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[[File:1888 British Lions.jpg|thumb|300px|The 1888 British Isles team. Taken on the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, prior to playing Essendon in Australian Rules Football]]
[[File:1888 British Lions.jpg|thumb|300px|The 1888 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 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia''' was a series of [[rugby union]] games played by an unofficial [[Great Britain|British]] team against invitational teams in [[New Zealand]] and [[Australia]]. Although a private venture, this series of games was the first major tour of the [[Southern Hemisphere]] undertaken by a European team, and would pave the way for future tours which eventually manifested as the [[British and Irish Lions|British Lions]]. Unlike the next tour to South Africa in 1891, many publications do not retrospectively class this tour as a British Lions tour, officially or unofficially. From the tour, only four players were capped, or would be capped for their countries; [[Robert Seddon]], [[Andrew Stoddart]] and [[Tom Kent (rugby)|Tom Kent]] for England, and [[Willie Thomas]] for [[Wales national rugby union team|Wales]].
The '''1888 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia''' was a series of [[rugby union]] games played by an unofficial [[Great Britain|British]] team against invitational teams in [[New Zealand]] and [[Australia]]. Although a private venture, this series of games was the first major tour of the [[Southern Hemisphere]] undertaken by a European team, and would pave the way for future tours which eventually manifested as the [[British and Irish Lions|British Lions]]. Unlike the next tour to South Africa in 1891, many publications do not retrospectively class this tour as a British Lions tour, officially or unofficially. From the tour, only four players were capped, or would be capped for their countries; [[Robert Seddon]], [[Andrew Stoddart]] and [[Tom Kent (rugby)|Tom Kent]] for England, and [[Willie Thomas]] for [[Wales national rugby union team|Wales]].


Revision as of 23:40, 25 May 2013

1888 British Lions Tour to New Zealand & Australia
Date28 April  – 3 October
Coach(es)England Alfred Shaw
England Arthur Shrewsbury
Tour captain(s)England Robert Seddon
England Andrew Stoddart

[[File:1888 British Lions.jpg|thumb|300px|The 1888 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 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was a series of rugby union games played by an unofficial British team against invitational teams in New Zealand and Australia. Although a private venture, this series of games was the first major tour of the Southern Hemisphere undertaken by a European team, and would pave the way for future tours which eventually manifested as the British Lions. Unlike the next tour to South Africa in 1891, many publications do not retrospectively class this tour as a British Lions tour, officially or unofficially. From the tour, only four players were capped, or would be capped for their countries; Robert Seddon, Andrew Stoddart and Tom Kent for England, and Willie Thomas for Wales.

Tour background

The 1888 tour was organised by two professional English cricketers, Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury, but they could not obtain patronage from the Rugby Football Union who refused to patronise by the tour,[1] though the RFU was happy for the tour to go ahead, provided there was no infingement of the rules of amateurism.[2] 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 original caption reads Football - The English Team for Australia

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 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[3] in an accident while sculling on the Hunter River[4] 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. 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.[5]

The tourists played in red, white and blue hooped jerseys and white shorts.[6]

Touring party

Full Backs

Three-Quarters

Half backs

Forwards

Results

Date Opponent Location Result Score
Match 1 28 April Otago Dunedin, New Zealand Won 8-3
Match 2 2 May Otago Dunedin, New Zealand Won 4-3
Match 3 5 May Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Won 14-6
Match 4 9 May Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Won 4-0
Match 5 12 May Wellington Wellington, New Zealand Drew 3-3
Match 6 14 May H Roberts XV Wellington, New Zealand Won 4-1
Match 7 16 May Taranaki clubs New Plymouth, New Zealand Lost 0-1
Match 8 19 May Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Won 6-3
Match 9 24 May Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Lost 0-4
Match 10 2 June New South Wales Sydney, Australia Won 18-2
Match 11 6 July Bathurst Bathurst, Australia Won 13-6
Match 12 9 June New South Wales Sydney, Australia Won 18-6
Match 13 11 June Sydney Juniors Sydney, Australia Won 11-0
Match 14 12 June King's School Sydney Parramatta, Australia Drew 10-10
Match 15 16 June Adelaide XV Adelaide, Australia Won 28-3
Match 16 1 August Melbourne Melbourne, Australia Won 15-5
Match 17 4 August New South Wales Sydney, Australia Won 16-2
Match 18 6 August Sydney Grammar School Sydney, Australia Drew 3-3
Match 19 8 August Bathurst Bathurst, Australia Won 20-10
Match 20 11 August University of Sydney Sydney, Australia Won 8-4
Match 21 18 August Queensland Brisbane, Australia Won 13-6
Match 22 22 August Queensland Juniors Brisbane, Australia Won 11-3
Match 23 23 August Ipswich Ipswich, Australia Won 12-1
Match 24 25 August Queensland Queensland, Australia Won 7-0
Match 25 29 August Newcastle Newcastle, Australia Won 15-7
Match 26 8 September Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Won 3-0
Match 27 12 September Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Drew 1-1
Match 28 15 September Hawke's Bay Napier, New Zealand Won 3-2
Match 29 17 September Wairarapa Masterton, New Zealand Won 5-1
Match 30 20 September Canterbury Christchurch, New Zealand Won 8-0
Match 31 22 September Otago Dunedin, New Zealand Drew 0-0
Match 32 26 September South Island Dunedin, New Zealand Won 5-3
Match 33 29 September South Island Christchurch, New Zealand Won 6-0
Match 34 2 October Taranaki clubs Hawera, New Zealand Won 7-1
Match 35 3 October Wanganui Wanganui, New Zealand Drew 1-1

Sources

  • Godwin, Terry (1981). The Guinness Book of Rugby Facts & Feats. London: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. ISBN 0-85112-214-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Griffiths, John (1990). British Lions. Swindon: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-85223-541-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Griffiths, John (1987). The Phoenix Book of International Rugby Records. London: Phoenix House. ISBN 0-460-07003-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

  1. ^ Griffiths (1987), pg 9:3.
  2. ^ Griffiths (1990), pg 15.
  3. ^ Robert Seddon rugby statistics scrum.com. Accessed 2009-03-07. Archived 2009-05-03.
  4. ^ Seddon's last hurrah Lionsrugby.com. Accessed 2009-03-07. Archived 2009-05-03.
  5. ^ Smart, Ted The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rugby: The Definitive Guide to World Rugby Union; Carlton Books (1997) ISBN 1-85868-076-X
  6. ^ Lions name is a source of great pride The Times 19 June 2009
  7. ^ "Cricinfo - Players and Officials - Arthur Paul". Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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