The Toll on Rugby
It can be sobering to realise that World War One left very few New Zealand families, very few communities and very few workplaces unaffected. It also left very few sports unaffected, including rugby.
Of the 30 men who started the "Originals" All Blacks - England match at 2.40 pm on a December day in 1905, two died on the Ypres Salient. Dave Gallaher, the All Black captain, died of wounds he received at Passchendaele in October 1917, just four months after the Battle of Messines.
Starting the match on the England side of the field was John Raphael, a centre who went on to captain Great Britain against Argentina in 1910. He died of wounds he received on Messines Ridge on the day the battle began - June 7, 1917. In fact, although a British citizen, Raphael had been born in Brussels, today less than 90 minutes' drive from Messines.
Dave Gallaher's grave (right) in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's cemetery at Nine Elms, the casualty station he was evacuated to, has become well-known. Visitors have included the 1924 Invincibles right through to a group of former French internationals last year. John Raphael's grave is just four kilometres away at the large Lijssenthoek cemetery, also the site of casualty stations.
One other member of the 1905 All Black ‘Originals' died in World War One - Eric Harper, who didn't play in the Test against England that day, but played in the Test against France later in the tour. He died in the Middle East in 1918 and is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial.
In effect, Gallaher, Raphael and Harper were "odd ones out" when it came to members of the 1905 teams serving in World War One. In 1905 many of the players were into their 20s or older. When the three died in the war, Gallaher was 43, Raphael was 35 and Harper was 40.
Projecting forward into international teams of 1913 and 1914, the toll becomes much more grim. Three 1913 All Blacks who played Australia died of wounds received at Messines - one on the day itself and two a little later. George Sellars died on June 7 1917, the first day of the battle, while Jim McNeece and Reg Taylor died two weeks later. George Sellars is commemorated on the New Zealand Memorial at the Messines Ridge Cemetery, Reg Taylor's grave is at Underhill Farm nearby, while Jim McNeece's grave is at St Sever, Rouen, France, which was a base hospital at the time.
Third of England team killed
A third of the 15 members of England's grand-slam winning side of 1914 were killed - the five included their captain Ronald Poulton Palmer, who was killed in 1915 by a stray bullet or sniper while superintending work in the trenches in front of Ploegsteert Wood down the hill from Messines. If fact, of the 30 men who played in the England-Scotland match of 1914, 11 were killed in the war.
The toll of international rugby captains is three - Gallaher of New Zealand, Poulton Palmer of England and Fredrick Harding Turner, the Scottish captain in 1913. He died on January 10 1915, aged 27. His grave is at the Kemmel Churchyard in West Flanders.
In total, 13 of the 213 men who had played for New Zealand prior to World War One died in the war, a proportion that becomes much more significant as those who were early players are discounted from the equation on grounds of age.
As well as New Zealand's 13, tentative figures compiled from a number of sources show there were at least 28 from England, 30 Scottish, nine Irish, 11 Welsh, 23 French, four South African and nine Australian capped internationals who died in World War One.
With thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the New Zealand Rugby Museum, the Scottish Rugby Union and the England Rugby Football Union.