Alfred Charles Townsend (23 January 1900 – 26 September 1973) was a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1920s. He played for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1928, as a during the era of contested

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Playing career

Townsend originally played for the City Rovers in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Founded in 1909, the ARL has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of rugby league in Auckland and beyond. ...

competition. He debuted in their team in a Roope Rooster game against

Newton Rangers The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers par ...

on September 12, 1920. In 1921 he represented

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 ...

in a match with Canterbury in Christchurch. He later represented the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

in 1925. Midway through the 1927 season he moved to Otago for work reasons and joined the City Rugby League Club there. He represented Otago between 1926 and 1929. He also represented the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, thus becoming one of the few New Zealand league players to have played for both islands. In 1928 he represented

against

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, in the 3rd test which New Zealand lost 6-5 in Christchurch becoming Kiwi #199. He had been in the reserves in the 1st and 2nd tests. He continued to play off and on for City until 1932 as he was also refereeing a lot of senior matches, firstly in 1930 when he had been injured in the South Island v North Island fixture and was recovering, then again in 1932. On one occasion in the 1932 season he arrived at the Athletic v Christian Brothers match to find Athletic with only 9 players. He and a "surplus" Christian Brothers player took the field for Athletic who were unsurprisingly thrashed, conceding over 50 points. In the 1933 season he played 2 matches for City at the beginning of the season in April before playing 1 match for Pacific in June and then transferring to Athletic where he played a few matches before seasons end.

Personal life

In 1927 he married Eileen Jessie May Morris Townsend and in the same year they had a son, Trevor Alfred Townsend. They later moved back to

Onehunga Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Onehunga is ...

where they lived from the 1940s to his death on 25 September 1973. He was buried in Meadowbank, Auckland.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Alf 1900 births 1973 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players City Rovers players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players North Island rugby league team players Otago rugby league team players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Auckland South Island rugby league team players