Wilf Hassan
Wilfred Thomson Hassan was a rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand in 1932 in a test match against England thus becoming Kiwi #221. He was also a champion diver and was Auckland diving champion on several occasions and New Zealand champion in 1934 and 1935.
Early life
Wilfred was born on 9 February 1910 in Wingate, Durham, England, the son of Patrick Columkill Hassan, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1886.Wilfred died on 10 September 1967, according to New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages. His father, Colin, had a number of occupations including iron roller, Canadian soldier, painter, mechanic and bricklayer. Wilfred was raised by his grandparents, Jane Kingswell and John Thomas Hassan with financial support from his father. The Hassan name originated in Ireland from where Wilfred's great great grandparents had migrated to England around 1838. In 1911 when he was aged 1 the England/Wales census recorded him as living at 19 Burleigh Street, South Shields, Durham, England. At some point in 1911 he moved with his family to Canada. In the 1911 Canadian census their residence in June was recorded as "Dominion No 6 Polling District No 11, Cape Breton South, Nova Scotia, Canada". In 1921, Wilfred moved to New Zealand with his grandmother, Jane Hassan, arriving in Auckland on board the Niagara on 28 May 1921, from Vancouver. Also on board were some of Wilfred's young uncles.
Education and high school sports
Wilfred Hassan was educated at Sacred Heart College on Richmond Road in Ponsonby. He was heavily involved in sports while at the school, placing highly in athletic events such as running, long jump and shot put, while also boxing successfully as a welterweight. He also played halfback for the first fifteen rugby union team in his final two years. In his final year at Sacred Heart in 1927 he scored a try in a 6–4 win against Mount Albert Grammar School. The match was played on Eden Park as part of the annual ‘Schools Day’ where 8,000 spectators were present.Rugby league playing career
Marist Old Boys rugby league
At the start of the 1928 season Hassan joined the catholic Marist Old Boys rugby league club. He debuted in their first match of the season in the halfback position where he was to spend the majority of his career. His first match was against Devonport United at Carlaw Park before a crowd of 10,000 on a benefit match day for Richard Stack. It was reported that Hassan "was clearly concerned by the big crowd, and although his handling was weak, his tackling was particularly effective". In his championship debut on 5 May against Richmond Rovers he was said to have played well. The New Zealand Herald wrote that "the player who caught the eye was the youthful Hassan. On his form on Saturday he should have a career in front of him as a footballer. He was here, there and everywhere, being prominent both on attack and defence". His first ever try for Marist came in an 18–14 win over Ponsonby in round 4. He scored the final try of the match 3 minutes before the finish after "he beat the opposition in a brilliant run to score between the posts" after "racing hard from a bad position". The New Zealand Herald said that regarding tackling Hassan "was the shining star, his hard, low tackled being a treat to witness. His effort which stopped Hutt right on the line when a try looked certain was a brilliant one". His final match of the season came in the Stormont Shield final win over Devonport by 9 to 8. He finished the season having played 14 matches and scoring the 1 try.In 1929 he again started the season at halfback for Marist. He played 20 matches for them and scored 4 tries. They could only manage a mid table finish in the championship but were victorious in the Roope Rooster knockout competition and the Stormont Shield champion of champions final. Following their semi final Roope Rooster win over City Rovers it was said of Hassan that he "served his backs well. This Sacred Heart College old boy is a clever little player". In the final against Ponsonby United he scored a try in a 17–9 win. He set up a try for Clarke before later scoring the "finest try of the match" which sealed the victory. He also played in the 28–14 win over Stormont Shield final. Hassan's final 2 matches of the season were for Marist against the touring South Sydney. They scored an upset 10–9 win in the first match at Carlaw Park before a crowd of 15,000. A week later however they were defeated 21–5, again before a crowd of 15,000. Auckland played 2 matches during the season but Hassan was unable to break into the side with current New Zealand players Frank Delgrosso, Tim Peckham, Stan Prentice and Allan Seagar all ahead of him in the halfback and standoff positions.
Auckland representative debut
In 1930 Hassan played 13 games for Marist, scoring 3 tries. His tries all came in the first six matches of the season and his form was good enough to be named as an emergency player for the New Zealand Possibles v Probables match on 14 June. The match was a trial played as curtain-raiser to the North Island v South Island match, however Hassan was not required to play. He was selected again as an emergency player, this time however for Auckland in their 23 August match with the New Zealand side who were returning from their tour of Australia. Riley and Brady had to leave the field injured early and Hassan took the latter's place to make his Auckland debut. It was said that he "proved his worth. He "sent Ruby in for an unconverted try" and then scored himself towards the end of the match which was won by the New Zealand side 34–27.North Island appearance
The 1931 season saw Hassan play 16 times for Marist and he scored 2 tries. Notably the team won the championship for the first time since 1924. It took until the final round for them to secure the title when they defeated Devonport United 12-5 who finished just 2 points behind them. Hassan was then picked for the North Island side to play the South Island in their annual fixture. He was picked at halfback with Hec Brisbane captaining the side at standoff. The North Island won the match easily on 15 August by 52 points to 23. It was reported that he "justified his selection as half, and, besides showing up for several fine dashes from the base of the scrum, combined sweetly with his club mate, Brisbane. They totally outplayed their opposing halves, Johnny Dodds, and McKewen and "it was a simple matter for Brisbane and Hassan to beat the visitors’ five eighths" while he also "over-shadowed Masters" who was the South Island halfback.On 26 June he made his second appearance for Auckland in their match with Northland at Carlaw Park. The visitors surprised the Auckland side with the match drawn 19-19. It was said that W. Shortland, the Northland halfback was "superior to Hassan behind the scrum". The following weekend he was part of the Marist side who lost the Stormont Shield final to Devonport by 25 to 6.
In October the Eastern Suburbs side from Sydney toured New Zealand. Hassan was picked in a combined Marist-Devonport side to play them on 17 October. The defeated the Sydney side by 14 points to 13. He then was chosen for an Auckland Colts side to play the same opponents 4 days later on 21 October. He scored the first try of the match after taking a pass from Oliff and he "cut in cleverly to score".
New Zealand appearance
At the start of the 1932 season it was reported that Hassan had moved to Cambridge. However efforts were being made to have him return to Auckland for games by the Marist club. Then on 12 May it was reported that he was trying to be reinstated back into rugby league which indicates that he may have registered to play rugby union to begin the season. On 27 May he was indeed reinstated officially by the New Zealand Council. He began playing for Marist again in round 2 on 14 May and finished the season playing 10 matches for them scoring 2 tries and kicking a conversion. In a 4 June match for Marist against Newton Rangers it was stated that he "was injured five times, had to be assisted from the field". Then following their round 8 match with Ponsonby it was reported in the New Zealand Herald that "few players in the code have been so unfortunate with regard to injuries as Hassan. The Marist half this season has been hurt in almost every game. Against Ponsonby on Saturday Hassan hurt his shoulder and later retired with a sprained ankle".Then on 11 July he was selected to play in an Auckland Possibles trial side against the Probables. It was part of a series of trial matches to assist the New Zealand selectors in choosing their test side to play England. His Possibles side lost the match 26–12. He was then chosen for the Probables side to play the Possibles a week later on 23 July. His side again lost 37–15. Following these trial matches he was picked in an Auckland training squad to prepare for their match with England. He was then selected to play in the halfback position against the tourists with Hec Brisbane outside him at standoff. It was thought that "the inclusion of Hassan at halfback and Davidson at centre is likely to speed up the attack. Hassan is a clever player round the scrum and should combine effectively with Brisbane and Cooke".
The match was played on 6 August at Carlaw Park before a crowd of 15,000. Auckland played well but were defeated 19–14. Hassan was said to have justified his selection "behind the pack". He "was in his best form behind the scrum, getting the ball away well and being conspicuous for good defence".
After the first test at Carlaw Park 12 Auckland players were chosen to travel to Christchurch to prepare for the second test with Hassan amongst them. The Herald said that "any doubts as to Hassan’s ability must have been well cleared by his play round the scrum against the Englishmen on Saturday. He is easily the best halfback playing the code, and it will cause surprise if he is omitted from the next test team". Hassan was indeed selected to make his New Zealand debut however he was picked in the standoff position which caused some surprise as it was a position that he had spent relatively little time in. New Zealand were defeated 25 to 14 in the match played in Christchurch. Edwin Abbot was picked to play at halfback. During the first half he "secured, made ground and passed to Hassan, swung outwards, drew Jim Sullivan and gave a well timed pass to List, who clapped on the pace and dived across as he was tackled by Gus Risman. During the second half the backline was shuffled with Brisbane moving into standoff while Hassan was moved into the centres. The match was then characterised by some rough play with a few incidents including one where Hassan "received rough handling at the hands of Martin Hodgson, and play was held up while he was given attention". The Herald said that "Hassan is purely a halfback, and if considered not good enough for this position he should have been dropped. By his play for Auckland against England he fully deserved a place behind the scrum in the test match. Hassan and Brisbane play together in club football, a point which should have carried weight with the selectors.
Hassan was then chosen to play in a New Zealand XIII to play England in Wellington. The New Zealand XIII were completely outclassed by England who won 59 to 8. Captain Lou Hutt broke a thumb early in the match and the New Zealand side was forced to play with 12 players for the remainder of the match.
Two weeks later on 3 September Hassan was back playing for Marist in the semi-final Roope Rooster win over Devonport. A week later he was part of the Marist side which won the Roope Rooster final 28–8 over City Rovers. Marist then played Devonport in the Stormont Shield final however Hassan was unable to play as he had a poisoned finger. His final game of the season was for Marist against an Auckland XIII which was a fundraiser to assist Trevor Hanlon in returning home from England where he had been playing. Hassan scored a try and kicked the only conversion of his senior playing career.