PREMIER MEN'S TROPHIES
The Gallaher Shield is awarded to the championship winner of the Premier competition.
It is also one of the oldest championship trophies in the country, having been first awarded in 1922, and apart from 2020, when Covid wrecked the season, it has found a home in every year since. It was contested for the 100th time in 2022 when, in a fitting final, one of the most frequent winners (Ponsonby) squared off against one of the infrequent victors (Manukau Rovers) in a match that was decided by the last kick of the season.
Gallaher helped Ponsonby win the Auckland championship in 1897 – an unlikely triumph, as the club wasn’t particularly strong at the time – and remained a regular in the rep side until 1900. His military interest was roused by what we know as the Boer War in South Africa; he signed on with the 6th Contingent and sailed late in the year.
After his service in the war, he re-joined Ponsonby in 1903, was named captain immediately and soon his form meant he was impossible to leave out of the All Black side that was to tour Australia. There he played the majority of matches, having settled at wing forward after previously being a hooker in the old two-fronted scrum, and he played the one test on tour, New Zealand’s first ever.
As well as leading the side, Gallaher did much of the forward coaching in tandem with Bill Cunningham and the tourists brought several novel features to their game. In 1905 - 1906, New Zealand went on a European tour. The side was winning continuously, except for the famous Wales test, lost 0-3, and returned home with a scarcely believable record of 34 wins in 35 matches, 976 points (243 tries) to 59, and a trail of bewildered rugger men in the UK trying to account for this blitz. Some of the answers were provided by the captain and vice-captain. Late in the tour, the pair combined to produce a textbook, The Complete Rugby Footballer. In it the pair described differences in the game as played in New Zealand, differences in approach and differences in required skills.
He retired after an exceptionally enthusiastic welcome home, when around 10,000 people descended on the Auckland waterfront and Seddon was the main speaker greeting the mighty team and its outstanding skipper. Soon he was coaching at Ponsonby, then selecting for Auckland. In 1909 he had to turn out in one match when injuries had reduced a touring party to 14 passably fit players, but that was it for active participation. He was a New Zealand selector for most of the time before World War I; every team under his control, whether Ponsonby, Auckland or New Zealand, fashioned imposing records.
Although above the age of call-up, Gallaher enlisted to fight during WWI after two brothers had been killed in Europe. During the early stages of the Battle of Passchendaele, he received fatal wounds and died on 4 October 1917. Even in skinny wartime papers, his death received widespread recognition both here and in the UK.
Had he been spared by war, any position in New Zealand rugby, up to and including the Presidency of the Union, could have been his. But it is doubtful that he would ever have received the accolades that he does now. And it is highly unlikely that Auckland club players would be contesting the much-coveted Gallaher Shield every season.
The Alan McEvoy Memorial Shield is awarded to the top team at the end of the premier round robin.
The Alan McEvoy Trophy was first contested in 1954, a few months after McEvoy, a 26-year-old Grammar prop who was an Auckland regular and who had trialled for the 1953 All Blacks, had drowned near Dargaville in a swimming accident. Although his isn’t a well-known name now, he was regarded as one of the better young props around the country and may have moved up in the mid-50s had things played out differently. McEvoy played 29 matches for Auckland A and was a regular at the time of his death. He had also appeared in half a dozen first-class matches for the B team, played for North Island and a New Zealand XV in 1952 as well as playing trials in 1953.
The Trophy was presented by two fellow Auckland players, Peter Bevin and Hallard ‘Snow’ White. White was the other front-row bookend of the time and Bevin a Grammar clubmate and lock, so tightness among the tight five is very evident.
From its inception the Alan McEvoy Trophy has been the prize for the first-round winner. In one way it may be considered harder than the Gallaher Shield to win, as a full round of 13-15 matches has been the norm, so every team is met, but the Gallaher is played among the top handful at a time when everyone has run into form. For many years the double was a rare feat, only achieved outright by three teams until 1976, but since then Ponsonby has made it almost commonplace. It’s not that, and never will be; winning either is tough but winning both requires a particularly good team to have a very good season
This is the challenge cup for the premier grade. This is played for at all home games of the team that holds the cup.
The Sir Fred Allen Challenge Cup is one of a number of similar trophies which have been presented in recent times and named in commemoration of some of Auckland’s finest players. Each grade now has such a prize, which is defended each time the holder plays a home match - similar to the Ranfurly Shield.
Allen was the first to have such a trophy named after him, and this commemorates one of Auckland’s most decorated rugby men.
Probably best remembered as a superb coach, Fred Allen was also an exceptional player who lost many of his best years to World War II. He was just arriving on the provincial scene in 1939, aged only 19, and had already established himself at first-five for Canterbury by the time Adolph Hitler tried to establish himself in Poland. Soon called to military service, as was the case with almost every young man of that time, Allen saw service overseas with both the Air Force and the Army. One of thousands to have a lucky escape from death, he made it through the war, played rugby when he could and was quickly tagged as a ‘must-have’ player for the 2nd NZEF Kiwis, who were to make an extensive British and European tour after the fighting stopped.
Named captain of the 1946 All Blacks for the home series with Australia, Allen began a 21-match international career during which he led New Zealand in every game, a record number of appearances for a player who was never one of the other ranks.
Allen himself turned to coaching after ceremonially kicking his boots into the Indian Ocean on the way home, and by 1957 was in charge of Auckland. The next three years saw his charges post spotty records and he probably would have been given the heave-ho except Auckland claimed the Ranfurly Shield off Southland at the end of 1959, so Allen was able to remain as coach until such time as the Shield was lost. Successful defences piled up over four seasons. The 25th defence, which set a new record, was a draw against Hawke’s Bay in 1963, and an average Wellington outfit took the Shield in the following challenge. As planned, Allen then stepped aside from the Auckland post and set his sights on the national role.
He was a great believer in the power of the mind and prepared his teams to believe anything was possible. In demand for coaching clinics and guest speaking roles, he became an elder statesman on the side. He was made a Life Member of the Auckland RFU in 1981, of the New Zealand RFU in 2006, won the Steinlager Salver for lifetime contribution to rugby in 2002, was made OBE for services to rugby in 1991 and finally knighted in 2010, the first New Zealander ever to gain that recognition for ‘services to rugby’ without any community involvement also being on his citation. Sir Fred Allen died in 2012, aged 92, after a remarkable rugby life.
The Jubilee Trophy is currently awarded to the winner of the second section in Men’s Premier after the knockout stages, which means it goes to the club that finishes fifth overall on the season.
It sounds as if it was presented to mark some special occasion – what is its history?
As the name suggests, the Jubilee Trophy was presented on an anniversary of the Union’s founding - in this case, the 50th Jubilee, in 1933. It was initially allocated to the post-Gallaher Shield season knockout competition, open to all senior clubs.
That was quite a big thing in the inter-war period, as the Union was always trying to find some form of meaningful competition for the rank-and-file player once the Gallaher Shield was completed and in-between the representative season.
However, the post-season competitions lost shape as the Senior grade expanded; by 1939 there were 16 teams, in two divisions, and that number only grew after WWII was over until it reached what was a settled number (14 in Senior A, 14 in Senior B and a floating number in Senior C, when that grade was contested), by the end of the 1960s.
Thus the Jubilee Trophy became something of a floating award after 1938, variously going to the winner of a challenge match with the winner of the Gallaher Shield (challenger to be selected by the Auckland RFU) in 1939-49; most points scored in the second round when the top grade played two full rounds (1950-51); the Senior A first round winner for one year, 1953, after which the Alan McEvoy was awarded and took its place; a match between the Senior A first and second round winners in 1954; the prize for a subsidiary Senior competition in 1957-58; the winner of Senior A, second section (after the Alan McEvoy Trophy had been decided) in 1960-64; the Senior B second round winner in 1975-81 and then the second section of Senior A from 1982, which is the same position it holds today. In amongst all that it was not awarded in 1952-55-56-59.
As can be seen, it has, for 90 years now, been regarded as one of the premier trophies available to Auckland clubs but exactly how it should be decided was often a victim of changing club structures as the search went on for an ideal season format. It now seems to be settled in its own niche, which is fitting for a trophy presented to mark a special occasion and one which is nearing its own Centenary.
The Portola Trophy (is currently awarded to the ninth-placed team in Senior A after the knockout process is finished - meaning the winner of the third section.
The name is interesting: the Portola Festival is a music festival in San Francisco which began in 1909, so exactly how the name got on a trophy for Auckland club rugby has been lost in the mists of time. The ARFU Annual Report does not mention anything about the new trophy (to give its full original name, the Portola Festival Trophy), and neither do the 85th and 100th Jubilee books. When it was introduced in 1955, it coincided with a revamp of the Senior championship, with a new prize needed to fill the space created by the Pagni Cup being relocated to Second Grade.
Gaspar de Portola, the man whose name is remembered in a number of ways in California, including the festival, was allegedly the first white man to see the San Francisco Bay, although he did not name it. Exactly what he had to do with rugby remains unclear.
From its donation, the trophy has always been a second-tier one (i.e. never at stake at the top end of the Senior Competition, or one of the old trophies awarded in lower grades which had been in place for years), but it fills a niche that is appreciated by teams outside the top echelon.
The President’s Cup is awarded to the team which wins the fourth level post-Alan McEvoy Trophy section of Premier competition, or the team that finishes 13th overall.
Donated in 1992, the President's Cup filled a space which had not, until that time, existed. The various ways of determining the Senior rankings below the Gallaher Shield section, which was a lot larger than just four teams, did not previously run to a fourth section except very briefly just before North Harbour left the Auckland RFU umbrella in 1985.
More grades had such a prize at some stage of their existence than didn't: as late as 1975, there were no fewer than five being contested in Senior grades that year. The President's Cup is a variation on the same theme. It was named for the office rather than for any particular holder - in 1992, the President was Eric Boggs, a former Auckland rep and All Black, a coach and selector for Ponsonby and Auckland, a newspaper columnist and a man who always had the game's best interests at heart.
Given the calibre of Auckland's Presidents down the years, any team receiving this trophy will be getting it from one of the true stars of the local game.
The Waka Nathan Cup is awarded to the winner of the pre-season knockout competition among the top eight teams from the previous year’s Premier grade.
The Waka Nathan Cup has different rules governing play when it is a stand-alone competition (interchange rather than outright replacement, number of reserves and a few others) so it is one of those rare competitions played under more than one set of bylaws. Because of the way it has to be conducted, the tournament does not have the impact of the Alan McEvoy Trophy, but it is normally a very good indicator of who might be expected to influence the upcoming season.
Waka Nathan was one of Auckland’s greatest loose forwards, playing 88 matches for the union in a career that stretched from 1959 to 1967. His ability to cover ground was instrumental in Auckland’s successes.
Nathan was also a key member of Otahuhu club teams that won six Gallaher Shields (1959-69), and an outstanding All Black during one of New Zealand rugby’s greatest eras; of Nathan’s 37 matches (14 tests) in black, only one – 0-3 to Newport early in the 1963 tour – was lost. He was a man whose contribution to Māori rugby was both massive and massively important. The famous photo of his try against Canterbury in 1960 which allowed the Ranfurly Shield to be retained was the cover shot for the 1967 version of the Auckland Union history.
By his own efforts he put Māori rugby back in the forefront of the New Zealand game; in his spare time, he gave to his Otahuhu club and the Auckland Union in equal measure and was made a Life Member of both bodies. He was the man chosen to run the ball onto Eden Park before the first-ever World Cup match in 1987 (and he must have enjoyed the way the All Blacks played that day) and was a prominent figure in the New Zealand game at all levels.
The Pollard Cup is awarded to the top team in the bottom eight of the pre-season tournament.
It is one of the oldest trophies contested in Auckland club rugby, and it will, in 2025, become the fourth current trophy to have been contested for 100 years.
Won in competitions from 1925, The Jubilee Trophy appearance in 1933 meant that the Pollard Cup wasn't seen again until 1938. Then it became the prize for winning the Senior Second division, which remained the case until 1944, when it was moved to the Senior A competition, to be awarded to the first-round winner. It's been won by many teams in different competition formats until having at last found its niche in the Auckland trophy cabinet, the Pollard Cup became, in 1975, the trophy that went to the first round Senior B winner, where it remained until, once again, being awarded to the winner of the Senior A second round. As a result of the shrinkage in competitions over the last 20 years or so, it was threatened with losing its place in the structure but the advent of a pre-season tournament, now a fixture on the calendar, opened the way for it to return at a similar level as before.
The Pollard Cup continues to collect names not that often seen at the top of Senior ranks in any given year, and, in truth, it probably has the widest range of winners of any trophy in the Auckland collection.
