James Clark ( 1913–1927) 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. A Second-row forward, Clark represented the Ponsonby United rugby league club and played for

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 ...

provincially. He had played for the Ponsonby rugby club prior to the 1913 season when he switched codes prior to the start of the season. Clark played two matches 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 ...

, after being selected for the tour of Australia in 1913. No test matches were played on this tour. In 1914 Clark played for Auckland against the touring Great Britain Lions. He also played for Auckland against the touring Australian side in 1919.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. . Clark retired from playing at the end of the 1914 season after being injured. He moved into management at the Ponsonby club after being elected the club captain. However he came out of retirement for the 1916 season and ultimately played for Ponsonby until 1920 though he appeared intermittently and was often listed in the reserves for matches. He only played around 25 games through 8 seasons. In 1927, Clark coached Otahuhu Primary school to victory in the inaugural Auckland primary school competition. In 1938 Clark was elected a life member of Auckland Rugby League after being nominated by his Otahuhu club where he was president. He had contributed significantly to the sport in the district for 25 years.

References

1889 births 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Ponsonby Ponies players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Year of death missing {{NewZealand-rugbyleague-bio-stub