The 1925 season of Auckland Rugby League was its 16th. On 30 March Auckland Rugby League held its fifteenth annual meeting with 200 in attendance. The strong financial position of the league was commented on. It was also decided that if possible the Senior Grade would be split into A and B divisions owing to the increasing number of teams who wished to enter but also the gap in standard between the best teams and the worst.

Auckland Rugby League news Club teams by grade participation Leys Institute were a 6th grade side and were affiliated with the Ponsonby club. Team1st GradeB Grade2nd Grade3rd Grade4th Grade5th Grade6th Grade A6th Grade BTotalRichmond Rovers101111128Ponsonby United102211007City Rovers101101116Ellerslie United011011116Newton Rangers101110105Devonport United101110105Marist Old Boys100021105Athletic100111015Māngere United011110004Kingsland Rovers011110004Northcote & Birkenhead Ramblers010101014United Suburbs001200014Parnell000111003Point Chevalier000110013Otahuhu Rovers010100002New Lynn000101002Coromandel Old Boys000100001Leys Institute (Ponsonby)000000101Total7510171297875

Trophy winners City Rovers won the First Grade Championship for the 7th time in just 15 seasons. Ponsonby won the Roope Rooster Knockout competition for the 4th time in the 11 seasons it had been competed for. Ponsonby also won the Stormont Shield after defeating City in the final in its inaugural season.

While in the B division Ellerslie won the inaugural title and were awarded the Norton Cup. At the end of the season these teams competed for their own knockout trophy which was named the Stallard Cup. It was won by Otahuhu who defeated Northcote in the final.

In the lower grades, the Richmond Rovers prevailed. They won the 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and both sections of the 6th grade. They were a very powerful club at the junior level and this would ultimately lead to great success at the senior grade level.

Representative season The Auckland team played in 5 matches with a number of other Auckland B and Auckland C team matches. They played against the New Zealand team twice and the touring Queensland side who they drew with 18 all. The Auckland side claimed the Northern Union Challenge Cup off the holders, South Auckland and they retained it against the same opponents in a later match. In addition the Auckland Provincial team played Queensland but were soundly beaten 54–14.

Death of Bill Stormont and inauguration of the Stormont Shield On 4 June William Stormont (known better as Bill Stormont) died, succumbing to rheumatic heart disease. Stormont had played for the Marist Old Boys senior team from 1920 to 1924 scoring 24 tries and kicking 31 goals. He had also represented Auckland on 16 occasions, scoring 4 tries and kicking 2 goals as well as playing 3 matches for New Zealand in 1920. He had been ill for quite some time and had not played for Marist since the end of the 1924 season. The funeral was on the Sunday leaving his parents residence in Epsom and progressing to Purewa Cemetery where he was buried. The match between Marist and Richmond Rovers on Saturday was originally postponed but was never played. The matches at Carlaw Park saw one minutes silence before kickoff. On 9 July at the New Zealand Council meeting John Stormont presented a shield to be played for among the senior clubs. It was to be known as the “William Stormont Memorial Shield”.

On 22 July at an Auckland Management Committee meeting it was decided that the shield would be played for by the “winners of the senior grade club competition and the winners of the Roope Rooster”. A request came in for the trophy to be played for among champion teams from around the country but it was eventually settled that it would be for Auckland teams. The championship winning City Rovers team, the Roope Rooster winning Ponsonby United, and Stormont's Marist side were the three teams chosen to compete for it. City drew the bye so Ponsonby were to come up against Marist in the ‘semi-final’ match. Ponsonby defeated Marist 23–22 to progress to the Stormont Shield final. Ponsonby then trounced City Rovers 35–3 in the final to become the first team with their name on the trophy. The Stormont Shield is still played for today though it is played for in round 1 of the regular season with the Fox Memorial grand finalists from the previous year competing for it.

Monteith Shield (first grade championship) Monteith Shield standings

TeamPldWDLFAPtsCity Rovers12110130014022Ponsonby United12100227111320Marist Old Boys1160516211212Devonport United1250717220710Richmond Rovers114071551848Athletic124081332768Newton Rangers1210111523142

Monteith Shield fixtures Round 1 M Herewini debuted for Ponsonby at fullback. He transferred to Newton the following season and played many years of senior grade over the ensuing years. Ivan Littlewood scored two tries for Ponsonby but they still lost heavily to City who scored seven tries including four to current New Zealand internationals Lou Brown (2), and Maurice Wetherill, and future international Alf Townsend. For Athletic Craddock Dufty scored three tries and kicked seven goals in their 38–18 win over Newton.

Round 2 A good deal of ill feeling was shown in the Marist v Devonport game at the Devonport Domain, perhaps a hangover from their controversial championship final the year before when player eligibility had dragged on for some time afterwards. In comments later in the week the Auckland Star described the match as "brutal" with much "illegal and unsportsmanlike play". Charles Gregory and Arthur Cadman of the Marist side were both ordered off in the second half but they still won 18 to 9. It was said that the crowd had threatened to run the field and even after the sendings off the game "developed into something of a melee". In the match between City and Athletic Alf Townsend was also ordered off in the second half for City, and then winger Ernest Ruby left injured leaving City with 11 players to finish the match but they led 16-8 and still managed to add another try when Lou Brown followed up a kick which new Athletic fullback Tommy Taylor failed to field. Townsend and Cadman were suspended by the league with their respective clubs appealing the decision and the ARL forwarded the appeals to the New Zealand Council (NZRL). The appeals were dismissed by the national body. In Ponsonby's win over Richmond, Tim Peckham who had just joined the side, scored one of their tries. Late in the game Richmond were awarded a try after W Little was obstructed when attempting to score. At this time obstruction tries were awarded to the player in question. Ray Hyland scored the other three tries for Richmond.

Round 3

Round 4 Sam Lowrie was ordered off in the match between Ponsonby and Devonport. Julius Laing of Devonport was taken to hospital suffering from slight concussion. It was rumoured during the week that his brother, Bert Laing had retired from the sport but he soon resumed playing and retired at the end of the 1926 season, though he came out of retirement to assist the side in 1927 a couple of times and then four more times in 1930. W Hannan had joined the Marist forward pack and was a brother of champion rower Pat Hannan.

Round 5

Round 6 The City - Marist match ended sensationally. With the scores tied at 7, and time up with the time keeper standing with the bell in hand waiting for the ball to go out of play, Ben Davidson drop kicked a goal for City to win 9–7. An enormous crowd of 12,500 was on hand to witness the match which was a club record for a regular season match to this point. The crowd was said to be "at a high pitch of excitement" throughout each half.

Round 7 Prior to the kickoff teams stood in silence for one minute as a mark of respect for the late William Stormont of the Marist club who had died two days earlier. He was a World War I veteran and had played for Marist from 1920 to 1924. The match between Marist and Richmond scheduled to be played at Victoria Park was cancelled due to his death. The 39 year old,Tom Haddon returned to the field for the first time since 1919, the year in which he represented New Zealand. From 1910 to 1919 he played for North Shore (Devonport), Grafton Athletic, and City though spent 2–3 years at war in between. He scored a try in Devonport's 27–20 loss to City. Ponsonby thrashed Newton 42–3 after leading 37–0 at halftime. Ponsonby scored shortly after halftime and then when Newton had spent a period of play on attack, crossing for a try they decided that they had had enough and the game was called.

Round 8 In the main match at Carlaw Park before a crowd of 10,000 City scored on full time however W Sandham missed a relatively easy conversion which would have given them the win. Instead Ponsonby inflicted their first defeat of the year. Charles Hand kicked 6 goals on debut for Newton after transferring mid week from Devonport. Newton's easy win over Athletic was surprising as they had been struggling recently. Athletic were missing their star back, Craddock Dufty who did not play owing to an injured hand.

Round 9 In one of the more amazing team efforts in early Auckland rugby league history the City team saw all 13 of its players score points in a 57–10 victory over Athletic. The loss was the heaviest ever against Athletic. There were nine different try scorers and the four who didn't cross the line all kicked at least one conversion. The match perhaps somewhat anti-climatically took place on the number 2 field. There were 9,000 in attendance at Carlaw Park but the majority would have been watching the match on the number 1 field at the time where Marist beat Devonport 19–11. Jim O'Brien for Marist and Tom Haddon for Devonport were ordered off for fighting in their match at Carlaw Park.

Round 10 All of the teams were without their New Zealand representatives who had departed for their Australian tour. The touring party included 15 Auckland club players. George Davidson played his first game of the season for City, ostensibly replacing his brother Ben in the back line who was rested with an injured foot. He scored a try in their 27–16 win over Newton. Wilfred McNeil also made his first appearance of the year for Ponsonby in their 24–6 win over Marist. He hooked in the place of Sam Lowrie who was in Australia.

Round 11 Matthew Kirkland scored 4 tries in Marist's 35–3 win over his former club, Athletic in greasy conditions at the Auckland Domain.

Round 12 At the Devonport Domain the local winger, Buffet had to deal with a dog crossing the field as he attempted to catch a ball. Athletic swooped on the moment with Len Mason scoring.

Round 13

Round 14

Roope Rooster knockout competition Round 1 George Gardiner had a field day for Ponsonby in their 50–23 win over Athletic. He scored three tries and converted seven of his sides twelve tries for 23 total points.

Semi finals

Final Ponsonby won their fourth Roope Rooster title following previous wins in 1917, 1922, and 1923. They score tries through Ivan Littlewood and Leonard Riley, older brother of Brian Riley. While George Gardiner added 4 points to his season tally through two penalties. City fielded former Marist player C.M. Stevens in their backs, and made a change on the wing, playing 32 year old utility player George Paki in place of George Davidson which was said to have been a mistake as they lost two try scoring chances on that wing. There were 7,500 spectators present and 212 pounds were raised at the gate with half the money going to charities and the other half to players injured during the season.

Stormont Memorial Shield Semi final