The All Black Who Tattooed the Ranfurly Shield on His Arm and Died at Gallipoli

Since the All Blacks first took the rugby field, most teams—international or otherwise—have had little hope of beating them.

Sydney club side Metropolitan Union was no different in 1914, with New Zealand besting them 11-6 at the Sydney Sports Ground in Moore Park.

But, rare to the All Blacks of that—or any—era, the attention of the 1000-strong crowd on August 5, 1914 wasn't on the rugby. Instead it was on the scoreboard, where groundskeepers were posting the grim news of the day.

Looking up from the stands, those at the match were reading the official words of Australian Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson. The United Kingdom—and now Australia and New Zealand—had declared war on Germany. World War One had begun.

And it wasn't just the crowd. Also reading those words that day was All Blacks prop Albert 'Doolan' Downing.

Less than two weeks later, on the boat trip back to New Zealand, the entire All Blacks team made a pact: each would sign up and serve their nation.

Given the infamous Gallipoli campaign was—and remains—such an important part in the maturation of New Zealand, and Australian, national culture, it is a given that rugby was a part of it.

In a 2014 feature on rugby and war for the Onside Rugby Annual, renowned New Zealand sports journalist Ron Palenski wrote that Kiwi and Australian troops played a game of rugby on the Greek island of Lemnos, as they rested from fighting on Gallipoli.

The game was played on the beach at low tide, and, in the absence of a rugby ball, a football was used. Teddy Roberts, the 1914 All Black halfback, was on the makeshift pitch.

While no actual score was kept, it was remembered that the Kiwis routed their Anzac comrades 13 tries to one.

And though dozens of provincial New Zealand rugby players fought, and died, on the steep hills around Anzac Cove, so too did some of the country's finest representative players.

Doolan Downing—the 176th New Zealander to pull on an All Black jumper—was one of the very best. He is one of two All Blacks who fell at Gallipoli.

Born in Napier in 1886, Downing attended Napier Boys High before going on to become a storeman at the city's port.

The rangy six foot tall forward, who played at both prop and lock, started his rugby career at the Napier Old Boys, before making his provincial debut for Hawke's Bay in 1909.

He'd play for the Magpies for four seasons, before heading to Auckland—who he'd play for in the following two.

As a member of the 1913 Ranfurly Shield-winning Auckland team, Downing had a tattoo of the Log o' Wood inked onto his left forearm; such was its importance to him.

Downing made his All Blacks debut against Australia, in Wellington on September 6, 1913, which New Zealand won 30-5.

He would go on to be a key member of New Zealand's 1913 tour to the United States and Canada, and the 1914 Australian tour. All up, Downing clocked 26 games for the All Blacks, including five tests.

Hawke's Bay teammate Norm McKenzie, later the coach the famous 1920s Magpies Ranfurly Shield team, called Downing "an outstanding lineout forward, with a wonderful pair of hands," according to Bob Luxford of the NZ Rugby Museum.

English writer E.H.D. Sewell described Downing as a tough but noble player in "Rugby Football International's Roll of Honour"—a 1919 publication that detailed international rugby players who lost their lives in World War 1.

"Downing was widely known in the New Zealand rugby world, and he was one of the best-natured players who have ever donned a jersey; always playing the game in the best acceptation of the term," Sewell wrote of the All Black forward.

"He was 'on the ball' from start to finish, and took the hardest knocks with a smile. He disdained to 'get one back' on a vicious opponent; rather would he pause to help a fallen 'enemy'."

As pledged, Downing enlisted in the New Zealand Army on February 2, 1915 and left his home nation four months later to join the Kiwi forces serving at Gallipoli.

A sergeant, he joined the famed Wellington Infantry Battalion—commanded by the famed Colonel William Malone—and was one of the Kiwi reinforcements for the New Zealand attempt to capture Chunuk Bair, a strategically important position.

You can imagine now the reaction Downing's fellow troops would have had when he came up through the trenches. A six foot-tall All Black, with a big Ranfurly Shield tattoo on his arm.

In that era, Downing was a living representative of all the things Kiwis prized the most; a tough, hard-working, rugby-loving bloke, who answered his nation's call.

In a letter sent to his family on August 29, 1915—which is now kept in the New South Wales State Library—Corporal William Hill wrote that the former All Black distinguished himself in a bayonet charge on the Chunuk Bair ridgeline, before their own trench was bombed by the Turks.

"Downing, I believe, was blown to pieces," Hill wrote. It was August 8, 1915. The Wellington Battalion was decimated, and the summit was lost.

The next day, Taranaki forward Henry Dewar became the second All Black killed, by a shell at Anzac Cove.

Eleven others would fall during campaigns in France and Belgium, as the brutal conflict raged on for three years. First-five Bobby Black, who also played against Metropolitan Union the day war was declared, and flanker Jim McNeese, who made his debut alongside Downing in 1913, were among them. So was Dave Gallaher, the famed captain of the 1905 'Originals'.

In total, 18,500 New Zealand lives were claimed in World War One.

On August 15, 1914, the All Blacks ran back onto Sydney Sports Ground for the final test, and game, of their Australian tour.

New Zealand had beaten the Wallabies 5-0 and 17-0 in the first two tests, but wanted the clean sweep.

In front of 5000 spectators, they got it, with a 22-7 victory.

With war raging in Europe already and signing up to serve a given for most young men, what was running through the heads of the players? There was much ahead them of all.

No records remain about Downing's performance on the rugby field that day, but it is doubtless that his big left forearm—adorned with the tattoo of the Shield—would have been extended for countless fends and tackles.

That day, Downing played his last game for the All Blacks.

Less than a year later, he would lie dead on the slopes of Chunuk Bair.