Bill Devine

William Walter Devine (c. 1893 – 28 December 1956) was a New Zealand rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played representative rugby league (RL) for New Zealand.[2]

Bill Devine

Personal information
Full name	William Walter Devine[1]
Born	c. 1893 New Zealand
Died	28 December 1956 (aged 63)
Playing information
Rugby union
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P Marist Old Boys
Rugby league
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1924–1926 Marist Old Boys Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1924 Canterbury 1924–27 New Zealand 3 0 0 0 0 1925–26 South Canterbury
Source: [2]

Playing career

Devine originally played rugby union for the Marist Old Boys club in Canterbury. However, Marist Old Boys were expelled from the Canterbury Rugby Union in April 1924 after they forfeited a Payne Cup fixture in 1923 due to a row over the eligibility of three players. They instead joined the Canterbury Rugby League and Devine followed, converting to rugby league.

In his first season, he was one of six Marist players who were selected for New Zealand.[3]

He left the club in 1925, playing for South Canterbury against Canterbury B.[3] He was then selected on the controversial 1926-1927 New Zealand tour of Great Britain. The tour involved several skirmishes within the Kiwi party.[4] Problems began on the boat journey over, with disputes developing about aspects of the trip and a rift developed between tour manager and coach, Australian Ernest Mair, and seven forwards, including Devine. The disputes continued once the party arrived in Britain. In mid-November, following further disturbances which almost led to the tour party being evicted from their Harrogate hotel, it was decided that coach Mair would withdraw from team selection and match tactics for a period of four weeks. The tour, and the costly disputes, continued with the rebels eventually setting sail for home a week earlier than their colleagues.

Three months later all seven players were banned for life by the New Zealand Rugby League, ending Devine's rugby career.[5]

References

1. DEVINE, William Walter (1924, 1926 - 27) nzleague.co.nz
2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
3. Coffey, John. Canterbury XIII, Christchurch, 1987.
4. Baker, Andrew (20 August 1995). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
5. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4.