It is difficult to truncate the history of Grammar Carlton, given there are three clubs involved – Grammar Old Boys, Grafton and Cornwall.
Grafton, the oldest of the three, was founded in 1873 and 10 years later with Ponsonby, North Shore and Auckland formed the Auckland Rugby Football Union.
Next to come along was Grammar Old Boys in 1914.
Cornwall, originally named Technical College Old Boys, came to life in 1922. But it was renamed Cornwall in 1950 when the club was allocated a home ground at Cornwall Park.
Carlton is the name originally given to the merger of Cornwall and Grafton at the end of the 1982 season and today’s title of Grammar Carlton occurred when the amalgamation of Carlton and Grammar Old Boys occurred in 1996.
Both Technical Old Boys and Grammar Old Boys had their origins in leading schools of their eras. Grammar was made up of pupils of Auckland Grammar School, which was first situated in Symonds Street, while Technical Old Boys stemmed from the Seddon Memorial Technical College founded at the top of Wellesley Street East near the heart of the city and just a stones throw from the original AGS.
Grafton:
Grafton won its first championship in 1886 and until 1912 continued to be a major force at club level.
The hard times that prevailed up to the First World War, saw the demise of the club’s senior team. But in the immediate post war years it started a major rejuvenation of its fortunes.
From 1920 until 1935 Grafton won 13 Auckland Rugby championships at various levels including in 1934 the Gallaher Shield after two play-off matches against Manukau.
In 1942 the club moved their headquarters to Edwin Street in Mt Eden, which coincidentally had been named after a foundation member, Edwin Myers. The Second World War prompted a temporary amalgamation with Ponsonby due to Ponsonby’s Drill Hall headquarters being needed for the war effort.
Despite the loss of a large number of players during the war Grafton flourished until 1954 when it fell on hard times, which eventually led to the amalgamations that formed Cornwall.
Grammar Old Boys:
On April 24, 1914 a meeting of 35 ex-AGS pupils in a classroom in Symonds Street formed the Auckland Grammar School Old Boys Club.
The meeting had stemmed from the regular lunchtime gathering of former AGS pupils by the famous and well-used horse trough at the lower end of Victoria Street East.
In the 1920’s the club agreed to admit former pupils of Mt Albert Grammar which had been founded in 1922, and by 1927 Takapuna Grammar’s Old Boys also gained admittance.
It meant a change in the design of the original club badge, which had comprised the single heraldic lion of AGS. The new badge contained three similar lions. And on March 15, 1932, the name of the club was changed to Grammar Old Boys.
The first headquarters were established inVictoria Arcade in Shortland Street and it then moved to the Irvine Chambers in Queen Street. But by 1928 it had returned to its first headquarters in Shortland Street.
The first team practices were held in the Government House paddock next to the University in Symonds Street. The dressing sheds were contained with the armoury beneath the old Auckland Grammar School.
Over the years the club practised at Victoria Park, the Kingsland Drill Hall, in Parnell’s training sheds and at Ponsonby, Marist and Grafton’s headquarters.
In December 1950 Grammar Old Boys acquired a lease of a large tract of land from the Newmarket Borough Council. It was in Ayr Street, Parnell and was covered in gorse and blackberry. But working bees typical of the era soon cleared it and by 1953 the club had began building a new training shed.
The following year, despite the clubrooms not being completed teams began training there.
Six hundred members attended the official opening on October 2, 1954. And in 1965, when the property became freehold, the club was at last home.
Grammar Old Boys won its first senior championship in 1920 and two years later earned a unique place in Auckland’s rugby history by becoming the first winner of the coveted Gallaher Shield.
Many great All Blacks played for Grammar and Grafton over the years and there have been myriad administrators from all three clubs who have left an indelible mark on the game. A total of 40 All Blacks have represented the three Clubs since Darby Ryan and Jack Lecky were selected in 1884. Other All Blacks include Frank Surman, Scobie MacKenzie, Dick McGregor, Harry Kiernan, James Maguire, Ces Badeley, Mark Nichols, Carl Ifwerson, Jim O’Brien, Vic Badeley, Bert Cooke, Lawrence Knight, Arthur Knight, Don Wright, Walter Batty, Merv Corner, Hugh McLean, Brian Killeen, Terry Lockington, John Dick, Fred Allen, Nev Thornton, Arthur Hughes, Jack Kelly, Percy Erceg, Mick Bremner, Wilson Whinneray, Kel Tremain, Bruce Gemmell, Lawrie Knight, Stu Conn, Tim Twigden, Gary Whetton, Alan Whetton, Ant Strachan, Adrian Cashmore and Charles Riechelmann, Derren Witcombe
Cornwall:
Shortly after the foundation of Technical College Old Boys in 1922, the club amalgamated with the Post and Telegraph Rugby Football Club, which brought about a change of name to United. But by 1927 it had reverted back to its original name.
Between 1928 and 1935 the club won its fair share of trophies, including the Pollard Cup four times, the Thistle Cup, the Jubilee Trophy and the Silver Football, culminating in its 1935 success in the Gallaher Shield.
The move to Cornwall Park came in 1950 and the name change attracted new members from wealthier areas of the city, such as from Epsom and Greenlane. By 1956 it had established clubrooms and a floodlit training ground at Cornwall Park.
The new existing clubrooms were completed in the early 1980’s which coincided with the name change to Carlton Rugby Football Club. This name remained until 1996 with the amalgamation of Carlton and Grammar Old Boys to form the present club of Grammar Carlton.
From Grafton’s black and white hoops, through Grammar’s white with gold trim, to Cornwall’s green and gold, there has been pride in wearing those jerseys over a lifetime, just as there is pride today wearing the white, green and gold of Grammar Carlton.