A 1905 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL ALL BLACKS RUGBY UNION JERSEY MATCH-WORN BY LOOSE FORWARD FRANCIS TURNBULL GLASGOW (1880-1939)The most iconic of all historic rugby union jerseys characterized by the quilted overlay to shoulders, leather neckline with believed original lace, large embroidered ‘silver fern’ and stitched 'hidden' ‘M’ to hem, unique to the 1905 All Blacks jerseys and believed to stand for 'Mary' (Mary Stubbs and her husband John founded J Stubbs, Hosiery Manufacturer, later to be known as the Manawatu Knitting Mills). The back of the jersey stitched with white canvas square bearing printed No.7. Believed to be the first time that an ‘Originals’ jersey has appeared at auction with the playing number remaining on the back. It is thought that the numbers were tacked on to player's backs in most cases.Together with framed period black and white team photograph ‘NEW ZEALAND v WALES at Cardiff, December 16th, 1905’ with player’s names listed below, 46 x 56cms, incl. frameProvenance: the jersey was swapped with Wales’s Charles Meyrick Pritchard (1882 – 1916) after the famous Wales v New Zealand ‘Match of the Century’ on 16th December 1905. Preserved with other important jerseys, caps and photographs by Charlie Pritchard which form a collection entered to this auction by Charlie Pritchard’s great-grandson. In recent years the collection has been archived and exhibited at the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham Stadium.The 1905 New Zealand Rugby Union team were the first to tour outside of Australasia. By the time the tour arrived for the match against Wales, the All Blacks had not conceded a single point in their last 600 minutes of rugby. They had played 27 matches scoring 801 points and conceding just 22 and had won all three of their preceding international matches, two without conceding any points (12–7 against Scotland, 15–0 against Ireland and 15–0 against England).They became known as ‘The Originals’ and for the first time labelled ‘The All Blacks’ by the British Press. In readiness for the tour, the New Zealanders had embraced new strategies and had studied assiduously what was permitted within the laws of the game. The tour was a benchmark in world rugby and laid the framework for all rugby tours since. It cemented Rugby Union as New Zealand’s national sport, embedded the sport in the national psyche and commenced a ‘new order’ of world rugby with The All Blacks at the helm, a position which has rarely been threatened in 120 years.Wales versus The Originals, in Cardiff, is a match regarded as one of sport’s greatest with over 47,000 spectators at the Arms Park. It was eagerly anticipated by swathes of rugby fans and by the press, according to the South Wales Echo's report on the morning before the match, 'Never in the long annals of Rugby football has a match excited more widespread interest than today's International at Cardiff. The all-conquering career of the New Zealanders has been watched with a keenness that has never been equalled, and as they were meeting a side whose style more closely resembles their own than any they have met on their brilliantly successful tour...The Great Western Railway Company had made arrangements for thirty excursion trains from all parts of the country, the first of which arrived at about 10.20am. This was from Frome and the West of England, and was a long train, crowded. At 10.50 the Ogmore and Garw Valleys contingent came - a large and enthusiastic crowd of footballers - closely followed by people from the Western Valleys of Monmouthshire, from Weymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swindon, London, Paignton. All reports went to show that these trains were full, and a special from London, due to arrive at 12.10, brought 700....the officials at the TVR station, Cardiff, estimate that, including ordinary, the trains on their service from mid-morning brought from 12,000 to 15,000 people into Cardiff up to 1 o'clock. A similar estimate as the Rhymney railway station shows that up to the same hour about 8000 to 9000 people had arrived over that line'.Even before the eagerly anticipated kick-off the match had become a landmark game given that the Welsh supporters sang ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers)’ in response to the New Zealand player’s stirring performance of the Haka. The South Wales Echo commented that its effect was electrifying. It was the first time a national anthem had been sung before any sporting fixture.There had already been a degree of controversy leading up to the test, particularly in relation to the choice of referee John Dallas. Also with regards to the tactics New Zealand had brought with them to the Northern Hemisphere, in particular the role of captain Dave Gallaher as a roaming wing-forward. Many remarked the tactic as unsporting with the intent of obstructing opposition players. The controversy continued as the game developed with decisions seeming to go against The Originals. The referee, wearing formal clothes including walking shoes without bars or sprigs in wintry conditions, struggled to keep up with play. But the experience Welsh team crafted a first half try through Teddy Morgan. In the second half there was a ‘try that never was’ when Bob Deans, The All Blacks centre-three-quarter, was adjudged to have grounded the ball short of the try-line. Wales’s first half try was enough to seal a 3-0 victory for the home-side. New Zealand’s incredible unbeaten run was over and a 'humorous' obituary card 'In memory of the New Zealand Football Team' was printed and circulated in Wales.On their first overseas tour the All Blacks played thirty-five matches, winning thirty-four of them, scoring 976 points and conceding only fifty-nine. . The loss to Wales and its controversial manner rankled the New Zealanders for years to come but it acted as a catalyst for future successes and their superiority in subsequent tours.Frank Glasgow was one of the successes of The Originals tour, playing 27 of the 35 matches, he appeared in all five international games and was the leading scorer amongst the forwards with a points tally of 32. Glasgow was said to be a tough, athletic, and an intelligent loose forward. Originally from Dunedin, Glasgow represented Wellington, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and Southland. A bank-manager by trade, Glasgow generally played in the front-row but also played as flanker and back-row forward. He also played occasionally as hooker including against the Anglo-Welsh tourists in 1908 when he scored a try against the tourists.
