourth grade, 8 in the fifth grade, and 6 in the sixth grade). Fourteen clubs were affiliated to the Auckland Rugby League with over 800 players in total. The Mangere, Remuera, and Northcote clubs withdrew from the competition due to so many of their players going to war.
Significantly they secured the option of the Chinamen's gardens just off Stanley Street and this was to later be turned into Carlaw Park.[5]
It was suggested that the newly formed Garrison Artillery Club enter a first grade team however as there were already 6 teams competing there was a fear that it would weaken the existing teams. Otahuhu asked for Auckland Rugby League to request a special Saturday afternoon “train to be run to bring players, spectators and the general public to Otahuhu or Saturday afternoons” during the season.[6]
The Junior Advisory Board was J.J. Herrick, J.J. Bolger, V.M. Sommerville, W.E. Frost, G. Wrightson, B. Davis, W.J. Davidson (Hon. Sec), T. Fielding (Chairman), T.P. Boswell, P. Henry, W.J. Alderton, O. Grubb, W. Tole, and H. Scally.
Death of Graham Cook and Frank McWhirter in WW1[]
Graham Cook and Frank McWhirter, who had played first grade football for Ponsonby United (Cook 1915, McWhirter 1914–15) were both killed while fighting in World War I in France. McWhirter had played representative football for Auckland against Thames and Waikato in 1915. The two had been childhood friends, both attending Ponsonby school, and then going on to work for the Auckland Gas Company. They also enlisted on the same day. Frank McWhirter was killed on July 9, 1916, at the Somme in northern France and is buried at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, France.[7] Graham Cook was also killed at the Somme on July 11, 1916, in France. He is buried at the [fr] in Bailleul, France.[8][9]
1st Grade championship[]
The 1st grade championship had been competing for the Myers Cup from 1910 to 1914 but after the beginning of the war the league decided to not award trophies though the grade competitions were still competed for as normal. Thirty matches were played during the season with the 20 being played at Victoria Park. The Devonport Domain hosted the 5 North Shore Albions home matches, while Otahuhu hosted 5 matches.
The point scoring phenomenon Karl Ifwersen was missing for Grafton and possibly as a result Newton pulled off a massive upset when they defeated Grafton by 8 points to 3. Newton had conceded 73 points and scored just 11 over their previous two matches.
On July 15 the Observer newspaper published a collage of photographs from the July 8 games at Victoria Park. The images were of the following subjects: (1) Jack Paul, the North Shore captain; (2) James (Jimmy) Carlaw (who Carlaw Park was later named after), speaking to R. Benson, the Auckland Rugby League secretary; (3) Jim Rukutai, the captain of City; (4) Ronald MacDonald (former New Zealand international); (5) Scrum action from the City v North Shore match; (6) Auckland Rugby League secretary; (7) A spectator; (8) James Carlaw, (9) A spectator; (10) secretary R. Benson; (11) Caretaker of the park and constable for Freemans Bay; (12) Jack Endean.
There were 3,000 spectators in attendance at the Round 1 matches at Victoria Park.[37] There were 3,000 in attendance again for the semi final between City Rovers and Ponsonby United, again played at Victoria Park in muddy conditions. As the result was a draw it meant that the teams and Auckland Rugby League had to decide on how to proceed with the competition. The eventual decision was for Ponsonby to advance to the final and City Rovers to play Newton in a second semi final. City defeated Newton and then in the final they defeated Ponsonby United in front of almost 5,000 spectators.
The following point scoring lists include both Senior Championship matches and the Roope Rooster competition. Karl Ifwersen was the top point scorer for the third consecutive year with 58 points. He also topped the try scoring list with 8.
The lower grades consisted of second, third, fourth, fifth grade, and for the first time a sixth grade. Thames Old Boys was made up of players from Thames who had settled in Auckland. The Telegraph Messengers Club nominated a team for the fourth Grade. They were often named Post and Telegraph in the media reports during the season. In August the Riverhead third grade team was forced to withdraw due to so many of their players enlisting. Their remaining players were transferred to the City Rovers second grade side. North Shore Albions won the fifth grade undefeated.
The teams in each grade with the winning team in bold:
Second Grade: City Rovers, Grafton, Mangere, Otahuhu Rovers, Ponsonby United, Thames Old Boys
Third Grade: City Rovers, Newton Rangers, Ponsonby United, Richmond Rovers A, Richmond Rovers B, Riverhead, Sunnyside, Thames Old Boys
Fourth Grade (Endean Memorial Shield): City Rovers, Newton Rangers, North Shore Albions, Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers A, Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers B, Otahuhu Rovers, Ponsonby United, Sunnyside (runner up) City won the final against Sunnyside 13-0.
Fifth Grade: City Rovers (runner up), Grafton, Manukau, North Shore Albions, Telegraph Messengers, Otahuhu Rovers, Ponsonby United
Sixth Grade: City Rovers, Manukau, North Shore Albions, Otahuhu Rovers, Ponsonby United, Richmond Rovers
End of season exhibition matches[]
The week after the final was played a City Rovers organised side consisting of players from City, Newton, Grafton, and North Shore travelled to Ngaruawahia to play Lower Waikato. City won by 13 points to 9. A week later Richmond and Thames Old Boys (based in Auckland) travelled to Thames to play a match. It was won by Thames Old Boys by 11 to 5.[42]
The last match of the season was played on 9 September when City Rovers played against Lower Waikato at Victoria Park. City Rovers won by 19 points to 8. This brought the Auckland Rugby League season to a close. The curtain-raiser was a match between the Referees Association and Auckland rugby league players and was won by the referees by 10 points to 5.[43]
