William "Massa" Johnston (13 September 1881 – 9 January 1951) was a New Zealand

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and

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international. He was part of the 1905

Original All Blacks The Original All Blacks (also known simply as "The Originals") were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906. Their ...

tour and the professional

1907-1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * ''19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * ''Dician ...

Early years

Johnston was an

iron worker Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's oute ...

by trade.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers'', Christchurch, Ryan and Haynes, 1996.

Rugby Football

According to the book "All Blacks to All Golds" Johnston first played senior

for the Alhambra club in 1897, aged only 15. Though this claim is an error as he was playing in the Alhambra second grade team in 1902 and was selected for the Otago Junior representative side later that season to play against Canterbury juniors on 30 August. The "W Johnston" playing in 1897 was noted to be an older veteran player and was in fact his cousin. Johnston made his senior debut for Alhambra on 31 May 1902 against Southern and played well with the link to his older cousin noted in an article in the Otago Witness. He began playing for the senior side regularly in 1903 with an article following a preseason game saying "W. Johnston, a junior forward, who played in the Alhambra ranks on Saturday is a fine stamp of a player, who should find a place in the first this year". He made his full representative début for

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

in 1903 and represented Otago again in 1904, playing in six matches in total. In 1904 he was the first player sent off in a

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

match as Otago went down 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 ...

. He played for the South Island in 1904, 1905 and 1907. Johnston was first chosen 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 ...

as part of their first tour of Great Britain. This team became known as the "Originals" and was hugely successful. However, Johnston was sickly on the tour and played in only thirteen matches, missing all of the test matches. Johnston returned to the All Blacks for their 1907 tests against Australia, playing in all three matches in the series.

Rugby League

Johnston joined the professional All Blacks in their 1907–08 tour of Australia and Great Britain, returning to the two countries he had played in as an All Black. At the time of the tour Johnston was at the peak of his career and had earned respect as a forward with a clean style of play. Johnston had helped select the side and was part of the Management committee while on tour. Along with

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...

, Johnston was in charge of coaching the forwards while on tour. He was also an integral part of the forward pack and played in all eight test matches. He scored tries in the second and third tests against the

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but was then wrongly sent off in the first test match against

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. However, he returned to play in the second and third test matches. In all games on tour, Johnston scored a total of five tries. After returning to New Zealand with the touring party, Johnston then returned to Great Britain, signing with the

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

club. In Wigan he helped the club win

the Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divis ...

. Massa Johnston played at , and scored a try in

's 10–9 victory over

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in the 1908 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1908–09 season at

Wheater's Field Wheater's Field was a stadium, rugby ground in Broughton, Salford, Broughton, County Borough of Salford, Salford, England. It was home to the Broughton Rangers rugby league club of the Rugby Football League, Northern Union. On 19 October 1907, ...

, Broughton, on Saturday 19 December 1908. In mid December 1910 he moved to

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, he was Warrington's first player from New Zealand, and as of 2016, he is the only former

All Black 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 ...

to play for Warrington. After the war he returned to Dunedin but moved to Auckland to played rugby league and appeared in one match for Grafton Athletic.

Later years

After retirement Johnston moved to Australia where he was a

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at the Royal Sydney Agricultural Showgrounds. He died 9 January 1951 in Sydney.

References

External links

*
Massa Johnston
''Wigan Warriors'', Accessed 17 August 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Massa 1881 births 1951 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Dual-code rugby internationals Grafton Athletic players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England Otago rugby union players Rugby league players from Dunedin Rugby league second-rows Rugby union forwards Rugby union players from Dunedin South Island rugby union players Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors players