All Blacks History - The Name? ( Part 3 )

All Blacks - The Christening

The enduring myth about how the New Zealand rugby team came to be known as the All Blacks was that it was a result of a printer's interference, that a reporter wrote "all backs" because of the way they played but that the printer inserted an "I". There is no evidence to support this often-told story but plenty to suggest that it's just a myth. As a celebrated Prussian military strategist Helmuth Von Moltke once wrote, it was a duty of piety and patriotism not to destroy certain traditional accounts if they could be used for an inspirational end.

But myths are not facts and while a contemporary and less educated population may have walked with a lighter step with pride pumping in their chest because of the manufacture of myths, it's the duty of later recorders to cast a far more objective eye on the romantic fiction of the past. In other words, it's well past time to spoil a good story with a few facts.

The story with which we grew up on our grandfathers' knees was recorded by one of the Originals, Billy Wallace, and perhaps because he lived longer than any of them and continued to repeat his story it became accepted as fact. Where Wallace heard the story is not known — though there was one theory that the insertion of the "I" in "all backs" came not in a newspaper, but in a newspaper billboard before or after the game against Somerset, which was the 11th match of the tour. This came two games after the All Blacks' 63-0 win against the Hartlepool Clubs, a match which was also said to have prompted the printer's historic initiative.

But the facts tell a different story. First, some background. It was evidently a trend in rugby in the 1890s and early in the 20th century to refer to a team by the colour of its jerseys. Otago were the Dark Blues, for example. The first official New Zealand team in 1893 played its first match against a team chosen from southern North Island unions — an early version of the Hurricanes. The combined team wore a variety of jerseys but mostly red and a newspaper report wrote of a try by centre "Tabby" Wynyard: "Wynyard ... with a determined effort got through the Red backs."What's more, the Wellington Rugby Football Union Annual of 1894, referring to that first historic match, said, "The Blacks (ie, the New Zealand representatives) won ..." The parentheses were the Annual editor's. Later in the same report, the writer said, "The Blacks now played up with great determination ..." When referring to the multi-hued opponents, he talked about "the Colours".

The manager of the Originals, George Dixon, kept a diary throughout the tour and at times he referred to the players as "the Blacks", even while they were still on board ship and far from a keen printer's eye. They played their first game against Devon at Exeter and walloped the locals 55-4. The next day, a local paper, The Express and Echo, recorded: "The All Blacks, as they are styled by reason of their sable and unrelieved costume, were under the guidance of their captain (Mr Gallaher) and their fine physiques favourably impressed the spectators." So much for the free hand of a typographer or even the wit of a reporter coming up with a catchy phrase. By his reference, it was clear the team was known as the All Blacks before he happened along.

Now back to Hartlepool. The name "The All Blacks" seems not to have appeared in print again until the night of the win against Hartlepool when the Northern Daily Mail, Football Edition, got in on the act. This was one of those newspapers, like the old sports editions in New Zealand, which were rushed onto the streets for sale as soon after a match as possible. Its report of the match traversed 14 paragraphs before this introduction to a listing of the players' vital statistics: "A glance at the undermentioned weights of the invincible 'all blacks' will convey some idea of the calibre of the team." The name didn't recur in the paper's coverage, which filled two pages. The next morning, the Northern Daily Mail's parent paper, the London-based Daily Mail, took up the name. Its report recorded the score in the second paragraph and continued: "This is a record in the tour, which is yet barely a month old, exceeding as it does by eight points the 55 points the 'All Blacks', as the Colonials are dubbed, piled up against Devon."

The Daily Mail was represented throughout the tour by J A Buttery and it is a reasonable assumption that he wrote the previous day's story in the Northern Mail. The next paper to use the name was the Gloucester Citizen a week later and "All Blacks" first appeared in a heading in the Daily Mail on 19 October. The next national newspaper to use the name was the Daily Mirror, on 6 November 1905. After that, everyone was using it. The industrious Buttery included the name in his book of the tour, Why the All Blacks Triumphed, thus using it in a book title for the first time."

Q.E.D

Note: Rugby League researcher Sean Fagan has found a reference to "all blacks" as far back as 1893. "Vigilant" in his "Outdoor Sports" column in the "NZ Observer and Free Lance" of 29 July 1893 refers to the New Zealand team's big win over Queensland and looks forward to their coming match with New South Wales with the comment "I expect to see the all blacks come out on top with a substantial majority".

This may well be the very first use of "all blacks" but appears to be a casual reference to the jersey colour to describe the team rather than the use of a nickname.

In fact, in 1893 the New Zealand team was not "all black" as we know it, they were then playing in black jerseys and white knickerbockers.

Thanks goes to the Rugby Museum for providing this wonderful insight into the name All Blacks.

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