George Carter (Rugby)
Encyclopedia
George Carter was a New Zealand Rugby Union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who played for the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

. Although he never played in any test matches for the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 he was always known for being a strong forward, and any knocking around would not seem to do anything to him.

Rugby career

In 1874 rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 had become the preferred code, and clubs were forming, there were at least six in 1874. A year later, in 1875, the Aucklanders felt confident enough to undertake a nationwide tour. The team was picked from players in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 clubs and called Auckland Combined Clubs. This team is now known as the first first-class side in New Zealand rugby history. The match they played with Dunedin Clubs in Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...

 was also known as the first representative match in this country. Auckland's results were not good, suffering five heavy defeats in as many matches. Carter had been a member of the touring team and was among the first 30 players to appear in New Zealand representative rugby. Although normally a forward, he was one of Auckland's three fullbacks in that first representative match. He represented Auckland for nearly a decade, although matches were few and far between. He was normally one of the first men picked and played in the second New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 match in 1882, when Auckland gave the tourists a hiding, 18–4. In 1883, when the newly-formed Auckland union played its first matches, Carter was still involved. Carter played all three games that season at halfback. New Zealand rugby men had had good results against New South Wales in 1882 and in 1884 they returned. As the four unions then in existence all supported the venture, each was invited to nominate players to make up the team. Carter wasn't among the original choices, but was one of two men invited to replace other Aucklanders (Bob Whiteside, Frank Clayton, and J.C. Webster), who withdrew after selection. Carter played at wing forward in the match against Wellington and is therefore among the original 15 New Zealand representatives. He appeared in six of the eight matches in Australia, including two of the three against New South Wales. He played no more representative rugby after this tour.

Ponsonby

Carter's name appears on the Ponsonby
Ponsonby, New Zealand
Ponsonby is an inner-city suburb of Auckland City located 2 km west of the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. The suburb is oriented along a ridge running north-south, which is followed by the main street of the suburb, Ponsonby Road....

club's honours board as one of their All Blacks, although he never had any connection with them. The board was prepared in the 1960s and at that time accurate information about many early All Blacks was lacking. There might have been some vague stirrings in a long memory about the bearded old-timer. However Carter never played for Ponsonby, the closest he got was playing matches against them.
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