William Walter Devine (c. 1893 – 28 December 1956) was a New Zealand

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 ...

and professional

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 representative rugby league (RL) 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 ...

Playing career

Devine originally played

for the Marist Old Boys club in Canterbury. However, Marist Old Boys were expelled from the

Canterbury Rugby Union The Canterbury Rugby Football Union (which is also referred to as Canterbury or CRFU) is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Canterbury region of New Zealand, and runs the Canterbury representative team. The Canterbury team ...

in April 1924 after they forfeited a Payne Cup fixture in 1923 due to a row over the eligibility of three players. They instead joined the

Canterbury Rugby League Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby le ...

and Devine followed, converting to

. In his first season, he was one of six Marist players who were selected for

.Coffey, John. ''Canterbury XIII'', Christchurch, 1987. He left the club in 1925, playing for South Canterbury against Canterbury B. He was then selected on the controversial 1926–1927 New Zealand tour of Great Britain. The tour involved several skirmishes within the Kiwi party. Problems began on the boat journey over, with disputes developing about aspects of the trip and a rift developed between tour manager and coach, Australian Ernest Mair, and seven forwards, including Devine. The disputes continued once the party arrived in Britain. In mid-November, following further disturbances which almost led to the tour party being evicted from their

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

hotel, it was decided that coach Mair would withdraw from team selection and match tactics for a period of four weeks. The tour, and the costly disputes, continued with the rebels eventually setting sail for home a week earlier than their colleagues. Three months later all seven players were banned for life by the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

, ending Devine's rugby career.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. .

Death

William Devine died on 28 December 1956. He was a constable at the time and in charge of the Islington Police Station since 1951. His obituary described how he had joined the police force in 1923 and had been posted to the Christchurch Central Police Station. He was stationed at

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

, Christchurch and St Albans in later years and spent some time in charge of the police station at Green Island near Dunedin. He had been a "first-grade distance swimmer" and represented Manawatu at rugby before he had been transferred to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

where he played for Marist Old Boys. When he was transferred to Christchurch in 1823 he joined the Marist league club. He was survived by his wife and four sons, William, Leo, Colin, and Brian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, Bill 1890s births 1956 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Canterbury rugby league team players Date of birth missing New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Place of birth missing Rugby league players from the Canterbury Region Rugby league second-rows Rugby union players from the Canterbury Region