Alan Augustus Adams (8 May 1883 – 28 July 1963) was a New Zealand-born sportsman who played international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for England. He also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

and was a rugby selector for the

New Zealand national rugby union team The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

and served as president of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.Alan Adams

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 31 December 2021.

Early life

Adams was born at

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori language, Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast List of regions in New Zealand, region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The populat ...

in New Zealand in 1883, was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

and studied at Otago University, captaining the university rugby side and playing for Otago representative sides as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and outside half.Football
''Otago Daily Times'', 26 August 1915, p. 8. Retrieved 3 January 2022.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 9. Cardiff:

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) He was described in 1909 as "one of the finest centres Otago has produced". Adams left New Zealand to study medicine at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

in London. While in London studying medicine, Adams played for Blackheath and was called up to the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, ...

. He was capped for the first and only time in their eight-point win over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

. The fixture was part of England's championship winning 1910 Five Nations campaign. As well as Blackheath, he played club rugby for London Hospitals and Rosslyn Park F.C. He made two first-class cricket appearances for Otago. A batsman, he played both of his first-class matches against

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, the first in January 1906 and the second in January 1908, scoring a total of 41 runs, with a highest score of 21. He also played for the side in a non first-class match against a touring

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Groun ...

side in March 1906.

War service and later life

Adams served in the British Armed Forces during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Having initially joined the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

in London in September 1914, he was discharged in December that year to enable him to take up a commission as a lieutenant in the

West Yorkshire Regiment The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. In 1958 it amalgamated with the East Yorkshire Regiment (15th Foot) to form the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire which was ...

. He served with the regiment in northern France and the Gallipoli campaign, during which he was injured. He was promoted to captain and discharged in 1920 after the end of the war. He returned to New Zealand, where he was appointed a selector for the West Coast rugby union and later for the New Zealand national rugby team. He was elected President of the New Zealand Rugby Union in 1929–30.Dr Adams is new N.Z. President
''Star'' (Christchurch), 11 April 1930, p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2022. Adams died at Greymouth in 1963, aged 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Alan 1883 births New Zealand rugby union players England international rugby union players New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers 1963 deaths 20th-century New Zealand medical doctors Rugby union centres People educated at Auckland Grammar School