RTÉ Brainstorm article on the Original All Black - Dave Gallaher (1873-1917)

The captain of the New Zealand rugby team known as the 'Original All Blacks' was Dave Gallaher (1873-1917). He was born in Ramelton, County Donegal and emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1878. I have just written a short article about him for the RTÉ Brainstorm website. Read it here.

 

Photograph of Dave Gallaher from 1905. Image source.

As I mention in the RTÉ Brainstorm article, Gallaher has an entry in both the Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB) and its New Zealand equivalent - the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. You can read them here and here. He began playing rugby for the Ponsonby Rugby Football Club after the family moved to Auckland a couple of years after his mother's death in 1887.

 

Dave Gallaher in his Ponsonby rugby jersey. Image source.

The first match between Ireland and the All Blacks took place at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on November 25th 1905. You can read an account of the match from the Maitland Daily Mercury here. They seem to have got their information from the Daily Mail but it is still interesting to read what commentators thought of the match at the time. He managed to visit his native Donegal during the trip to Ireland. I wonder what the locals made of his strange accent and what he thought of their distinctive accent.

When he heard that his younger brother, Douglas Wallace Gallaher, was killed in action in France during the Battle of the Somme in June 1916, Dave enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was one of over 120,000 New Zealanders to enlist and one of over 100,000 New Zealanders to serve overseas during the First World War.

 

Photograph of Corporal Dave Gallaher in uniform. Image source.

Dave Gallaher was one of 13 former All Blacks to lose their lives during the War. Altogether three Gallaher siblings perished during the conflict. Along with Douglas and Dave, another brother, Henry, was killed by shellfire in April 1918. Sadly, some 18,000 New Zealanders lost their lives on the Western Front during the War. You can learn more about New Zealand's contribution here.

 

Dave Gallaher's gravestone in Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinge. Image source.

 

If you would like to find out more about Dave Gallaher and the Original All Blacks, there is a 44 minute film here on YouTube called 'Dave Gallaher - the Original All Black'. It was made by Letterkenny RFC, whose ground was renamed 'Dave Gallaher Park' in 1999.