Sport and Colonialism in 19th Century Australasia - LA84 Foundation

is the case then rugby was appropriate for, and complementary
to, New Zealand communities forged by a democratic press of
"mateship" and familiarity. The game's philosophy mirrored
society's perception of self-improvement. The battle cry on
the farm, the factory floor and the rugby "paddock" was "get
stuck in" . An account of a rural game of rugby played in the
1890s epitomises this antipodean sporting motif:
Amongst the forwards, however, Harry Hertslet was
always prominent if a scrum happened to be formed
in the vicinity of the watercourse, which was still
rising. Seizing the ball and shouting 'com on boys,
scrum over here in the creek' he would head a procession
of forwards to the deepest part he could
find, and putting it down, the players, gathering
round, would put the boot in for all they were
worth. 27
Sporting symbolism was an inherent part of Victorian values
which were to provide a dogmatic backbone for establishing
English culture throughout the empire. Henry Newbolt's heroic
poems of human spirit drew oh images of manly striving in team
sport. Journalist George W. Stevens in the Boer War saw British
artillery crews working like a good soccer team:
. . . the patterning guns limbering up, now back at a
disdainful walk, now pivoting to cover the next movement,
like a cup-winning football team all playing
together; passing, tackling, shooting. 28
VI
While sport in nineteenth century Britain lived with the
paradox of W.G. Grace's technically amateur status, that allowed
a considerable cricketing income to be amassed, 29 there was no
such situation within New Zealand. The dividing line in colonial
New Zealand was unambivalent. Only if money was received
as a fixed income, over a sustained period of time, for professional
services in recreation/sport, was amateur status denied.
This meant that the New Zealand overseas rugby team of 1888-89
could receive expenses as it was understood that, after the
tour was over, they would return home and continue their normal
occupations. There were not, within New Zealand, the occupational
barriers that prohibited River Thames boatmen from
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