Legend and legacy of Seddon lives on

THERE was a poignant moment at Campbell’s Hill Cemetery, just outside Newcastle, New South Wales, in the small hours of the Irish night as Lions captain Sam Warburton came face to face with the grave of the original captain, Robert Seddon.

Seddon had led the first Lions tour in 1888 but tragically never returned to his native England, losing his life in a rowing accident on the Hunter River on August 13 of that year.

He is buried in Telarah, near Maitland, and it was there Warburton, 125 years later, paid his respects alongside team-mate Manu Tuilagi, tour manager Andy Irvine, chairman of the Lions board Gerald Davies and chief executive John Feehan. Accompanied by Australian Rugby Union president David Crombie and officials of the Maitland Rugby Club, which has graciously tended Seddon’s grave since his burial, the Lions party laid a wreath before returning to the business of playing ruthless rugby.

The current crop of 37 tourists have a mere 10-game schedule this summer. Seddon’s travelling party of 22 were away from home for 249 days on their marathon tour of Australia and New Zealand, the journey to Dunedin alone taking 46 days. In 21 weeks, the Lions played 54 games, although ‘only’ 35 of those were rugby matches. They also played 19 games of Victorian Rules football, a forerunner of today’s Australian Rules and a cricket match was thrown in for good measure. Quite where sculling fitted into all of this is anyone’s guess but it would cost Seddon his life, his death prompting the postponement of the 20th rugby match on the schedule, against the Northern Districts at Newcastle Cricket Ground.

When they eventually played on August 29, the Lions won 14-7, despite fielding only 11 players as the others had already sailed back to New Zealand to complete the now ill-fated tour.

And when the entire party left Australia, it was the members of the Maitland Rugby Club who maintained Seddon’s graveside, keeping it in shape with visits three or four times each year to this day.

“This is a guy who has passed away in tragic circumstances thousands of miles from home while he was on tour,” Maitland Rugby Club vice-president Ben Emmett told The Newcastle Herald.

“If the circumstances were reversed I’m sure there may well be someone in Britain who would take care of the Australian player’s grave.

“It probably is quite an indication of the sport that you have at one end the British and Irish Lions and at the other end a country rugby club and they have this strange link.”

But then rugby means a lot to these ordinary, decent Australians, whose principles will be evident when the Combined Country, a collection of country rugby players from Queensland and New South Wales, take on the Lions at Hunter Stadium today. This is as close as you will get on a Lions tour to a group playing for their parish, as Combined Country captain Tim Davidson explained.

“To be given the opportunity to represent where you grew up and where you’re from is absolutely fantastic,” Davidson told the Irish Examiner yesterday.

“Regional, country Australia is a pretty proud part of the Australian community and I think they’re very resilient so if we can emulate those types of emotions in the game then we’ll get the respect of the opposition and of the community, which is extremely important to us as a team.

“It’s a huge challenge and the fantastic thing about it is that you get players from all walks of life and different parts of Australia coming together but growing up you all have similar values and outlooks on rugby and what it means to you to play and represent each state. The challenge for us is bringing that together.”

Davidson is one of eight players facing the Lions who are professionals themselves, albeit on the fringes of their respective Super XV squads. But for the Melbourne Rebels No.8, stepping out from the Super Rugby environment, even for just a week has proven an invaluable personal experience. “It reminds you why you play the game,” he said.

Robert Seddon would have understood.