Henry Bircher "Bert" LaingLAING, Henry Bircher (Bert) 1919, 1921, 1925 - Kiwi #113
''nzleague.co.nz'' (1893-1963) 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 ...

player who represented

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 ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

. His brother, Albert, was also a New Zealand international.

Playing career

Laing, a standoff from

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 ...

, represented

between 1919 and 1925 and was the team's captain in 1925. However he never played in a Test match for New Zealand, due to the team usually playing

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and

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during this period. The 1919 New Zealand rugby league team to tour Australia

In 1921 he was the only New Zealander selected to represent

during the

1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the third ever Kangaroo tour. Again an Australasian side rather than an Australian team alone (although the 28-man squad featured only one New Zealander) travelled to Great Britain to contest t ...

. He scored one try and played in ten matches on tour but was not selected for any of the three Test matches. Laing played for the City Rovers from 1919 to 1922 but transferred to Devonport United during the 1922 season. During the 1920s he played some matches with his younger brother Julius for Devonport. He retired at the end of the 1926 season but came out of retirement to play 2 matches for Devonport in 1927 and then four more matches in 1930. Another of his brothers, Albert Laing debuted for Devonport in late 1931 and also went on to play for New Zealand.

Coaching career

Bert coached the North Shore Albions from 1934 to 1936, and the

Manukau Manukau (), or Manukau Central, is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland Central Business District, west of the Southern Motorway, ...

seniors in 1938.

Death

Bert Laing died on April 25, 1963. He was cremated at Purewa Cemetery and his ashes were returned to his family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Bert 1893 births 1963 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players City Rovers players New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Norfolk Island sportspeople North Island rugby league team players North Shore Albions coaches North Shore Albions players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Norfolk Island