{{Short description|New Zealand international rugby league footballer}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox rugby league biography |name = Albert Baskerville |fullname = Albert Henry Baskiville |nickname = |image = Albert baskerville.jpg |caption = |birth_date = 15 January 1883 |birth_place = Waiorongomai, Te Aroha, Waikato, New Zealand |death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1908|5|20|1883|1|15}} |death_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |height = {{convert|5|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}} |weight = {{convert|11|st|12|lb|kg|abbr=on}} |position = {{rlp|WG}} |first = RU |ru_position = Three-quarters |ru_club1 = Wellington (club) |ru_year1start = 1903 |ru_year1end = |ru_appearances1 = 2 |ru_tries1 = 1 |ru_goals1 = 0 |ru_fieldgoals1 = 0 |ru_points1 = 3 |ru_club2 = Oriental |ru_year2start = 1904 |ru_year2end = 07 |ru_appearances2 = 24 |ru_tries2 = 7 |ru_goals2 = 0 |ru_fieldgoals2 = 0 |ru_points2 = 21 |ru_club3 = Post & Telegraph (midweek) |ru_year3start = 1904 |ru_year3end = |ru_appearances3 = 4 |ru_tries3 = 6 |ru_goals3 = 0 |ru_fieldgoals3 = 0 |ru_points3 = 18 |ru_teamA = Wednesday Reps |ru_yearAstart = 1905 |ru_yearAend = |ru_appearancesA = 1 |ru_triesA = 0 |ru_goalsA = 0 |ru_fieldgoalsA = 0 |ru_pointsA = 0 | teamA = New Zealand | yearAstart = 1907 | yearAend = 08 | appearancesA = 3 | triesA = 2 | goalsA = 0 | fieldgoalsA = 0 | pointsA = 6 | updated = | source = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/albert-baskerville/summary.html |title=Albert Baskerville |website=Rugby League Project |date=31 December 2017 |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> | module = {{infobox person | embed = yes | father = Henry William Baskiville | mother = Maria Mace | spouse = | education = | relatives = | notable_works = ''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Player, the Spectator'' }} }}
thumb|New Zealand Rugby League Team of 1907–08 to Tour England right|thumb|Members of the 1932 English touring side laying a wreath on Albert Baskerville's grave at Karori Cemetery thumb|right '''Albert (Bert) Henry Baskerville''' (born as '''"Baskiville"'''<ref>{{cite web |author=Sean Fagan |title=Albert Baskerville – Or Baskiville? |url=http://www.rl1908.com/articles/Baskerville.htm |access-date=28 June 2008 |website=RL1908 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517144647/http://www.rl1908.com/articles/Baskerville.htm |archive-date=17 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>) (15 January 1883 – 20 May 1908) was a Wellington, New Zealand, postal clerk, a rugby union forward, author of the book ''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Player, the Spectator'' and a pioneer of rugby league.
==Rugby football== His father, Henry William Baskiville, had been killed in an accident on 30 January 1903 when doing some drainage works on Upper Queen Street in Auckland. He and some other workmen were working in a deep excavation when one side of it began to collapse, men called out but his father moved the wrong way and was buried to his neck. He was quickly removed but his injuries were too serious to survive.<ref>{{cite news |title=Telegraphic News |page=22 |work=New Zealand Mail |number=1614 |date=4 February 1903 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL19030204.2.66 |accessdate=28 March 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref> This left Albert as the main income earner for the family since then and they moved to Wellington shortly afterwards.<ref name=book />
Prior to becoming the administrator of the 1907-08 tour, Baskerville played rugby for the Wellington club in 1903 (making two appearances for their senior side) before switching to the Oriental club in 1904 where he played regularly in the backs for the senior side. He was said to be on the verge of provincial selection towards the end of the 1907 season but was not included in the Wellington representative side.<ref name=book>{{cite book |author=John Haynes |title=From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers |location=Christchurch |publisher=Ryan and Haynes |date=1996 |isbn=0-473-03864-1}}</ref> He also played for the Post and Telegraph mid-week side in 1904 which won the tournament, beating Cycle and Bearers in the final. In the following year, he represented the Wednesday Players representative side in a match against the Wairarapa Thursday representative side.
His book, ''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Player, the Spectator'', was published in 1907 and gave him somewhat of a national profile. After the success of this project he moved on to his next ambitious idea, a professional rugby tour of Great Britain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://allgolds.net/ |title=The All Golds |access-date=4 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010124413/http://www.allgolds.net/ |archive-date=10 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Baskerville competed in many athletic events from 1903 to 1907 as a short and middle-distance runner where he would compete for prize money. In late 1905, he filed a patent for a "cuff protector and blotter".<ref>{{cite news |title=Patents |page=2 |work=Evening Post |volume=LXX |issue=91 |date=14 October 1905 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19051014.2.9 |accessdate=20 March 2022 |via=Papers Past}}</ref>
==The Tour== {{Main|1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Great Britain}} Baskerville wrote to the Northern Union and asked if it would host a touring party of New Zealand rugby players. The Northern Union was excited by this proposal and quickly agreed. Baskerville began to work full-time on organising the tour, leaving his job at the Postal Department and severing his connection with the Oriental Football Club. The Wellington Rugby Union moved quickly to attempt to stop him from attending its grounds and he received a life ban from the New Zealand Rugby Union. Despite this he managed to put together an impressive touring party that included eight All Blacks, including four from the 1905 tour of Great Britain. The team was dubbed the All Golds by the Sydney press, a derogatory play on the New Zealand rugby union team's nickname the All Blacks.
The tour was a great success both financially (each player earned roughly £300) and on the field, where the touring side won consecutive Test series against Great Britain and Australia. For most of the tour, Baskerville was busy with the administration work and it was not until the final game of the British leg, against St Helens R.F.C., that he played, scoring a try. On arriving in Australia he then played in the first ever trans-Tasman test which was the first match by the Australia national rugby league team, again scoring a try. That was to be the only time that Baskerville represented New Zealand in a Test match. Baskerville contracted pneumonia on the ship taking the touring party from Sydney to Brisbane and, after several days in hospital, died aged 25 in Brisbane on 20 May 1908.<ref>{{cite web |author=Sean Fagan |title=2008 RUGBY LEAGUE CENTENARY NEWS & UPDATES |url=http://www.rl1908.com/Centenary/nz-allgolds-august17th.htm |access-date=28 June 2008 |website=RL1908 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506140540/http://www.rl1908.com/Centenary/nz-allgolds-august17th.htm |archive-date=6 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His body was taken by the manager, Harry Palmer, and a group of players from each province back to Wellington. The rest of the touring party stayed in Australia to complete the remaining fixtures. Like five other members of the touring party, Baskerville is buried at Karori Cemetery.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=29312 |title=Relatives and Teams to remember Original All Golds |publisher=New Zealand Rugby League |date=10 October 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012183957/http://rleague.com/db/article.php?id=29312 |archivedate=12 October 2007}}</ref>
==Legacy== {{Blockquote|It was he who practically originated the professional Rugby movement in Australasia|''The Sydney Mail'', 27 May 1908<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165394846 |title=A. H. BASKERVILLE. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail And New South Wales Advertiser |volume=LXXXV |issue=2429 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 May 1908 |access-date=16 March 2026 |page=1413 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>}}On their return from Australia the remaining members of the tour party held a memorial game, the first game of rugby league in New Zealand, and raised £300 for his widowed mother.<ref name=book />
The Courtney Goodwill Trophy, international rugby league's first, was presented for the first time in 1936 and depicted Baskiville, along with other pioneering greats of the code, Jean Galia (France), James Lomas (England) and Dally Messenger (Australia).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nsm.org.au/Whats%20On/Latest%20News/2009/April/~/media/Files/Rugby_League_Fast_Facts.ashx |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914123213/http://www.nsm.org.au/Whats%20On/Latest%20News/2009/April/~/media/Files/Rugby_League_Fast_Facts.ashx |archivedate=14 September 2009 |website=League of Legends |title=Fast facts about rugby league}}</ref>
He is commemorated by the naming of the Baskerville Shield, the trophy awarded when Great Britain and New Zealand meet in test series. In 2001, Baskerville was inducted as one of the NZRL Legends of League.<ref>{{cite web |title = New Zealand Rugby League Annual Report 2008 |publisher=NZRL |year=2008 |page=9 |url=http://www.nzrl.co.nz/files/financials/nzrl_2008annualreport_part1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912205939/http://www.nzrl.co.nz/files/financials/nzrl_2008annualreport_part1.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 September 2009 |access-date=21 July 2009}}</ref>
==See also== *2007 "All Golds" Tour – celebrating the centenary of Baskerville's 1907 Tour. *History of Rugby League
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite web |url=http://www.rlhalloffame.org.uk/baskiville.htm |website=Virtual Rugby League Hall of Fame |title=Albert Baskiville |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106192527/http://www.rlhalloffame.org.uk/baskiville.htm |archivedate=6 January 2009}} * {{New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame|name=Albert Baskerville}}
{{New Zealand All Golds 1907}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baskerville, Albert Henry}} Category:1883 births Category:1908 deaths Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Category:Burials at Karori Cemetery Category:History of rugby league Category:History of rugby union Category:New Zealand national rugby league team players Category:New Zealand rugby league administrators Category:New Zealand rugby league players Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:Rugby league in New Zealand Category:Rugby league players from Te Aroha Category:Rugby league wingers Category:Rugby union controversies Category:Rugby union players from Te Aroha Category:Wellington rugby union players