Test Matches - New Zealand - Albert Baskiville

Details taken from Wikipedia

Albert Henry Baskiville (sometimes spelt Baskerville) was a Wellington 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.

In 1907, he persuaded a group of New Zealand rugby union players to tour Great Britain, playing under the new professional Northern Union code. Baskiville's motives appear to have been mainly financial; a recent rugby union tour of Great Britain had netted handsome profits, and he hoped to do likewise. It is generally believed that Baskiville first became aware of the profits to be made from such a venture while he was working at the Wellington Post Office: a colleague had a coughing fit and dropped a British newspaper. Baskerville picked it up and chanced upon a report about a Northern Union match that over 40,000 people had attended. Baskerville wrote to the NU asking if they would host a NZ touring party. The team was dubbed the All Golds by the New Zealand press, a derogatory pun on the New Zealand rugby union team's nickname of All Blacks.

The Baskerville Shield is a trophy awarded to the winner of Rugby League test series between Great Britain and New Zealand. The shield was inaugurated in 2002, and is currently held by Great Britain. The spelling of the trophy reflects the controversy over his name, as there is much evidence to suggest that Baskiville was the spelling used by the man himself.