1925 Auckland Rugby League season
The 1925 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 16th. On 30 March Auckland Rugby League held its fifteenth annual meeting with 200 in attendance. The strong financial position of the league was commented on. It was also decided that if possible the Senior Grade would be split into A and B divisions owing to the increasing number of teams who wished to enter but also the gap in standard between the best teams and the worst.[1]
Trophy winners
City Rovers won the First Grade Championship for the 7th time in just 15 seasons. Ponsonby won the Roope Rooster Knockout competition for the 4th time in the 11 seasons it had been competed for. Ponsonby also won the Stormont Shield after defeating City in the final in its inaugural season.
While in the B division Ellerslie won the inaugural title and were awarded the Norton Cup. At the end of the season these teams competed for their own knockout trophy which was named the Stallard Cup. It was won by Otahuhu who defeated Northcote in the final.
In the lower grades Richmond Rovers dominated like they were to come to do for many seasons. They won the 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and both sections of the 6th grade. They were a very powerful club at the junior level and this would ultimately lead to great success at the senior grade level.
Representative season
The Auckland team played in 5 matches with a number of other Auckland B and Auckland C team matches. They played against the New Zealand team twice and the touring Queensland side who they drew with 18 all. The Auckland side claimed the Northern Union Challenge Cup off the holders, South Auckland and they retained it against the same opponents in a later match. In addition the Auckland Provincial team played Queensland but were soundly beaten 54–14.
Death of Bill Stormont and inauguration of the Stormont Shield

On June 4 William Stormont (known better as Bill Stormont) died, succumbing to rheumatic heart disease.[2] Stormont had played for the Marist Old Boys senior team from 1920 to 1924 scoring 24 tries and kicking 31 goals. He had also represented Auckland on 16 occasions, scoring 4 tries and kicking 2 goals as well as playing 3 matches for New Zealand in 1920. He had been ill for quite some time and had not played for Marist since the end of the 1924 season. The funeral was on the Sunday leaving his parents residence in Epsom and progressing to Purewa Cemetery where he was buried.[3] The match between Marist and Richmond Rovers on Saturday was originally postponed but was never played.[4] The matches at Carlaw Park saw one minutes silence before kickoff. On July 9 at the New Zealand Council meeting John Stormont presented a shield to be played for among the senior clubs. It was to be known as the “William Stormont Memorial Shield”.[5]
On July 22 at an Auckland Management Committee meeting it was decided that the shield would be played for by the “winners of the senior grade club competition and the winners of the Roope Rooster”.[6] A request came in for the trophy to be played for among champion teams from around the country but it was eventually settled that it would be for Auckland teams. The championship winning City Rovers team, the Roope Rooster winning Ponsonby United, and Stormont's Marist side were the three teams chosen to compete for it. City drew the bye so Ponsonby were to come up against Marist in the ‘semi-final’ match.[7] Ponsonby defeated Marist 23–22 to progress to the Stormont Shield final.[8] Ponsonby then trounced City Rovers 35–3 in the final to become the first team with their name on the trophy.[8] The Stormont Shield is still played for today though it is played for in round 1 of the regular season with the Fox Memorial grand finalists from the previous year competing for it.
Monteith Shield (first grade championship)
Monteith Shield standings
Monteith Shield fixturesPrior to the kickoff in the Round 7 games at Carlaw Park on 6 June, the teams stood in silence for one minute as a mark of respect for the late William Stormont who had died two days earlier. He was a World War I veteran and had played for Marist from 1920 to 1924. Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4Sam Lowrie was ordered off in the match between Ponsonby and Devonport.
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7The match between Marist and Richmond scheduled to be played at Victoria Park was cancelled due to the death of recent Marist player Bill Stormont two days earlier.
Round 8
Round 9![]() Jim O'Brien (Marist) In one of the more amazing team efforts in early Auckland rugby league history the City team saw all 13 of its players score points in a 57–10 victory over Athletic. There were nine different try scorers and the four who didn't cross the line all kicked at least one conversion. The match perhaps somewhat anti-climatically took place on the number 2 field. There were 9,000 in attendance at Carlaw Park but the majority would have been watching the match on the number 1 field at the time where Marist beat Devonport 19-11. The Ponsonby v Richmond meanwhile was played at the Auckland Domain.
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Roope Rooster knockout competitionRound 1
Semi finals
Final
Stormont Memorial ShieldSemi final
Final
Top try scorers and point scorers (senior grade and Roope Rooster)
B Grade standings and resultsB Grade standings
B Grade fixturesIn Kingsland's debut in the grade Claude List in his debut season in first grade scored 3 tries in their win over Northcote. He repeated the feat 2 weeks later against Mangere. He would later become the first ever player to represent New Zealand whilst playing for ostensibly a 'second grade' team.
The round 15 match between Kingsland and Otahuhu was not played due to the poor condition of the field at the Auckland Domain. Stallard Cup knockout competitionThis was the first season with a B Division in the First Grade competition and at the end of the season a knockout competition was played between the five teams.
Final
Lower gradesThere were 6 lower grade competitions in 1925 below the B Division with the 6th grade split into an A and B division. Second gradeRichmond defeated Ponsonby A 15-3 on September 5 of the championship final. Ponsonby B beat Richmond 14-5 in the knockout final on October 10. Ellerslie and Kingsland withdrew after 4 rounds, United Suburbs after 5 rounds, and City after 7 rounds.
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