After three weeks of practice in inclement weather the competition commenced on 16 May.
Statistics Including the knockout games there were 28 first grade games played with 109 tries, 39 conversions, 59 penalties, 3 drop goals, and 3 goals from a mark. The average number of points per game was 19.1, with 3.9 tries per game. With 39 conversions from 109 attempts the successful percentage was 35.8. These were decreases on the previous season where 22 points had been scored per game and the conversion percentage was 49 versus the current season of 39.
Myers Cup standings The standings include the final between North Shore and Ponsonby won by North Shore by 13 points to 2.
Myers Cup fixtures Round 1 Otahuhu's beginning to senior rugby league got off to an inauspicious start when they began their match with just nine players. At halftime they were brought up to a full thirteen when substitutes arrived.
Percy Williams who had previously represented Auckland at rugby union before being signed by
Wigan where he played from 1910 to 1913 had returned to Auckland. He had played for New Zealand on their tour of Australia as a late addition mid tour. He turned out for the
City Rovers and played his debut match against
Otahuhu.
Bill Walsh debuted for Ponsonby but broke a bone in his foot. For Grafton, Alan Douglas Gibbs Dawson debuted for them at fullback. He had been a successful athlete at Auckland Grammar School and a member of the College Rifles rugby club before switching to rugby league. He played 4 matches for Grafton during the year and in 1915 enlisted in the war. He was killed on April 25 (ANZAC DAY), 1915 at Gallipoli.
Round 2 After the injury to
Bill Walsh, the New Zealand international,
Charles Webb, was called back in to service in his old position at halfback for Ponsonby. He had been a spectator in round 1. Bizarrely Len Farrant kicked 3 goals for City against his own Newton side that he played for in the week prior and would play for again later in the season. There was nothing around a transfer or transfer request in the newspapers.
Round 3 Edward Fox scored a try on full time to win the game for North Shore over City 8-6 at the Auckland Domain. Sixteen years later the premier club trophy in Auckland would be named after him.
Ernie Asher scored all of City's points through kicks at goal. It was noted in the Auckland Star that Asher had been jeered when he took shots for goal by sections of the crowd which numbered in the thousands and which also encroached on the field several times. Towards the end of the match after Fox's try the crowd were inciting the players and rough play resulted with two players sent off. The newspaper reports had brought up the lack of any fencing being an issue at these matches which were drawing large crowds at the Domain and Victoria Park each week. The two players ordered off and another from another senior match were not named and were let off with warnings.
Round 4 The City v Ponsonby game was notable for the constant penalties awarded by referee Dick Benson. The Auckland Star reported apologised in their piece for the "monotony" of their report. There were 8 penalty goals kicked and numerous other attempts missed along with several shots for goal from marks. In the end the two tries City scored were the difference over Ponsonby's one, winning 16-13. Grafton secured their first ever senior grade win, with
Karl Ifwersen scoring all of their 12 points from 2 tries, 2 conversions and a penalty. The league was providing an official matchday program for sale at the games for three pence, however it was complained that the players were taking the field without numbers making the team lists near useless. Cecil Louis Walker debuted for Grafton, playing in the forwards. He played 6 matches for them through the season and enlisted in the war effort. He was killed in action at the Somme, France on 16 September, 1916 aged 28.
Round 5 In the match between Grafton and City both
Albert Asher (City) and
Bob Mitchell (Grafton) were ordered off midway through the second half. William Ernest Fincham, a former
Taranaki league representative scored a try for Grafton. He had played for Taranaki against Auckland in 1911. It was after referee
William Wynyard had awarded Fincham's try that he saw the two players (Albert Asher and Bob Mitchell) "strangling each other". Mitchell was a former City player. At the time the crowd was also said to be "completely out of control". Both players denied doing anything wrong though Mitchell had suggested that it was apparent throughout the match that his former team mates were out for him. Both players were severely cautioned during the following week.
Sam Lowrie scored his first ever try for Ponsonby. He had been named in their squads for several weeks but it was the first confirmation that he had actually taken the field. He would go on to play for New Zealand and be one of New Zealand's outstanding hookers in its early decades. His grand nephew was
Jason Lowrie who also represented New Zealand.
Round 6 Karl Ifwersen received an injury to his jaw the previous week but played in round 6 only to injure the area again. A trip to the doctor revealed that it had been dislocated. A crowd of 5,000 packed into Victoria Park to see the matches. It was a charge day for the Auckland rugby league and they made an estimated 100 pounds. The fields were also fenced which kept the spectators off the field for the first time in many weeks.
Round 7 George Gillett was granted a transfer from the
Newton Rangers (where he was a life member) to the Ponsonby United club. The transfer needed the casting vote of the chairman before it was confirmed. He debuted for Ponsonby in their match with Otahuhu. Charles James Hally scored for Otahuhu in their 13-9 loss to Ponsonby. He enlisted in the war effort the following year and was killed at Gallipoli on July 26, 1915. Barnard Longbottom scored for Ponsonby. He would go on to become a prominent official for Ponsonby and Auckland Rugby League throughout the 1910s, 20s, and 30s.
Round 8 The match between North Shore and City was originally scheduled to take place at Victoria Park but was transferred to the Devonport Domain. The crowd of over 2 to 3,000 was said to have been the biggest crowd ever seen at the ground. The match was 'gated' and the league profited by around 25 pounds. The home team won 9 points to 7 thanks to a try to
Stan Walters and 3 goals kicked by Jack Paul. Otahuhu won their first game of the season defeating Newton 10-5 at Victoria Park.
Round 9 In the match between Otahuhu and Grafton, Montrose (Monty) Stanaway, the Otahuhu captain was ordered off the field by referee Tyson for disputing a decision. He was the younger brother of
Alex Stanaway and
Jack Stanaway. The match between North Shore and Newton was a farce with Newton only mustering 8 players. Two of the spectators joined the Newton team who were being trounced and the match finished 43 to 2 in favour of North Shore. The newspapers did not bother recording the point scorers though they did mention that the Shore side gave everybody in the team a chance to kick for goal.
Final A record crowd of 7,000 packed the Victoria Park sidelines with a sum of 300 pounds taken at the gates for the final which was a record for club games in Auckland. Ernie Bailey, one of the North Shore forwards dislocated his shoulder 15 minutes before full time but played on. Ponsonby played
George Gillett at an extremely wide first five position which was criticised as they would indulge in long passing but make little progress, or else Gillett would kick too often. Beecham played out of position on the wing partly due to Ponsonby playing an extra back as they had the week prior.
Top try scorers and point scorers None of the North Shore point scorers from their farcical Round 9 match with Newton Rangers were credited and therefore the following lists will be inaccurate as 43 points were scored by them. Of note in the point scoring lists is the prodigious scoring of
Karl Ifwersen with 63 points. Indeed, Grafton only scored 75 points in total meaning he in all probability scored the highest percentage of team points in Auckland Rugby League history. ==Lower grades==