Great moments in Lions history: The surprisingly swinging 1930 tour

 Jamie Wall uncovers an alarming (if true) revelation about the 1930 Lions tour of New Zealand.

Rugby is pretty different now to what it was like in 1930. Back then the players were about half the size, the All Blacks played in white jerseys for a whole series and the Lions didn’t give care about winning or losing.

You can see some of the action in this documentary that was made in the lead up to the 2005 Lions tour. The gameplay isn’t helped by the comical silent movie frame rate, but nevertheless, shows evidence of rugby in a very different time to today.

But guess what, New Zealand – if your grandma was a rugby fan and went along to watch the British Lions tour way back in those days, there’s a chance she might’ve met this guy.

And if Lions three-quarter Harry Bowcott is to be believed, Kiwi men were all good about it. Here’s a transcript of what was said:

Narrator: In fact, for some of the players the highlight of the tour was the New Zealanders’ more than generous hospitality…

Bowcott: As good as one might expect. Now you can’t say this on…this thing, but ah, the New Zealanders were so happy with our coming that they’d lend you their womenfolk…quite willingly. You’d have enjoyed it!

A big call – who knew Great Depression era New Zealand was a hotbed of wife-swapping and cuckoldry? Especially considering the general consensus of that period was that Aotearoa was a repressed colonial backwater that was about 50 years behind the times.

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When they weren’t sleeping with local’s wives and girlfriends with the blessing of their partners, the 1930 Lions managed to beat the All Blacks in the first test, but lost the next three. They hadn’t got around to wearing the familiar red jersey by this stage, instead opting for a dark blue number that forced the home side into a white strip for the first time. Perhaps it was this smart look that so impressed the ‘womenfolk’.

As for self-confessed ladykiller Harry Bowcott, he ended up playing 13 tests for Wales and Great Britain, and later became president of the Welsh Rugby Union. He passed away in 2004 at the grand old age of 97; sadly there is no mention in the history books of his apparent enthusiasm for open relationships on tour.