page_title: Joe Warbrick
section_title: Domestic tour and British Isles
hierarchical_section_title: Joe Warbrick / 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team / Domestic tour and British Isles
caption_attribution_description: English: New Zealand native rugby union team, prior to a match against Middlesex at Lord Sheffield's Park on 20 October 1888. Back row - T. Ayton (Promoter), R. Maynard, G. Goldsmith. Second row - Jack Lawlor, David Stewart, Wiri Nehua, Harry Lee, George Williams, Teo Rene, Wi Karauria, William Warbrick, E. Ihimaira, James Scott (Manager). Third row - Richard Taiaroa, William Elliott, Thomas Ellison, Joe Warbrick (Captain), Edward McCausland, W. Anderson, Patrick Keogh Bottom row - Arthur Warbrick, William Wynyard, David Gage, Fred Warbrick, Charles Madigan, Alexander Webster. George Wynyard and Alfred Warbrick were in London when the photograph was taken. (Description supplied with photograph.).
context_page_description: Joseph Astbury Warbrick was a Māori rugby union player who represented New Zealand on their 1884 tour to Australia and later captained the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team that embarked on a 107-match tour of New Zealand, Australia, and the British Isles.
  Born in Rotorua, Warbrick played club rugby for Auckland side Ponsonby while boarding at St Stephen's Native School. In 1877, he was selected to play fullback for Auckland Provincial Clubs as a 15-year-old, making him the youngest person to play first-class rugby in New Zealand. He played for Auckland against the visiting New South Wales team, the first overseas side to tour the country, in 1882. Two years later, he was selected for the first New Zealand representative team, and playing mainly as a three-quarter, appeared in seven of the side's eight matches on their tour of New South Wales.
  In 1888, Warbrick conceived of, selected, and led the privately funded New Zealand Native team. The squad, which included four of Warbrick's brothers, was originally envisaged to contain only Māori players, but eventually included several New Zealand-born and foreign-born Europeans.
context_section_description: The side's first match was against Hawke's Bay on 23 June 1888, with Warbrick playing in the backs. The match was won 5–0, and was followed by a second match a week later in which Warbrick contributed 10 points in an 11–0 victory.
  The next match was against a strong Auckland side, who defeated the Natives 9–0. The heavy defeat was costly for the Native team, with Warbrick breaking several bones in his foot. It was his last game until November that year, and the loss prompted the addition of Patrick Keogh – one of the five Pākehā in the side – to the squad before its departure from New Zealand.
  The team departed New Zealand on 1 August 1888, and sailed to England via Melbourne. After their six-week voyage from Australia, the Native team arrived in England on 27 September 1888. Their first match was against Surrey, on 3 October, but Joe Warbrick was still injured and did not play. The side played regularly – they averaged just over three games per week while in Britain – but Warbrick did not appear until 7 November when the team faced Tynemouth. The match was won 7–1, but Warbrick – who played at fullback – exacerbated his foot injury. He managed to play six matches between mid-December and early January before he was again injured. He appeared against Stockport, a match drawn 3–3, on 12 January, but despite being fit enough to play his form was poor.
  Warbrick only played twice more in the following month, and was not fit enough to be selected for the team that faced England on 16 February. The match resulted in a controversial 7–0 loss for the Natives, and included the awarding of two dubious English tries by the referee George Rowland Hill – who was also Secretary of the English Rugby Football Union (RFU). The loss and aftermath soured the relationship between Warbrick's team and the RFU – who accused the Natives of poor sportsmanship after they had protested at the awarding of the controversial tries.
  By the time the team departed for Australia in late March they had played 74 matches in Britain, winning 49, losing 20, and drawing 5. However, due to injury, Warbrick only appeared in 14 matches; in contrast David Gage featured in 68, and eight other members played more than 50. Warbrick was not the only player to experience injury; the taxing schedule of matches took a toll, and he frequently struggled to find a full complement of 15 fit players. On top of playing relatively few matches in Britain, Warbrick scored only once there – a conversion against Devon.
  The high injury toll and congested schedule contributed to complaints about Joe Warbrick's behaviour. His comments to the English press – who directed much of their focus towards him – were viewed negatively by some members of the squad; he was accused of neglecting to acknowledge the contributions of players such as Thomas Ellison, Gage, Keogh, and Edward McCausland but to extol the efforts of himself and his brothers.
  Warbrick said of his time in the British Isles: "My impression of England and its people during the tour was a very favourable one, more especially does this apply to private individuals. I found them everywhere very kind and attentive and apparently anxious to make one's visit as pleasant as possible". The term "private individuals" may have been used to exclude from praise both the RFU and London press.
  Following the tour he also criticised the partiality of the English referees, and believed that the English administrators displayed a double standard in their treatment of the Natives; the RFU treated the Native team's motives for touring with suspicion, believing the enterprise to be speculative and criticising them for not upholding the amateur principles the RFU liked to espouse. Yet the RFU continued to select Andrew Stoddart for England, despite him touring with the speculative and unsanctioned 1888 British team that travelled to New Zealand and Australia.
caption: The New Zealand Native Football team before an 1888 match in England. Warbrick is seated in the second row from the front, and fourth from the left.
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