George Williams (rugby union)
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| Born | 1856 Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 27 April 1925 Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Police officer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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George Albert Williams (1856 – 27 April 1925), also known as Bully Williams, was a New Zealand rugby union player who toured with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team to the British Isles and Australia.[3] Williams was one of five non-Māori players in the Natives' side.[4]
Williams was born in Auckland in 1856, and did not start playing rugby until the age of 24.[2] He was a member of the Wellington club Poneke, and was selected for Wellington province from the club in 1886, 1887 and 1888.[1]
In early 1888, Joe Warbrick, a member of the 1884 New Zealand team that toured Australia,[5] started planning for a squad of Māori rugby players to tour the British Isles.[6] As Warbrick was scouting for players throughout 1888, his plans changed, and he decided to include a number of Pākehā (European non-Māori) in the side.[4] Eventually five Pākehā were included in the squad of twenty-six, and the side was consequently named the New Zealand Native football team.[7][a]
At 32, Williams was the oldest player in the team,[7] and only joined a day before their first match.[8] The tour became the longest in rugby history; 107 matches were played during the 14-month tour, which had legs in Australia, the British Isles, and New Zealand.[9] Of these 107 matches, 74 were in the British Isles,[10] and an average of a game every 2.3 days on that leg.[11] Williams played in 53 of these,[12] scoring 12 tries in the process,[13] and captained the team on a number of occasions.[7] In total, Williams played at least 75 matches on tour (a number of team lists are missing).[12]
Williams played in all three of the Natives' "international" matches while on tour; a victory over Ireland,[14] a narrow loss to Wales,[15] and a controversial loss to England.[16][b]
Williams retired as a player after the tour, but continued to be involved in the game as a referee. Along with two other players, he contributed to tour manager Thomas Eyton's Rugby Football Past and Present, published in 1896,[17] that gave an account of the tour.[18] He contributed a number of article to the New Zealand Truth before the departure of the 1924 All Blacks.[19] Outside of rugby, Williams was a police officer, and was involved in the arrest of the Maori spiritual leader Te Whiti o Rongomai.[2] He served throughout New Zealand, including in Wellington, Hastings, Invercargill and Marlborough.[2][3]
Williams' native team cap, donated by his grandson Rob Williams, is held in the collection of the New Zealand Rugby Museum.[20]