Bert Laing

Bert Laing

Personal information
Full name	Henry Bircher Laing
Born	3 August 1893 Norfolk Island, Australia
Died	25 April 1963(1963-04-25) (aged 69) New Zealand
Playing information
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	78.2 kg (12 st 4 lb)
Position	Stand-off
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1919–22 City Rovers (ARL) 25 7 2 0 25 1922–30 Devonport United 65 21 50 3 169 Total 90 28 52 3 194 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1919–26 Auckland 13 10 4 0 38 1922 Auckland Province 1 2 0 0 6 1919–1925 New Zealand 12 0 2 0 4 1921–22 Australasia 10 3 0 0 9 1926 North Island 1 1 0 0 3
Coaching information
Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1922 Devonport United 14 7 1 6 50 1934–1936 Devonport United 55 25 7 23 45 1938 Manukau 23 15 1 7 65

Henry Bircher "Bert" Laing (1893-1963) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand and Australasia. His brother, Albert, was also a New Zealand international.

Playing career

Laing, a standoff from Auckland, represented New Zealand between 1919 and 1925 and was the team's captain in 1925. However he never played in a Test match for New Zealand, due to the team usually playing New South Wales and Queensland during this period.

The 1919 New Zealand team to tour New South Wales and Queensland. Bert Laing is in the back row, second from the right.

In 1921 he was the only New Zealander selected to represent Australasia during the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He scored one try and played in ten matches on tour but was not selected for any of the three Test matches.

Laing played for the City Rovers from 1919 to 1922 but transferred to Devonport United during the 1922 season. During the 1920s he played some matches with his younger brother Julius for Devonport. He retired at the end of the 1926 season but came out of retirement to play 2 matches for Devonport in 1927 and then four more matches in 1930. Another of his brothers, Albert Laing debuted for Devonport in late 1931 and also went on to play for New Zealand.

Coaching career

Bert coached the North Shore Albions from 1934 to 1936, and the Manukau seniors in 1938.

Death

Bert Laing died on April 25, 1963. He was cremated at Purewa Cemetery and his ashes were returned to his family.