Neville St George
Robert Neville St George was a rugby league footballer. He represented the New Zealand rugby league team in 2 test matches in 1925. In the process he became the 178th player to represent New Zealand. He also represented the North Island and Auckland representative side. St George played his club rugby league in Auckland for the Marist Old Boys side initially before moving to Devonport United where he spent most of his career.
Early life
Robert Neville St George was born on 2 July 1897 in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe, New Zealand. While his first name was Robert he went by Neville for much of his life, reverting to Robert later. His parents were Lillian Neville, and Robert Montgomery St George. Robert Sr. had been born in Papakura, Auckland, in 1874 and Lillian had come to New Zealand as an infant and lived in Onehunga, Auckland. Lillian died on 12 October 1916, aged 42 when Neville was 19 years old and his father Robert remarried in 1919 to Fanny Jewell Huxtable. Neville's religion was stated as being Presbyterian on his enlistment form. He had 6 siblings, the eldest born in 1886 was unnamed in the New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages records, Stewart Lyell, Lillian Edith Melba, Laurel Margaret, Ella Mavis, and Allen Alfred St George. Allen, better known as Ed would also go on to represent New Zealand at rugby league in 1932 and the two hookers would directly oppose each other on two occasions in club rugby league in 1930.World War 1
Neville was a fitter by trade and at the time of his enlistment in World War 1 was living at Pine Lodge, Great North Road, Grey Lynn. His last employer at the time was “Westfield Freezing Works, Westfield” and he had spent some time living at 53 Williamson Avenue in late 1917. He also listed 24 Bond Street in Devonport as an address. It was this suburb that he would spend much of his following years living in.St George enlisted for the war effort on 18 October 1917 and embarked on 23 April 1918, on board the Willochra, disembarking in the Suez. St George served overseas for 1 year, 32 days. He suffered from influenza at one point and was admitted to hospital on 18 October 1918, then again was taken to hospital on 3 February 1919, before being considered no longer physically fit for war service “on account of illness contracted on active service” though the war was in its final stages by this point. St George was discharged on 25 July 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Playing career
Marist Old Boys rugby league club
Soon after returning from the war St George joined the newly formed Marist Old Boys rugby league club who had been admitted to the first grade championship in their inaugural season of 1919. He had recently turned 22 years of age. On 26 July he was listed in the match day squad for the seniors against North Shore Albions for their Roope Rooster round 1 match but it is unlikely he took the field. He appears to have made his debut on 16 August in their semi final loss to Maritime 22–21. He took Marist's goal kicks and the Auckland Star wrote that “St George did quite well at goal kicking. If he had made the same success of some of the easy kicks as he did of a very difficult one his side would have been the conquerors”. He converted their second try before he had “a shot at goal from between the halfway and twenty-five lines, a beautiful goal just as halftime sounded” to make the score 11–10 to Maritime. He played in a curtain raiser between Marist and Maritime on 20 September, which acted as a curtain raiser to the match between Auckland v Australia match at Carlaw Park.The 1920 season saw St George establish a regular spot in the playing thirteen of the Marist 1st grade side. He was also elected on to their management committee. He played in 11 of their 13 matches. His only points of the season came in round 2 when he kicked a penalty goal in a 5–5 draw with Newton Rangers. After a round 3 loss to Maritime at Victoria Park before a crowd of 3,000 the Observer newspaper said that he and Tait "were the most prominent forwards". The following week he was part of the Marist side which won the clubs first ever match on the first grade competition after they had failed to register a victory in 1919. The only other specific mention of him during a match report was after a 10–5 win over City Rovers in the final round of the first grade championship on the Auckland Domain before a crowd of 6,000. During the second half “the Marist forwards broke away, and St George, getting the ball, had a clear run for a try, but was outpaced and tackled close to the line”. With the win the Marist side finished the season in third place with a 7 win, 1 draw, 3 loss record.
The 1921 season saw St George play only about 2 matches for Marist which were at the beginning of the season. The newspapers published squad lists and St George's name was appearing well beyond the first thirteen names listed from rounds 3 onwards. Then at the 13 July Auckland Rugby League management committee meeting he had his transfer request to North Shore Albions approved. It is unknown if he had requested a transfer due to not receiving playing time for Marist or because he had moved to the Devonport area where North Shore were based.
Move to Devonport United (North Shore Albions)
After transferring to Devonport United, St George made his first grade debut almost immediately, playing for them against Ponsonby on 16 July in the first round of the Roope Rooster at the Auckland Domain. Devonport lost the match 34–11. Just two weeks later St George was selected to play in an Auckland trial match to help select two touring teams to travel south. He was chosen in the Probables side in the prop position. The match was to be a curtain raiser to the Auckland match against Wellington at the newly opened Carlaw Park. St George missed selection for the Auckland tour and it was his last match for the season.Auckland selection
The 1922 season was very different for St George. He played in 15 matches for the Devonport first grade side and also played in 4 representative or trial matches. In Devonport's first championship match of the season at the Devonport Domain he scored 2 tries and kicked a penalty in a 32–17 loss to City. His first try came a “after a scramble on City’s line managed to notch a try”, while the second came after he chased a long kick and he “picked the leather up and dashed over”. He also set up their last try with a cross field kick. Then on full time St George featured in their final try after he “kicked over the City line”, with Alf Scott scoring. He played in 4 further matches before being mentioned in a match report for the 20–8 loss to Ponsonby. The Auckland Star said that “the best of the Devonport forwards were Scott, St George, and Wheeler, and in the backs Stan Webb, Bert Laing, and Tommy Taylor”. Laing was a current New Zealand rugby league international, and Webb would go on to become one in the mid-1920s. Against City on 1 July it was reported that “St George and Hand were prominent among the pack” for Devonport. On 15 July in a 21–7 win over Fire Brigade he set up a try when he picked up “and sent the ball out to Douglas who scored”. He missed the conversion. The Star said that he played “a great game” along with several other members of their forward pack. He scored a try and kicked a conversion in a 37–15 win over Richmond Rovers at the Auckland Domain. His try came after he took a pass from Douglas near the line following a long run down field by Wheeler whose kick was gathered by Douglas.St George then played 3 more matches for Devonport before being selected in the Auckland B team to play Cambridge. The full Auckland team was playing Hawke's Bay at Carlaw Park on the same day. The match was played at Victoria Square in Cambridge and saw Auckland B win 22–8. After the match the Waikato Independent newspaper said that in the middle stages “St George was hooking to advantage for the visitors, and the visiting rear guard began a series of rear guard movements which were fine to watch”. He took a conversion attempt late in the match which missed.
St George played in Devonport's final match of the season which was Roope Rooster first round loss to City before being selected to play for Auckland Province against the touring New South Wales side. The Auckland Province side was a team selected from the greater region including the Waikato which at the time included the 'South Auckland' competition which was based in the northern Waikato. The teams were however generally dominated by Auckland club players. The match was played at the Auckland Domain before a crowd of over 5,000 and saw New South Wales win narrowly, 21–20.
Then, on 7 October, St George was selected to make his full Auckland debut in a match against a newly formed and short lived Bay of Plenty team at the Tauranga Domain. St George played at prop, with Wally Somers in the hooking position. Auckland won the match 33 points to 26.
The 1923 season saw St George play 14 matches for Devonport but no representative matches at all. His only points were a single conversion in a match against Newton on 28 July, and a conversion against City on 8 September. Following the later match he was chosen in the reserves for Auckland Province in a match against Auckland but he did not take the field. The 1924 season saw St George play 17 matches for Devonport and once again he was not selected for any representative matches. After Devonport's round 2 match against Ellerslie United he was said to be prominent among their players. The following week St George was sent off midway through the second half for the first time in his career along with future New Zealand representative Alf Townsend of City. They were opposing hookers and there had been issues with the scrum with the New Zealand Herald commenting “the action of the referee, Mr Bull, in sending the City and Devonport hookers off the field on Saturday, might be taken as the first step on the part of referees to make a serious attempt to improve the scrums”. Two weeks later against Ponsonby he was said to be “prominent” along with captain Alf Scott. Following a win over Athletic on 21 June, the Herald said that “St George is a much improved player, and is a tower of strength to his side”. His only points of the season came in a 32–13 win over Mangere Rangers at Victoria Park. His successful conversion gave Devonport a 27–0 lead. He appeared to only attempt goal kicks occasionally for Devonport and mostly late in matches. The Auckland Star in the same match said that St George was “always to the fore in forward movements” along with Jim O'Brien. Devonport were having their best season since 1916 when they came second in the championship. After 15 matches Devonport had a 11 win, 1 draw, 3 loss record, while Marist Old Boys were 2 points behind them but with a game in hand. The Auckland Rugby League decided to make the two teams play off for the title and Marist won narrowly by 20 points to 17 before a club record crowd of 17,000 at Carlaw Park.