1912 New Zealand rugby league season

Auckland again held the Northern Union Cup at the end of the season. They defeated the Hawke's Bay at Victoria Park on 27 July.[4]

• Auckland included Don Kenealy, Stan Weston, Arthur Carlaw, Morgan and Harold Hayward, Charles Dunning, Jim Rukutai, George Seagar, Bob Mitchell and Charles Webb.[4]
• The Hawke's Bay included Henry Duvall, Frank Barclay, Jim Johnson and Con McCarthy.[5]
• Wellington included Les Campbell and Ernie Buckland.[5]
• Canterbury played its first ever match, losing to Wellington 5-4 on 7 September at the Show Grounds before hosting New South Wales and then travelling to play the Hawke's Bay in Napier, where they won 10-8. Included in the Canterbury team was captain Charlie Pearce, Jim Auld, Abbie Shadbolt, Billy Mitchell, Bill Bussell and David McPhail.[5]

Newton won the Auckland Rugby League's competition.[6]

A round of club matches were played at Eden Park, after negotiations between the ARL and the Auckland Cricket Board.[2] These were the only club matches of rugby league played at the venue until the New Zealand Warriors played a match there in 2011 and the only rugby league match of any type until 1919.

Charles Savory was sent off in a match for Ponsonby United. He was suspended for the second half of the season, costing him a place on the New Zealand tour of Australia.[2] Ponsonby included: Arthur Carlaw, J Chorley, Charlie Dunning, W Hooper, B Kean, Pip Webb, V Hunter, Tom Lynch, Scotch MacDonald, Harry Oakley, M Stanaway, Syd Riley, Billy Tyler and J Warner.[7]

City included Alex Stanaway, captain G Harrison, Ernie Asher and Bob Mitchell. George Seagar captained the North Shore, who also included Stan Weston, Alfred Jackson, Tom Haddon and William Wynyard. Don Kenealy played for Eden and Jim Rukutai played for Manukau.[4]

The Ellerslie Wanderers were formed at a meeting in April 1912 at the Ellerslie Hotel.[8]

The Wellington Rugby League Association was officially formed on 23 May 1912 at the Trades Hall in Wellington when 1907–08 All Golds captain, Hercules Richard (Bumper) Wright presided over a meeting of 75 footballers and supporters, many of them prominent rugby union players in Wellington.[3]

The founding committee was chaired by W J Riorden and included Daniel Fraser. Four club teams eventually managed to play a series of games during the 1912 season; Petone, Hutt, Athletic and Newtown, with Petone declared the first winners of the Seigel Cup.[3]

In an interview with The Press, the NZRL president, D.W. McLean, stated that there were affiliated districts in Thames, Rotorua, Goldfields, and Lower and Upper Waikato. The Hawke's Bay Rugby League had four senior clubs, Whanganui had three and one club existed in Taranaki.[5]

On 13 July the Canterbury Rugby League was formed and later in the month the New Zealand Rugby League accepted its affiliation.[9] The founding committee included William Moyle, Robert Brunsden, Charlie Pearce, David McPhail, A.E. Hooper, who was elected chairman, and president Henry Thacker.