St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Two
Transcript:
This is part two of the seven part audio trail sharing the story of the tours of the New Zealand All Blacks in the UK between 1905 and 1989. The previous part in the trail looked at the 1905 ‘Originals’ tour whilst this entry moves forward to the next, the ‘Invincible’ tour of 1924-25.
This entry in the trail is represented in the display at St Helen’s by another All Blacks jersey. This jersey, this time an original article, was presented to All Whites - that’s to say Swansea RFC – by wing Rowe Harding, who played for Wales in their 19 - 0 loss to the tourists at St Helen's. Noticeably, the Welsh test match was played at St Helen’s during this tour, which was held on the 29th of November. The Swansea RFC match was held two months prior, on the 27th of September, that game ending in 39-3 to New Zealand. Rowe Harding was unavailable during the Swansea match due to his studies, missing the game played in front of a crowd of 45,000. As the ‘Invincible’ moniker may suggest, the All Blacks went undefeated the entire tour.
Rowe Harding also played for the Cambridge University Rugby team at this time, whom the All Blacks also played during the tour. This game, ending 5-0, was the lowest winning score of the tour, played in the middle of the tour, on the 12th of November. This jersey was given to Rowe Harding either after Cambridge's brave efforts or Wales' defeat, and was then donated to the archive here at St Helen’s by Rowe himself.
To speak of the jersey itself, it is of course once again in the expected black. Once again the shoulders of the jersey are quilted, however there is not a mantle-like separation of materials, instead just a standard black throughout. There is a more regular, for the time, white collar, but the collar itself is ‘done-up’ with shoe-lace once again rather than buttons. There is once again a large fern leaf. On the rear of the jersey, there is some evidence of a rectangle where the player number would have been. The number has long since been removed however, perhaps during the tour itself.
As a bonus object for this part in the trail, the archive recently restored photographs from the All Blacks v. Swansea match on the 27th of September. These images were likely taken by a spectator from the grandstand at St Helen's, probably with one of the popular amateur Box Brownie cameras. The photographs show the St Helen's ground during this early 'tour' match and the vast crowd, from an unusual angle, that of a supporter in the grandstand. Also, the pre-match ceremony of the 'Haka' is seen, as are the professional photographers on the ground, capturing the moment for posterity. ‘All Blacks’ full-back George Nepia was the shining star of the tourists and can just be made out leading the ‘Haka’. In the 'Haka' image, just to the left of the pavilion, a lamp post is seen with three spectators clinging to it for a better view. Others have even made their way onto the roof of the pavilion. The other 'action' image however shows New Zealand scrum-half Bill Dalley breaking away from the back of the scrum with the ball. These photographs make it clear for all to see that the enchantment of the All-Blacks facing the local club sides was not lost on the spectators and they turned out en-masse for this historic ‘Invincibles’ tour. The pair of photographs labelled PH259 can be viewed on this page.
By the following tour, eleven years later, it was Swansea RFC who first proved that not every All-Blacks tour would be so invincible however. The next part reaches the promised 1935 New Zealand tour where Swansea would claim their win, and therefore their glory, thus completing their wins over the ‘big three’. Please do follow on to find out more. Please don’t forget to press next.