George Nicholson (3 August 187813 September 1968) 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 ...

footballer who 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 ...

the ''All Blacks''between 1903 and 1907. He played club rugby in

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 ...

for the City club, before making his provincial debut for

in 1901. After playing for 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 1902, he was selected for New Zealand's tour of Australia in 1903 where he played in the All Blacks' first ever Test matchagainst

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. The following year he was selected for New Zealand when they played a one-off Test against the

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who were touring New Zealand; New Zealand's first home international. In 1905 and 1906 he was selected for the

All Blacks 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 ...

tour of Europe and North America. This was the first New Zealand national team to tour the Northern Hemisphere, and played 20 matches during the trip, but did not appear in any internationals. After returning to New Zealand he switched clubs to Ponsonby in 1907, and that year played two Tests for New Zealand against Australiahis last matches representing his country. After retiring from rugby he was involved in the sport as a referee, selector and administrator. He was one of the last surviving members of the ''Original All Blacks'', as the 1905 team was called, and was present at the 75th jubilee celebrating for the formation of the

New Zealand Rugby Football Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

in 1967.

Rugby career

George William Nicholson was born in

on 3 August 1878. After being educated at Newton East School, Nicholson played club rugby for the City club in Auckland's competition. He was selected for

in 1901, and in 1902 played for the

in the inter-island match; lost 20–14 to the South. The following year he was selected for the tour of Australia. During the tour one Test match was played against

New Zealand's first everand Nicholson was selected for the side.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, George 1878 births 1968 deaths New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland Ponsonby RFC players Rugby union flankers New Zealand rugby union players