A Printer's Error?

The name All Blacks is given to members of Rugby Union Football teams which represent New Zealand. It came into vogue during the 1905 tour of the British Isles by the “Original” All Blacks, as that team is now called. According to the statement (July 1964) of W. J. Wallace, one of the four surviving members of the 1905 team, the title was the result of a printer's error. It appears that R. J. Seddon, then Premier of New Zealand, had arranged with the Daily Mail (London) to cover the tour, with the result that a reporter, Buttery, travelled everywhere with the team. After the match against the Hartlepool Clubs on 11 October 1905, at West Hartlepool, which New Zealand won 63–0, Buttery reported that the whole team, backs and forwards alike, had played with speed and precision as if they were “all backs”. This comment was repeated after the Northumberland game on 14 October (31–0) and the Gloucester City Club match on 19 October (44–0). But when the New Zealand team arrived at Taunton to play Somerset County (21 October), they found the whole town placarded with posters welcoming the “All Blacks”. Buttery inquired into the matter and reported to the team's management committee that the printer had in error inserted an “1” in “Backs”. The name appealed and henceforth the players were known as All Blacks.

Early Uniforms

Printer's error aside, one may assume that the 1905 team which wore “all black” uniform–only recently adopted–would sooner or later receive such a name. The 1884 New Zealand team to tour Australia, and the first to go overseas, had for its uniform a dark blue jersey with a gold fernleaf over the left breast, dark knickerbockers, and stockings. It was certainly not “All Black”. In April 1893, however, when the New Zealand Rugby Union was established, it was resolved that the New Zealand representative colours should be “…Black Jersey with Silver Fernleaf, Black Cap with Silver Monogram, White Knickerbockers and Black Stockings…” This was the standard uniform for some years, though photographs of the 1894 and 1896 teams show that white shorts, and not knickerbockers, were worn. There is no photograph of the 1897 team in uniform–in the official photograph they are shown wearing long trousers–but in the New Zealand Graphic of 14 August 1897 there is a cartoon of a New Zealand footballer wearing a black jersey and white shorts.

The “All Black” Uniform

At some point between 1897 and 1901 there was a vital change, concerning which the records of the New Zealand Rugby Union are silent. But by 1901 the New Zealand team to meet New South Wales wore a black jersey (canvas top, no collar), silver fern (now neater and smaller), and black shorts and stockings. The “All Blacks” had arrived in fact, if not in name.

The 1905 Tour

When the 1905 tour of Britain began on 16 September, the players were referred to as the New Zealand Football Team or, more simply, the New Zealanders, though occasionally terms such as “Maorilanders” and “Colonials” did service. When, however, the Hartlepool game of 11 October was reported in the Daily Mail by Buttery, there appears for the first time a reference to “All Black” play and its complement, “All Black Cameraderie”. From then on the new name gradually won acceptance, so much so that by early November, following the match with Surrey (1 November), the Daily Mail made direct mention of the All Black team “that everybody is talking about”.

It is also interesting to note that on 15 November 1905 the term “Blacks” had even appeared in the pages of Punch which printed a number of stanzas dealing with the shortcomings of Seddon, the last running as follows:

Can it be your head is turned
By your team of Rugby “Blacks”?
Has the glory they have earned
Set you trotting in their tracks?
Well, it's not mere weight and gristle,
You must also play the game,
Or the referee may whistle
And you'll have yourself to blame
If you get a free kick where you don't expect the same.

Although the new name “caught on” so quickly in Britain, its acceptance in New Zealand was much slower. Seddon, for instance, with that political opportunism which both irritated and amused his opponents, followed up each victory with congratulatory cablegrams addressed to “the colony's football team” (mid-October) or “the New Zealand football team” (4 December). The newspapers were equally tardy in adopting the term but by 21 November the New Zealand Herald referred to the “Triumphal March of the Blacks”. A few weeks later (6 December) it headed a column “ ‘All Black’ Gossip”; editorially, however, it always used the more formal term, “New Zealand Footballers”. Thus on 5 March 1906, the day of the team's arrival at Auckland, the Herald editorially acclaimed the “New Zealand Footballers”, but on the following day it headed its report of the official function of welcome with a bold double-column caption “Return of the All Blacks”. Meanwhile, throughout the country special shop window displays and feature advertisements “to mark the return of the All Blacks” suddenly appeared. The “All Blacks” had indeed arrived.

Double All Blacks

One of the highest honours that a New Zealand sportsman can receive is to represent his country both at rugby and at cricket. The following is the list of double All Blacks who have represented New Zealand in these games:

by Alexander Hare McLintock, C.B.E., M.A., DIP.ED. (N.Z.), PH.D.(LOND.), Parliamentary Historian, Wellington.