Unluckiest All Black?

Greig Pringle Robert

Description

Too big for the Primary School reps, and in his day the tallest man to have played on Lancaster Park, Nugget Pringle won Wellington caps in his first season of senior rugby with the Oriental Club, and went on to win an All Black cap the following year, 1923.In the training camp before the first test against New South Wales he proved a great entertainer and his Salome was a scream, but a cauliflower ear (one of many) led to his withdrawal from the match. He scored a try in the second test, which the All Blacks won handsomely, but, despite every endeavour for the next 4 years, failed to gain a second cap. En route he played for and against the All Blacks and against New Zealand Maoris, winning all three and scoring a try in two.Fate's fickle fingers nonetheless conspired, through injury, illness, selection policy and sheer misfortune, to cause him to miss further home internationals as well as tours to Australia and South Africa. Most importantly, although a hot favourite all season, he missed out by a whisker on a place with the 1924/25 Invincibles.With the benefit of contemporary press cuttings in the family scrapbook, and from the archives, we follow here his playing career at club, representative and national level, while we also learn of his achievements in the worlds of athletics and cricket, and how he gained the unusual distinction of playing both rugby and cricket, as well as winning the shot put, on Athletic Park.A genial giant who gave his all for the game he loved, but, in terms of his playing career and All Black appearances, was he the Unluckiest All Black?Judge for yourself.

Sujets

• Nueva Zelanda
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Nouvelle-Zélande

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781803138510
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE UNLUCKIEST ALL BLACK?

Copyright © 2022 Robert Pringle
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to establish the copyright owners, it has not always been possible to do so. Upon contact from a missing copyright holder, the author would be happy to include any acknowledgement of copyright in future editions of this book.
Matador
Unit E2 Airfield Business Park,
Harrison Road, Market Harborough,
Leicestershire. LE16 7UL
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
Twitter: @matadorbooks
ISBN 978 1803138 510
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
Dedicated to the memory of my father, Frank Pringle
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Chapter 1 A Line of Tall Timber: Parvis e Glandibus Quercus
Chapter 2 1922 Oriental and Wellington
Chapter 3 The Southern Tour
Chapter 4 1923 Annus Mirabilis: Wellington, North Island and the All Blacks
Chapter 5 All Black Selection – In Camp
Chapter 6 The Second Test
Chapter 7 Back to the Day Job
Chapter 8 1924 A Time of Trials
Chapter 9 1925 Annus Horribilis
Chapter 10 1926 Back in Action: In Search of Form and Fitness
Chapter 11 1927 Another Crack of the Whip – With a Broken Arm
Chapter 12 1928 and 1929 Brother Frank – And a Kick in the Teeth
Chapter 13 The 1930s, the War Years and Illness Strikes
Chapter 14 Recovery, Reunions, Retirement
Bibliography
About the Author
Foreword
It started life as a ledger, hardbacked, sturdy, and with alphabettabbed pages. Randomly, it would seem, were some left-facing pages ruled immaculately by hand in red ink – name of firm, date of order, amount of draft, when due, date received. There is but one completed entry, under S, in the same immaculate tiny hand, now in black ink: ‘W.H. Smith & Sons, Newspapers, Jan–June 1914’. Later, the final pages were used for pencilled domestic accounts, presumably of my grandparents – items such as ‘soap’, ‘candlestick’, ‘Alice dress’, ‘malt 4-9’, ‘F. Ball pants Black 5-6’.
Only much later did it become my grandmother’s scrapbook, when the margins of the final accounts pages were glued together to conceal them, and newspaper cuttings of Nugget’s rugby exploits from 1922 to 1924 heavily pasted in from the front. Many of the cuttings appear to have been accumulated, trimmed and stuck in at a later date.
The first few pages carry team photos and action shots on both sides, but soon we find rugby-related cuttings, match reports and illustrations confined to the right, various other items being pasted in on the left, In 1924, however, the pace quickens, and we find press cuttings and photographs stuck in on both sides once more, cheek by jowl, Every inch of space has been used, meaning that while the items are loosely grouped , they are quite out of date order, different accounts of the same match on occasion being up to three pages apart.
Occasionally the source and date of a cutting are written in ink in my grandmother’s hand, but most either carry the journal’s masthead and date or are undated. However, it was not difficult to identify the dates of the matches by reference to the National Library archives.
Grandmother’s work ended in 1924. Later the book must have passed to Nugget, who sellotaped in a few cuttings and other items both from his Dunedin days in the war years, and his later life in Christchurch. Finally, there are a few loose cuttings of deeds of my father and cousin in later years.
The scrapbook came to me on the death of my father, and only with the Covid pandemic and the first lockdown did the idea of this biography come to me. Researching, writing and publishing it have kept my hands, mind and, to some extent, heart occupied during the first year of the pandemic, and been a joy. Almost fifty years after his death, Uncle Alex has done me one more great kindness.
Acknowledgements
I owe my thanks to Dr Ron Palenski for advice and support throughout the work’s gestation, while I am grateful also for the kind assistance of the following: Alan Gray and Christine Stanley of Pauatahanui; Stephen Berg of the New Zealand Rugby Museum; John Willis of the Oriental Rongotai Rugby Club, where Nugget’s All Black jersey hangs; Jude McKee of Hurricanes and Wellington Rugby; the most efficient and helpful staff of the National Library of New Zealand and of the New Zealand Defence Force Personnel Archives and Medals; thanks also to Richard Boag, of the Old Boys-University RFC and Mike Parkinson, as well as those other administrators of clubs and provincial unions who responded to my requests for help with the research. My special thanks to Stuart Hay, Photographer, for help with the illustrations. This book would not have seen the light of day without the invaluable help, encouragement and artistic skills of my son, Christopher Pringle, and the inestimable editorial skills of his wife, Glenda. Any factual errors, nonetheless, are mine and mine alone.
List of Illustrations
From the scrap-book or family archives unless otherwise stated
Title page: The Scrapbook and the Cap.
Frontispiece: Signed studio portrait.
Fig.1. The back of the cigarette card.
GALLERY A
Fig.2. The scrapbook.
Fig.3. Robert and Agnes Pringle.
Fig.4. Agnes Selina Wilson Greig Pringle.
Fig.5. Agnes Pringle with her sons.
Fig.6. Wellington v Taranaki 19.8.22. The team, the scrapbook and the cap.
Fig.7. Wellington v Taranaki 19.8.22. The team.
Fig.8. Shot putt trophy voucher 1923.
Fig.9. Making 120 at Newtown Park.
GALLERY B – Ories, Wellington and North Island
Fig.10. North Island team, 1923
Fig.11. Action v. Berhampore 28.4.23
Fig.12. Caricatures, v Otago 8.9.23.
Fig.13. Action, Wellington v Otago 8.9.23
GALLERY C – V Waratahs, First Test 1923
Fig.14. Caricature, N.Z. Truth.
Fig.15. In training for the first test.
Fig.16. A cauliflower ear.
Fig.17. First test training squad.
Figs.18 & 19. Good luck and hard luck telegrams.
GALLERY D – The Second Test, 1923
Figs.20 & 21. Good luck telegrams.
Fig.22. Second test All Blacks.
Fig.23. Second test Waratahs.
Fig.24. Three cheers for the All Blacks.
Fig.25. Waratah’s war-cry.
Figs.26 & 27. Action from the second test.
GALLERY E
Fig.28. North Island 1924.
Fig.29. Nugget’s nuptials 1934.
Fig.30. Officiating at the athletics 1943.
Fig.31. In uniform 1945.
Fig.32. At home with Jean.
Fig.33. Old-Timers Day with Bob Paton.
Fig.34. Nugget’s jersey.
Fig.35. Nugget’s Wellington cap.
Fig.36. His All Black cap.


Signed studio portrait, also the image on the cigarette card.
Introduction
The cigarette card tells the story:


Fig.1. The back of the cigarette card.
The profile by Lindsay Knight for the New Zealand Rugby Museum goes further:
‘Nugget’ Pringle, All Black #279
Alexander Pringle was a readily identifiable figure while playing for Wellington representative sides in the 1920s. The Oriental Club man stood about 1.96m tall, or 6ft 5 inches which was an exceptional height in those days, and probably the equivalent in modern times, with the average build having risen so much through the years, of someone around 6ft 9 or 10 inches. 1 Pringle was nicknamed ‘Nugget’ and was the essence of wholehearted endeavour and commitment throughout a long career. In the old 2-3-2 scrum formation he played as either a backrow forward or a lock. Obviously because of his height he was an asset in the lineouts. His bulk also made him a strong scrummager and despite his size he was surprisingly mobile in open play. After playing for the North Island in 1923 and for a combined Wellington-Manawatu-Horowhenua side against the touring New South Wales side Pringle was included in the New Zealand side which played in the second unofficial 2 test in Christchurch, scoring a try in the 34-6 win.
That proved to be his only All Black appearance. He made the North Island side in 1924 again and was in the two trial matches that year. But he was overlooked rather unluckily for the side which toured Britain and France and became known as the ‘Invincibles’ because of an unbeaten record. Pringle had another All Black trial in 1927 before the team was chosen to tour South Africa the following year but missed selection then, too. Between 1922 and 1927 Pringle played in 26 matches for Wellington. He was in the side beaten 10-6 in a 1923 Ranfurly Shield challenge against Hawkes Bay and would have been in the side beaten 58-6 in a 1926 challenge. But on that occasion Pringle was unavailable to travel to Napier.
Lucky for Hawkes Bay!
1 Nugget’s height is given variously from 6’4” to 6’5½”, but both the family legend and the Army medic favour the latter figure.
2 ‘Unofficial’ as although recognised as a full ‘Wallabies’ international by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), it is not by the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), which did not see the NSW side as fully representative of Australia. See ‘1923 Waratahs tour of NZ’, Wikipedia. The loss of manpower in WWI had been so great that the Queensland Rugby Union was dissolved, and it was not until 1928 that it was re-formed, and rugby union played once again in the clubs and Great Public Schools of Brisbane. A full Australian side did not play the All Blacks between 1914 and