Bert Feary

Bertram Edward Feary (3 December 1885 – 26 May 1952) was a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s. He played at representative level for New Zealand (Heritage No. 53), and Nelson, as a forward (prior to the specialist positions of; prop, hooker, second-row, loose forward), during the era of contested scrums.^[1][2][3][4]

Bert Feary

Personal information
Full name	Bertram Edward Feary
Born	(1885-12-03)3 December 1885
Died	26 May 1952(1952-05-26) (aged 66)
Playing information
Position	Forward
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1911–13 Albion Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1910–13 Nelson 9 0 0 0 0 1911 New Zealand 3 0 0 0 0 1911–12 Golden Bay 3 0 0 0 0
Source: ^[1]

Playing career

Nelson and Golden Bay

Bert Feary switched codes in 1910 and played a match for Nelson against the touring Auckland side at Trafalgar Park. Auckland won 24–13.^[5] In 1911 he played for the Albion club in the fledgling Nelson competition. On July 29 he played for Golden Bay against Nelson and then in August he was selected for the Nelson team to tour the North Island. He played against Auckland on June 10 at Victoria Park, Auckland with Nelson going down 36–12.^[6] He then played against Taranaki at Eltham in a 16–8 defeat before playing Wanganui at Cooks Gardens in a heavy 40–0 loss.

In 1912 Feary played twice for Golden Bay. The first match was a 20–7 loss against the touring Wanganui side on April 5 and the second was on July 27 against Nelson and resulted in a 27–7 win. He also played for Nelson against Wellington on June 8 at St Patricks College in Wellington. Wellington won 19–6 in extremely poor weather. His last representative match of the season was for Nelson against Marlborough on October 12. The match was played in Blenheim with Nelson winning 21 to 6.

1913 saw Feary playing 3 further matches for Nelson. The first was against Marlborough at Trafalgar Park with Nelson winning comfortably 35–0. He then played against Auckland at Victoria Park before 2,500 spectators. Nelson went down 16–2.^[7] His final match was against the touring New South Wales who trounced Nelson 66–2 with 1,500 in attendance at Trafalagar Park. With the outbreak of war rugby league ceased to be played in the region and after the war Feary became involved in rugby union.

International honours

He was nominated for the New Zealand team by the Nelson union along with teammate Dave Mason. Feary represented New Zealand in 1911, touring Australia. He played for the New Zealand team against Auckland at the Takapuna Racecourse prior to the teams departure and played in 2 matches in Australia.^[8]

References

1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
2. "Roll of Honour at nzrl.co.nz". nzrl.co.nz. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
3. "Past Kiwis → F at nzrl.co.nz". nzrl.co.nz. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
4. "Profile at nzleague.co.nz". nzleague.co.nz. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
5. "Auckland v Nelson". Vol. XLV, no. XLV. Nelson Evening Mail. 1910-10-06. p. 6. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
6. "Auckland Win Again/Victory Over Nelson". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. XLVIII, no. 147680. 1911-08-28. p. 9. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
7. "A Stirring Wet Day Match". Auckland Star. Vol. XLIV, no. 184. 1913-08-04. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
8. "New Zealand v Auckland/Win for Dominion Team". Auckland Star. Vol. XLII, no. 138. 1911-06-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-12-15.