The 1923 season of the Auckland Rugby League was its 15th. The First Grade competition featured 7 teams with the Fire Brigade club who featured in it in 1922 not entering a team.
City Rovers won their 6th championship title and the 3rd in succession after defeating Athletic 8–7 in the final. With a round to play City was only 2 competition points ahead of Athletic so it was decided to play a final to decide the champions. The match was played on Carlaw Park in front of an enormous crowd of 11,500 with £325 received in gate takings.[1] City were the second team to win three consecutive titles after Ponsonby United had won the competition in 1917, 1918, and 1919. It was to be 61 years until it happened again with Mt Albert winning the title from 1984–86 before Northcote won 4 titles from 1991–94, Glenora 3 titles from 1997–99, and Pt Chevalier won 3 titles from 2013–15.
Ponsonby won the Roope Rooster Knockout competition for the second straight year and their third time in the competitions history after defeating City Rovers 14–3 in the final.
Representative Team
The Auckland representative team played 5 matches for 4 wins and a 20–20 draw. The draw was arguably the most significant result as it was in a match for the Northern Union Challenge Cup against South Auckland. Auckland had lost the cup to the same opposition the previous season and as the match was drawn South Auckland retained it. The two teams met again at the end of the season at Carlaw Park which Auckland won convincingly however the cup was not being played for as it was only defended at the holders home ground.
Manukau Rugby League Team
Near the end of the season the Manukau and Mangere clubs sent a letter to the Auckland Rugby League which was read at the management committee meeting on August 29. It stated that the two clubs had decided to amalgamate and would enter a team in the senior grade the following year provided permission was granted, which it was. The Manukau club is the Manukau club of today, though the Mangere club is not related to the modern day Mangere East who were not founded until 1963. They were located predominantly in the Onehunga area before moving much later to their current location at Moyle Park.
Monteith Shield (First Grade Championship)
The 1923 First Grade Championship was arguably the most keenly fought in the competitions history to this point with three teams in the hunt for the title up until the last two weeks. Marist Old Boys who were in a good position to win the title lost in the 12th and 13th rounds and bowed out of contention, leaving City Rovers and Athletics to contend. It was ultimately won by City Rovers who finished the season with a 10 win and 2 loss record, as did Athletic, with a final being required to determine the winner. City won by the narrowest of margins 8–7 to go back to back.
A final was played between City Rovers and Athletic after the round robin to decide the title with City winning 8 points to 7 in front of 11,500 spectators at Carlaw Park.
First Grade Fixtures
The First Grade season was particularly close right until the end. In the final round the step was made to play both games on Carlaw Park number 1 field for the first time (usually one match was always played on the number 2 field at the same time). If Athletics had defeated City Rovers in the main match they would have won the championship for the first time however they lost to City which forced a final to be played the following week between the same two teams and City were again victorious to claim their 3rd straight championship.
Try: McNamara, Billy Ghent, P Gallagher 3, Stevens
Referee: A Gallagher
Round 8
Ponsonby defaulted their match with Newton after they could only manage 8 players. This was the first defaulted match in 2 years in the First Grade. Two rounds later Richmond defaulted their match with City.
The match between City and Athletic saw two forwards ordered off, one from each team. Hec McDonald the future Kiwi debuted for City in the match after being drawn to Auckland from the Waikato.
The Roope Rooster competition was interesting as Ponsonby went on to win it despite being un-competitive in the First Grade competition. Thomas McClymont and Bill Walsh emerged from retirement, and Ivan Littlewood transferred back to the club from Waikato where he had moved, to bolster their team for the Roope Rooster competition. They defeated Richmond and Marist comprehensively before beating a slightly weakened City team (with Maurice Wetherill suffering from influenza, and Bill Davidson with a leg injury) in the final 14–8.
Round 1
Athletic had a forward ordered off early in their match with Devonport United but still managed to lead at halftime before conceding the lead and the match in the second half.
1 September
Devonport
21–16
Athletic
Carlaw Park 1
3:00
Try: A Harper, A Godick, Wheeler, Bert Laing 2 Con: C Hand, Bert Laing Pen: C Hand
These lists include tries and points scored in the First Grade competition and the Roope Rooster competition only. A Godick of the Devonport who scored 6 tries during the season later moved to Fiji to live and help promote the game of rugby union in the islands there.[51]
During the season a Wednesday afternoon competition was played and it was decided to play a match between Athletic who had a bye and a representative team from that competition as curtain-raiser to the City Rovers – Marist Old Boys match.
On the 20th of October there was a carnival held at Carlaw Park with 7 a-side football on one field and seven-a-side rugby league on the other. There were three first round matches played with Richmond, Athletic A, and Devonport victorious. Richmond received a bye in the semi-finals and met Athletic in the final who they defeated 5 points to 0.
The following weekend another seven-a-side tournament was held at Carlaw Park to raise money for the Takapuna Orphanage which was destroyed by fire. Unfortunately the weather was particularly bad in the morning which had an effect on the attendance with only 1,000 spectators. The teams were supposed to composed of senior players but in reality were largely made up of junior players.
There were 6 lower grades in 1923, though the sixth grade was split into A and B divisions once again, and one of the grades was a cadets grade.
Grades were made of the following teams with the winning team in bold:
Second Grade: Athletic, City, Devonport, Ellerslie, Epsom, Ihumatao (misspelled as Ihumata in the newpapers), Kingsland, Mangere, Marist Old Boys, Newton, Otahuhu, Ponsonby, and Richmond
Third Grade: City, Coromandel, Devonport, Ellerslie, Ihumatao, Kingsland, Manukau, Marist, Parnell, Point Chevalier, Ponsonby, Richmond, and Victoria Cruising Club.
Cadet Competition: 22nd Company, 26th Company, 27th Company, 29th Company, 34th Company, 36th A Company, 36th B Company, 49th Company
Exhibition Matches
Richmond traveled to Taumarunui towards the end of the season when they had a bye in the First Grade competition and were victorious against the local side by 14 points to 5. In Round 12 Athletic played a match against representatives of the Wednesday league which was a mid week league competition in Auckland as a curtain-raiser to the City – Marist game. Athletic won by 9 points to 5.
On the 15th of September the Athletic and Parnell 4th grade teams played a match in Whangarei which was the first time and organised game of rugby league had been played in the area. As both of the teams were composed of junior players, the game was not of a high standard and gained little interest.
The Auckland representative side played 5 matches. They started the season with a match against Wellington in which they ran up a huge score, winning by 71 points to 12. Their second match was played mid week against Hamilton, before two games against South Auckland and finishing the season with a game against an Auckland provincial team.
Auckland challenged South Auckland for the Northern Union Cup which it had lost to the same opponents in 2022. The match was drawn and so South Auckland retained the cup. Auckland later played an Auckland provincial team and won comfortably in front of 7,000 spectators on Carlaw Park. A curtain-raiser was played between the Referees Association and the Junior Advisory Board, and was won by the former by 10 points to 6. In the final full league fixture of the season Auckland played South Auckland again and were this time victorious 25 to 11.
Auckland v Wellington
Every single member of the Auckland team scored points aside from Bill Davidson which was ironic given that he was one of Auckland Rugby League's most prolific point scorers.
Try: Hedges, Ryan Con: Whittington Pen: Whittington, Greer
Attendance: 5000 Referee: Ripley
Auckland v Hamilton
In the match with Hamilton which, was played midweek, there were no players from the Ponsonby United and City Rovers clubs available as they were playing the Roope Rooster final on the following Saturday.