Background
Williams was born in Auckland in 1956, and did not start playing rugby until the age of 24.
Williams was born in Auckland in 1956, and did not start playing rugby until the age of 24.
Nicknamed "Bully", Williams was one of five non-Māori players in the Natives" side. As Warbrick was scouting for players throughout 1888, his plans changed, and he decided to include a number of Pākehā (European non-Māori) in the side. Eventually five Pākehā were included in the squad of twenty-six, and the side was consequently named the New Zealand Native football team
At 32, Williams was the oldest player in the team, and only joined a day before their first match.
The tour became the longest in rugby history. 107 matches were played during the 14-month tour, which had legs in Australia, the British Isles, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Of these 107 matches, 74 were in the British Isles and Ireland, and an average of a game every 2.3 days on that legal Williams played in 53 of these, scoring 12 tries in the process, and captained the team on a number of occasions.
In total, Williams played at least 75 matches on tour (a number of team lists are missing).
Williams played in all three of the Natives" "international" matches while on tour. A victory over Ireland, a narrow loss to Wales, and a controversial loss to England. Williams retired as a player after the tour, but continued to be involved in the game as a referee.
Along with two other players, he contributed to tour manager Thomas Eyton"s Rugby Football Past and Present, published in 1896, that gave an account of the tour.
He contributed a number of article to the New Zealand Truth before the departure of the 1924 All Blacks. Outside of rugby, Williams was a police officer, and was involved in the arrest of the Maori spiritual leader Te Whiti o Rongomai.
He served throughout New Zealand, including in Wellington, Hastings, Invercargill and Marlborough.
He was a member of the Wellington club Poneke, and was selected for Wellington province from the club in 1886, 1887 and 1888. In early 1888, Joe Warbrick, a member of the 1884 New Zealand team that toured Australia, started planning for a squad of Māori rugby players to tour the British Isles.
